Friday Fun: An Elephant On a Dime!

The Daily Muse

 Welcome to the Daily Muse feature of Music Makes Sense!  This daily update brings you up to the minute news about music and music therapy as it relates to our professions, events and individual lives.  You can follow the daily entries by subscribing to Music Makes Sense on Twitter or by "Liking" the Facebook page for Music Makes Sense.  Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

You really have to try this in order to believe it!  The next time you are about to sneeze, focus your mind on an image of an elephant standing on a dime!  Hold the image in your mind, and I kid you not, as the sensation to sneeze increases - it will suddenly, miraculously go away!  


I have no idea where this came from or why it works for me and a few other people I have met, but it has truly been a gift to me in certain situations when I would rather not sneeze.  (Picture yourself in the first row of a choir singing a soft part during a requiem!)


I have not been able to follow up with very many people who I have told about this, just because I think they forget about the trick the next time they sneeze.  I have to admit, it is very strange!  I still feel a little crazy every time I try it!  And it still works after 15 years of use!  


I hope you will try it out and let me know!  You don't need to use my little sketch.  I don't even really build that detailed of a picture in my mind for it to work.  


The reason I bring this up is because I think it demonstrates the amazing things our brains can do.  Just like how some people can sing without a stutter or sing when they cannot talk after a stroke or wound to one part of their brain.  


We have also been finding out so much about autism lately.  Some people on the autism spectrum, for example, have been unable to communicate until they learn how to type or use an iPad!  There are now dedicated bloggers out there who have Asperger Syndrome or Autism!  Our brains are full of surprises and hidden abilities.  


This is not to say that we, as therapists, should offer unfounded hope to our clients, but we should have the vision ourselves of the possibilities as we go about our music interventions.  


Now, go sniff some pepper or something to induce-and then-STOP a sneeze!