The surprises Spotify Wrapped revealed about my life and practice

It’s easy to think of everything I put in my mouth as nourishment…but what about my mind?

As someone who used to be obsessed with breaking news and prided myself on being in-the-know (and also extremely anxious and worried all the time), I stop and ask myself whenever I load up my Spotify app: What soundwaves do I want to send into my brain? What am I actually hungry for today? The answer often surprises me.

Spotify is one of the most popular digital services with over 700 million active users each month streaming billions of hours of audio.

Each year concludes with a summary of your top tracks and trends, and it can reveal a lot about your habits. And if you share your account with a loved one, it can even shed light on your relationship!

When I got my stats for 2025, I wasn’t surprised that it told me my eclectic taste is hard to define (I listened across 251 genres). But here are three things that surprised me:

1. Devotional Music landed in the #1 spot (oh God, have I become one of those spiritual people??) and Hindustani Classical came second (I didn’t even know what that was a year ago!)

2. My Top 5 Podcasts included two about Vedic philosophy, one that invited me on as a guest (never saw that coming!), and of course a couple spicy ones that might be too hot for the Average Bear to handle. What can I say…I have range 😉

3. My Biggest Music Listening Day is ironically one I don’t remember much of.

My Biggest Music Listening Day fell on the weekend of my surgery, which was delayed by a few days thanks to the freak snow storm that brought New Orleans to a standstill in January. I never turned on the TV during my stay in the hospital. Mantra music was my constant companion, and it carried me through in a very real way.

Prior to surgery I had a dream that I was traveling through downtown New Orleans on the back of a giant elephant. It was huge, like several stories tall! The atmosphere was joyful and raucous, like I was part of a big parade. I wasn’t sure what I was celebrating, but it felt wild and alive! I felt safe and secure riding on the back of my elephant friend.

The next morning, my mom and I did one of my favorite rituals – we talked about our dreams over breakfast. I told her about my elephant adventure and we laughed about it, thinking I must have been tapping into some of the rowdy party energy New Orleans is known for. I didn’t think much of it beyond that.

Later we headed to the hospital for final preparations. The surgical team guided me through various steps, discussing the surgery in detail, answering all my questions, taking photos, labs, and a CT scan to get a detailed map of my vasculature. This is an important part of preparing for microsurgery, so the blood vessels from my donor site can be connected with those on my chest. This ensures the transferred tissue survives the process of autologous breast reconstruction.

As our appointment came to a close the surgeon gave me his final pep talk. “Recovery is going to be hard, but you can do it.” He shared stories of a couple of his patients, including one woman much older than myself, who were able to make a solid, complete recovery and return to active lifestyles. “You won’t get your energy back right away, but you will. It just might feel like you’re riding around on an elephant for a while.”

Me and my mom looked at each other with wide eyes. The elephant I was riding! This wasn’t my first precognitive dream rodeo, so I took it in stride, and I felt reassured that everything was going to be ok.

To be honest, 7 months out from the last surgery, there are still some times I feel like I am lumbering around on an elephant. Fast twitch muscles take their sweet time healing. But I trust that every step of the way and eventually on the other side of this recovery, I am exactly where I am meant to be. The possibility remains that I won’t regain full function, and it’s also possible I could be stronger than ever before.

One thing this recovery has taught me is that I can’t heal on willpower alone. I need all the help I can get! The older I get, the more pragmatic I become. If something helps, I do it. If it doesn’t, I let it go. So here’s where I admit that I don’t think I dreamed of some anonymous elephant... Maybe it’s Ganesh.

Some people relate to Ganesh as a deity for worship, as a spirit guide of sorts, or as an aspect of themselves. Ganesh is known as the remover of obstacles and chanting his mantra (Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha) calls in his support. I’ve gotten to know his energy as an archetypal presence whose symbolism has become meaningful to me.

I used to picture Ganesh like the Kool-Aid Man, busting through anything that gets in the way of progress in a dramatic fashion. But over the last year, I’ve come to know him as a steady presence that doesn’t necessarily eliminate difficulties, but has the strength and endurance to carry me through them. He works like a sapper – clearing paths strategically, paving the way for progress.

Another aspect of many Hindu cosmological models that fascinates me and speaks to the symbolism of elephants is the idea that the world is supported and stabilized by 8 mighty Digajas, or the elephants of the directions. As told on the The Emerald podcast where you can learn more about the mythology around the 30 minute mark: “They form a layer of support to the cosmos. They bear the weight of the earth from the underworld.”

How reassuring to know I don’t need to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders!

When I think back to that dream now, almost a year later, I see how more meaning has unfolded along the way. The path of healing was never meant to be quick. And to my surprise, it has meant being carried, fully supported, and joyful. And when the joy overflows inside of me, I travel around sharing it with anyone on my path willing to receive it. I’ll never forget the day in 2020 my teacher told me: Joy is never inappropriate.

We are going to suffer. Let’s learn to suffer, joyfully.

What surprises did Spotify Wrapped reveal about your life and practice? Let me know in the comments below, or send me a note! I love to hear from readers.