PART 3 - AWAKENING REBIRTHED RESEARCH.

This Final segment reflects my personal and creative rebirth, where sound returns not as it was, but as something deeper and more powerful. It moves from the emotional detachment I felt in Canada towards a richer, cinematic expression of self. Through evolving harmonies and modern production, the track symbolises my journey back to music and identity. As it unfolds, it reconnects with the African roots of the first track, closing the circle and representing a transformed, yet grounded return to where it all began.

Book 1 – Free Play, Improvisation in Life and Art

Surrender – (Pg. 95-98)

In the UK phase of my journey, I began creating without a rigid structure, allowing ideas to emerge naturally. Nachmanovitch (1990) warns against “forcing ourselves to work” through strict discipline, instead of encouraging a gentler, more intuitive process. This shift reflected a deeper creative maturity and trust in my instinct.

Rather than fearing silence, I embraced it as part of the composition process. Nachmanovitch (1990) describes this as “making of that emptiness a friend.” This mindset helped me use space intentionally, letting stillness guide emotional tension and pacing.

The Zen master Yün-Mên’s phrase, “Whole body exposed in the golden wind,” reflects the strength found in creative vulnerability (Nachmanovitch, 1990). During the UK segment, I let go of control and allowed the music to move through me with openness and trust.

Form Unfolding – (Pg. 76-77)

At this stage, I spent a lot more time shaping and refining, not just writing music, but sculpting it. “Playing again with the half-baked products of our prior play,” which captures how I approached this part of the process. It wasn’t just fixing things; it was creative play, building something more complete from early sparks.

Editing stayed expressive because I approached it with the same energy as improvisation, not as a chore but as inspired work (Nachmanovitch, 1990).

As the UK track came together, it felt like the sound and emotion finally clicked into place, marking the beginning of my evolving frequency and a true form of feeling and alignment.

The process uncovered something old but unspoken, a deep emotional recognition I hadn’t accessed before (Nachmanovitch, 1990).

Heartbreakthrough – (Pg. 124

Things are finally feeling like it’s coming full circle, back to making music with the same freedom I had at the start, but now with way more depth behind it. Nachmanovitch (1990) describes this as returning to a state that “resembles child’s play,” but shaped by all the trials it took to get there.

When I finally let go of the pressure and allowed things to unfold naturally, the ideas came out effortlessly and without force. It all felt clearer and lighter. Like it was already there waiting to come through. Letting go became the turning point for me, not trying to control everything, just trusting the process. That shift gave me real energy and clarity to my sound (Nachmanovitch, 1990). 

Book 2. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.

Free Play explores the feeling of my creative freedom, while Flow explains the psychology behind it. Together, they show how deep musical moments happen and why they’re meaningful.

 The Conditions of Flow (Ch 4 – Pg. 74 - 

Csikszentmihalyi (1990) describes flow as a state that brings “a sense of discovery, a creative feeling of transporting the person into a new reality,” ultimately “transforming the self by making it more complex”. During music production, I often enter this state where sound design becomes more than a task. It becomes a space for reflection, emotional release and personal growth.

Cultures differ... in terms of the degree of the ‘pursuit of happiness’ they make possible”, observes Csikszentmihalyi (1990). Growing up across different countries, I often felt creatively restricted, like there was no clear space to fully express or understand myself. Music became that space. In shaping sound, I began shaping identity, turning constraint into clarity and finding a sense of growth that external environments lacked to provide at the time.

Flow Of Thought (Ch 6

Csikszentmihalyi (1990) argues that “a mind with some stable content to it is much richer than one without,” and that “creativity and rote learning are not incompatible” In my own process, building music from emotion, memory, and repetition has helped shape a stronger inner world. The discipline of sound design, learning structure, and internalising feeling through practice has deepened not just my skill, but also my understanding of myself.

The Making and Meaning (Ch 10.

When we know what we’re aiming for and work with purpose, our thoughts, emotions, and actions begin to align, creating a sense of inner harmony. In those moments, expression becomes a tool for clarity and growth. We move from uncertainty towards

 something deeper and more grounded, a sense of meaning shaped through focus and intention. (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).

Article:

“Music and Spirituality: An Auto-Ethnographic Study of how five Individuals used Music to enrich their Soul”

There have been moments in my creative journey where music has become more than just sound. It has acted as a mirror, revealing parts of me I wasn’t fully aware of, providing space to process emotions, explore my identity, and reconnect with something deeper. Bist et al. (2024) describe this as music’s ability to “reconnect with each individual’s essential identity”, something I’ve experienced when immersed in creative solitude. Like one of their participants, Laura, I’ve found that sound allows my internal world to surface, reducing the disconnect between how I feel and how I’m perceived. Her words capture it best: “a space where my internal world was made external and the gap between how I perceived myself and how I was being perceived by others was lessened” (Bist et al, 2024). For me, this process hasn’t just been creative, it’s been spiritual. Through each sound, layer and decision, I’ve moved closer to myself.

My growth has been intentional, not just emotional. It’s taken reflection and willingness to confront myself through sound. Using music for healing “requires a high level of both self-knowledge and self-obligation” (Bist et al, 2024). That awareness has shaped how I create and connect.

Over time, music has become more than a creative output. It has turned into a conscious act of healing and self-reflection. Like one participant in Bist et al.’s (2024) study, I’ve come to experience it as “an act of deeply spiritual healing... used actively, consciously, individually and communally”. This kind of engagement hasn’t happened overnight. It’s been shaped by intention, by time alone with sound, and by a desire to make sense of who I am and where I’ve been.

In my third track, I introduced orchestral elements to deepen the emotional atmosphere, layering ambient synths over acoustic percussion and weaving subtle vocal textures to reflect a more spiritual, introspective tone. By thoughtfully selecting and combining instruments, I aimed to guide the listener through moments of tension and release, intimacy and expansion. This approach is supported by Silvey (2011), who found that orchestration plays a critical role in shaping perceived tension, with different instrumentations triggering distinct emotional responses.

LINK TO AWAKENING CREATIVE LOG - CLICK HERE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS:

Nachmanovitch, S. (1990). Free play: improvisation in life and art. New York Tarcher/Putnam [Ca.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. 1st ed. New York: Harper and Row.

ARTICLE:

mdpi (2024). Music and Spirituality: An Auto-Ethnographic Study of How Five Individuals Used Music to Enrich Their Souls. mdpi.com. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15/7/858.