Happy World Music Day!  There’s nothing in the world like the sound of your favorite song coming on, it just gets right into your head and your body and makes you move. Some of our favorite songs can lift us up out of depression and worry, and make an otherwise horrible day suddenly seem like it’s not so bad. World Music Day celebrates music in all its forms and the impact it’s had on the world and the human spirit.  Music has existed for as long as mankind has found its voice, and quite possibly before. Every culture of the world has its own form of music, as distinct and unique to its area as language, cuisine, and clothing. Whether it's just bashing a couple rocks together or full symphony orchestras, every culture and people has found away to express itself musically.   Many of you can remember having to wait for your favorite songs to come on the radio or needing to swap out records, cassettes, 8-tracks, or CDs as your musical moods changed. Today we're spoiled with new tunes just a tap away or even letting an algorithm figure out what we want to listen to next. With the proliferation of music streaming services that allow artists of all kinds to be discovered worldwide we are now longer spoon-fed what the traditional recording label taste-makers think will sell best and we are able to fill out our playlists with a greater diversity of beautiful sound. Fun fact: in 2020 one of the fastest growing music genres on Spotify in the US was actually new styles of rap coming out of Africa. If we were still relying on Carson Daly and Total Request Live, then avant garde American teens would probably still be listening to the latest boy band clone.   Music is not only a fantastic creative outlet, but it can also have many health benefits - both just by listening to it and the many things it can help you do while listening to it. Studies suggest that listening to music can have a number of positive effects on your health and mental wellbeing. Actually playing the music yourself has even greater benefits too. When you listen to a particular song it can help you feel more energized with the happy memories it triggers and relaxing music can even reduce anxiety and stress levels. You can even use music to help you focus on important tasks.   But there are also physical benefits as well. When was the last time you worked out in dead silence? Probably never, right? The motivational benefits of music while exercising is so ingrained that you can't imagine a gym without blaring speakers or going for a run without your headphones. Having the right kind of music playing can help you keep your pace, pump out a few extra reps, and let you push a little harder than you did yesterday. Plus, it's like having your own soundtrack to your personal training montage.   Music can also serve as our own personal time machine. Given the emotional relationship we have with music, certain songs can take us back to particular moments in our lives, whether good or bad. No doubt you can remember a song that you listened to on repeat while feeling down after a rough breakup or the song that you and your spouse danced to at your wedding. Hearing these songs, even decades later or in very different contexts, can immediately bring back those memories and we can momentarily tap into the emotions we felt then. But you have to be careful not to go down the emotional memory rabbit hole so make sure you have an unrelated hard-driving beat to pull you back into the present!  I know I personally have wide-ranging tastes in music and definitely have go-to songs, albums, or playlists for any mood or activity. Things got really wild last year when YouTube's suggestion algorithms went into overdrive to keep people entertained and I was able to 'discover' a lot of new and cool music I wouldn't have come across before. Who knew that Mongolian heavy metal was a thing but its apparently pretty awesome.