Bach genius was in his ability as a musician to create dissonance within the stanza followed by a release of the tension creating out of this world music. Without the resolution of the dissonance sounds no one would have bothered to listened to Bach. Turning to Bach, I think B Minor Mass is the most divine, amazing creation of Western music that we have. This music represents a request for peace, within ourselves and within our world collectively. The message encapsulates the desire for everyone to be nice to each other. Being nice to one another is easier said than done much like the interweaving of several melodic lines of soprano, alto, tenor bass our emotions take on different intensities. Using the musical term, polyphonic, the composition of our lives are complex, intricate, obscuring the words and meaning at times. Like Baroque music, our lives are all about the contrast and drama.
Most of us are not prodigy’s of music but we certainly can learn lessons from those who were. As clinicians we listen daily to the music of others’ lives while at the same time honoring what is stirred within. The emotional world of others makes up the music of the hour but how do we by day’s end release and find a different kind of refreshment to soothe tired nerves. How do you cultivate the attitude that is needed to sustain a lifetime of clinical practice, in addition to a lifelong commitment to spouses, family, friends? Like a three legged stool we must rest our minds on not only work, love but also play. Being resilient with life’s challenges needs to be nurtured one day at a time.
Recently while playing with words for writing I came across the most inspirational story that I want to share with you. Living a long life may not be a goal for everyone around this table but living a healthy life most likely is. I want to die while still living to the fullest. Alice Herz-Sommer is a person who exemplifies not allowing the dissonance of our lives to interfere with the more melodic stanza’s of our lives.
Lessons from Alice is what I want to share with you today. But first let me tell you a bit about Alice. I trust Alice even though I never met her I feel like I have. She died February 27th at the age of 110.
Alice was the world’s oldest survivor of Hitler’s Holocaust but is really known as The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life. Please google her webpage under Alice Herz-Sommers to learn about her history, her wisdom and think about her resiliency to cope with the complexity of life’s trauma’s.
Reflecting on Alice’s life has given me hope in the power of the human spirit, opened me to the beauty and mystery of passion for life and challenged me to think about the psychological underpinnings of resiliency. Are we born resilient? Why are some people more resilient than others and how much does temperament play in being resilient. My next post will try and address these questions which have risen as a consequence of discovering the beautiful soul of Alice Herz-Sommers.
