Hi, it's Sam here and welcome to Radio Headspace and to Tuesday.

So I've been thinking about my relationship to music lately and how it's changed over

the years.

For a few years in my early 20s, I avoided music completely.

It was just too evocative for a time when big emotions were my constant companion, so

I preferred silence.

I'm pretty intentional now when it comes to listening to music.

I think about how the music will support the mood I want to be in, or the frame of mind

that I want to cultivate while I'm writing or reading.

I often enjoy driving and silence, but I do listen to music a lot more than I used to.

Surprisingly, I find that I'm enjoying some 80s love songs that I used to listen to in

the car with my mom when I was a child.

There's so unabashedly flamboyant that I often laugh at myself as I listen, but I have

to admit I am moved by them too.

I've been in a joyful and secure relationship for the past seven years, and when I listen

to these songs now, I connect with that sense of celebration and enthusiasm that they convey,

and how excited I am to have love in my life.

A recent favorite has been Lionel Richie's You Are, and you may know the chorus.

You are the sun, you are the rain.

I think of the simple and direct poetry of these words.

What he's saying is, you bring life to my life.

Your presence nourishes me.

...