We are all familiar with the practice of penning down our experiences on paper. At school, our English teachers might have asked us to keep a diary to write about our day. For some, it would have been a pleasurable endeavour and for others, a burden of an assignment. But at some point, we all must have enjoyed the benefits of it when we do it for ourselves. Reading old diary entries give us a glimpse into the way our minds worked at a particular point in time. It is a testament to the changes we underwent over the years.
A few years back, I discovered another more potent medium of memory. All of us, consciously or unconsciously, store memories of moments in the songs we hear. I remember the song that me and my cousin sister had listened to while we were on a flight to Malaysia. It was my first trip abroad and it meant a lot to me. I was enthralled by the idea of getting off the plane to set foot in a different country. I had even made plans to write down the details of my trip in my diary, but unfortunately I didn't finish it. But thankfully my mind had absorbed every emotion I felt during the trip in the songs I had heard then. When I listen to it again, I travel back in time. When I close my eyes, I can see the bird's eye view of Malaysia as our flight descended.
A similar phenomenon happens when we listen to the bgm of movies or series long after finishing them. It fills us with nostalgia and calls out to the child in us who was so affected by the movie. We relive our childhood or teenage in them.
It is an established truth that life is a bed of roses and thorns. Not all memories are ones we cherish or wish to look back on. When we listen to songs that are drenched in negative emotions of a traumatic experience, it chills our bones. There have been cases where a person who was obsessed with a particular genre of music loses interest in it and refuses to listen to it later on. When they try to shed off a past version, for a new beginning, an entire genre or playlist of music gets buried with them. They do not want to fall back on their past ways.
Thus, music has the power to intertwine your memories in it's notes and acts as the key that locks or unlocks your emotions.
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