Here's some food for thought.

I'm sure you've heard sayings such as "you are what you eat" and "garbage in = garbage out" when looking for a satisfying diet plan for your health.

Over the years studies have shown that a well-balanced diet is important in maintaining the proper bodily function, improving memory, and fighting off diseases such as Alzheimer's or dementia.

Yes, all of that is true, and taking up music lessons does help in slowing down the aging process.

However, just like how any musical instrument must be properly tuned in order to sound and perform at its best, the same it is with your mind.  Yes, your mind, not your brain is your most vital musical instrument. We can feed our brain with all sorts of yummy and nutritious foods that keep it at its peak performance. Unfortunately, when our mind is under constant anxiety and stress, regardless of what food goes in, the mind will produce garbage out.

The Tripartite Nature of Men and Women

We tend to forget that our bodies come in 3 parts: the physical body that we see in the mirror, the emotional/intellectual which is our spirit, and finally, a soul which is the combination of all three.  You can say in fact that you are a 3-stringed instrument!  When you look at yourself in this regard, you can perhaps better understand how if one part of you is out of tune, the rest goes out of tune just the same.  It's the same effect as guitar strings being out of tune.  One bad apple spoils the bunch.

For this reason, it is important to no only feed the body with nutrition but the mind too.  This is where musical inspiration ultimately comes from.  Taking time to meditate and clear your mind from the daily grind and stress is an important step before picking up your instrument to play.  Go out for a walk in the park or the woods, go to an art gallery, spend some time with your pets, head out by the lake or river, or whatever place you can find that you can retreat to and charge your batteries. 

Feed your mind with good food.  With everything going on in the world today, we're being reminded that we can't always depend on what a doctor or bureaucrat says is good for our health.  The one good thing about playing an instrument is that if kept in proper working order, it will always bring you the truth. People and their rules for life change, but a musical note will always remain the same, no matter what instrument it's played on.

Sources:

1. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennifercohen/2015/02/05/12-best-foods-to-boost-brain-power/
2. http://www.psychologytoday.com/the-resilient-brain/201410/dark-chocolate-good
3. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/your-brain-on-food
4. https://www.brainfacts.org/neuroscience-in-society/the-arts-and-the-brain/2017/art-music-and-the-brain-how-the-arts-influence-us-021617
5. https://nypost.com/2021/09/07/wuhan-lab-documents-show-fauci-untruthful-about-research-critics/
6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3115284/