I have these vivid memories of my family when I was a kid. Sometimes during weekends or in the evenings, my dad would go into the living-room, turn on the radio, find a station with some upbeat music and then turn the volume nice and high. We used to have these humongous speakers my dad was really proud of, a statement of my parents’ love of music and parties, something we, the children of the free world, will never understand although it’s all too well known to those who grew up in a communist country where Michael Jackson, Abba & Queen were as scarce just as they are abundant today. And when my dad would turn the volume close to the maximum, it felt like the whole place would join in our celebration. My brother, my mother and I would materialise into the room and the four of us would dance and laugh together. In just three minutes, the energy in the house would change, our happy souls would beat in unison and the day would continue on an even more positive note.
Have your ever thought about the possibility of choosing the way you feel?
We often blame people and situations for the way they made us feel, without even taking into consideration that maybe we can choose the way we feel about someone or something we’ve just experienced. Yes, this would mean taking responsibility for the way we feel at all times; putting behind the days when we gave ourselves excuses and good reasons to feel shit / unhappy / grumpy / powerless / bored / uninspired / bad / stupid / rejected / add here whatever negative feeling you want.
Here are 3+1 ways in which you can change the way you feel in a matter of minutes:
- Stop! Stand up! Stretch! Look up! Put on a big grin! – By stretching & contracting all your muscles, more blood is pumped to your heart and more oxygen towards your lungs. Your chest expands, your breath is deeper, you feel all those muscles you forgot you have. You end up feeling refreshed and energised; and it only takes a few minutes!
- Go for a workout! – Working out will engage both your mind and your body. While your body puts in all the effort, your mind will let all those negative thoughts and feelings slip away and replace them with feelings of achievement, well-being and satisfaction. The secret for easily getting yourself to the gym is to find a class you’re happy to go to and an instructor that speaks your language. Know exactly what you’re looking for, write down your criteria and then track down the class & instructor that tick your boxes.
- Listen to some loud music, do a little dance! – There must be quite a few songs you love listening to! Turn on your fave music box, connect it to your speakers and play one of those songs that lift you off your chair no matter what! Sing, jump around, do whatever feels right for you.
- Just change your physiology! – The feelings we experience are accompanied by various physiologies. In the examples above, we change our physiology in order to change the way we feel. It’s easy to change your physiology in any place and circumstance; stretching your back, lifting your chin, pushing your shoulders back, breathing deeper… all these changes in body posture impact the way you feel inside.
I’m not sure my dad was aware of all this when he was playing loud music in our living-room; I think it was more about celebrating being together and having fun rather than consciously changing his or our moods. What’s sure is that the habit of occasionally playing loud, upbeat music stayed with me and I still enjoy it just as much.
