Musical Habits for Life
Music is more than background noise—it’s a bridge. A mood shifter. A breath. A way to feel more you... and more us.
This evolving collection of playlists is a starting point—a musical toolkit for families, creatives, deep feelers, and curious minds. Whether you're looking to shift your mood, setting the tone for bedtime, reconnect after a long day, or simply need to reset… there's a soundscape here for that.
Use them as they are.
Make them your own.
Share yours with the community.
We’re building more than playlists—we’re building communities rooted in rhythm, emotional awareness, and everyday resonance. Add your favorites. Make one with your kids. Send your grandmother a teen music crash course. Let this space grow with your life.
Shift Your Mood
These upbeat tracks boost dopamine levels, your brain’s “feel good” neurotransmitter. Just anticipating a happy chorus lights up the brain’s reward pathways. Rhythmic, major-key music can also lower cortisol, reducing stress and lifting your emotional state in minutes.
Home as a Sound; Together Tunes; Hearts and Harmony
Shared musical experiences trigger the release of oxytocin, the “bonding hormone,” which promotes trust, empathy, and connection. Singing or listening together also synchronizes heart rate and breathing, enhancing a sense of belonging and emotional safety.
Routine and Rewind: Bedtime Edition
Soft, slow-tempo music in the 60–80 BPM range mimics a resting heart rate, helping both children and adults downshift from the sympathetic nervous system (alert mode) to the parasympathetic (rest mode). Bedtime routines supported by music help signal the brain and body that it’s time to rest. Repetition and soothing tempos also calm the amygdala and strengthen the prefrontal cortex’s regulation of emotional responses—helping kids and adults feel safe, grounded, and ready for sleep.
Daily Pulse... Everyday Groove
Rhythmic, danceable music increases endorphins, the brain’s natural painkillers and euphoria enhancers. These songs also entrain your motor system, activating the basal ganglia and cerebellum, which improve movement coordination and energy regulation.
Don’t Talk to Me, Just Play It
Teen brains are wired for big emotions, social sensitivity, and self-definition—all things music meets head-on. Listening to emotionally resonant music triggers dopamine in the brain’s reward system and helps teens regulate intense feelings.
Creative Currents
Purposefully passive listening allows the default mode network—a brain system associated with imagination, memory consolidation, and creative ideation—to hum to life. It’s not zoning out—it’s zoning inward.
Playlist Collaboration with Sarah Rosensweet of Reimagine Peaceful Parenting
coaching, podcast, and free resources
Dance It Out: Shake Off the Stress
When to Use: After school meltdowns, end-of-day crankiness, transitions that need a boost of energy
Mood: Joyful, energetic, playful, and totally uninhibited
Purpose: Bonding through movement, releasing tension, and co-regulating in motion
Why it works: Moving together—especially to music—activates endorphins and oxytocin, which help us feel connected, safe, and emotionally synced. Even five minutes of shared dancing can help release irritability, lower cortisol levels, and bring laughter back into the room. You don’t need choreography. You just need to be willing to shake it out with your kid (yes, even in your kitchen).
Reset the Mood: Soothing the Nervous System
When to Use: After a tantrum, before a hard conversation, or during a tense transition
Mood: Calming, warm, slow, grounding
Purpose: Soothing emotional reactivity and helping kids shift from fight-or-flight to rest-and-restore
Why it works: Before we even say a word, music can do the heavy lifting. Slow, emotionally attuned sounds influence our breathing, heart rate, and even neural firing patterns, helping us calm down and regulate. It’s a nonverbal way to offer co-regulation—meeting big feelings with softness. Once the body feels safe, the mind can follow.