I read a quote today that has really stuck with me.

“We lose ourselves in the things we love. We find ourselves there, too.” – Kristin Martz

It’s a pretty deep statement the more I ponder it. Can we really find ourselves in the things we love?

As I’m sure you all know by now, for me, the thing I love most (now we’re talking thing here and not people) is making music. I know I’ve said this before, but from my earliest days, music has been more to me that just something in the background. As a young boy, I’d put my mom’s records on the console record player and immerse myself into the tunes of all the 50s’ and 60s’ greats.

Once I became a teenager, I struggled with all of the things typical teenagers do. I’m not sure if you have anyone artistic in your family, but we are a bit of a different breed. We feel everything and experience everything on such an emotional level. So much of the time we respond to situations and people based on our “gut feelings” rather than relying on a more logical thought process.

That leaves us often times feeling like we never really fit in. I definitely felt that way within my own family, having been raised by parents who were neither creative nor prone to encourage creativity – not because they didn’t love me, but because they just simply didn’t understand how the creative mind works.

So music became my refuge – literally.  At 16 I started taking guitar lessons. What I didn’t realize was how deep that music would run in my veins and seep into my soul. Soon I was spending hours in front of my reel-to-reel (yes, dating myself here – if you don’t know what that is, check it out here), dissecting the songs of my musical hero’s – the 70s singer songwriters who I thought were singing about my life and the things I was feeling and experiencing.

And the more I soaked up their music, the less lonely and out of place I felt. I started to realize that I wanted to be able to create music like that – to be able to do for others what those songwriters had done for me.

So in essence, this love of music early on opened the path that lead me to discovering what I was meant to do in this life. Not that I started my professional career out that way. I took quite a detour before I got back onto this path. I actually talk about the road to getting here quite a bit in the live show we did. Stop by and check out “An Evening of Story and Song” to hear more!

I always wanted to write music that matters, that allows our mind to rest from the craziness of life and begin to see new possibilities. I’m often told my music has holistic qualities. It kind of bewilders me. Maybe it has that effect because I’ve gotten so much healing in my own life from both the music I listen to and the music I make.

So, I do think we can find ourselves in the things we love – I know I have! How about you – what do you love? Let me know in the comments below!