Dear Reader, Please Note: This is a guest article by my dear and sweet friend Avani of avani-mehta.com. Read more about her at the end of this article.
“Happiness is the soundtrack of my life” – Grey Livingston
For me, Happiness is …
Waking in the morning to my favorite song …
Listening to foot tapping numbers as I prepare for my work day …
Listening to soft instrumentals on a quiet evening …
And a whole lot of other songs and music pieces I love in between. …
Happiness hence, is about having the right songs and music handy and in play mode all day. Creating playlists of my favorite songs which give me happiness is therefore an obvious and ideal thing to do.
A playlist of morning numbers, a playlist of peppy songs, a playlist of soft songs, a playlist of instrumentals … there is a separate playlist for each theme. Each song for each playlist is picked out with care … each song gives me joy.
Then why not do the same thing for my mental playlist? After all … we think the same thoughts everyday. Well … almost same (80% of the 6000 thoughts that we have each day are repetitive).
Use Mental Playlist To Bring You Happiness
We think thoughts in same pattern everyday. While thoughts can change here and there, the theme remains same. If we wake up in morning with work related thoughts, then that’s how it is each and every morning. If we wind down at night thinking about things gone wrong, then that’s how it is each and every night.
It’s as if … there is a playlist of thoughts in our head which keeps repeating. The order of thoughts might not be same but they sure stick to same theme.
Most of the time we play in our mind thoughts of sadness and grief and worry and haste and anger and regret …
That most playlists are based on negative themes is not good news. But the fact that we repeat same themes everyday can definetely be.
Create Time Based Playlists
There are certain time slots during our day in which we habitually think the same thing. As given in the example above, when we wake up and when we go to sleep are two time periods which happen each and every day. And mostly by habit we think the same thing at that time. Because this is negative, it affects our mood negatively. But what if we get into the habit of using the same periods to bring happiness … how awesome will that be!
Use Playlist Of Dreams In The Morning
“Dream all you can and all you want to. For only those who have dreams can have their dreams come true …” – Avani Mehta
Imagine waking up in morning thinking about your dreams. Imagine seeing them come true in your mind. How wonderful that morning will feel.
How you ensure that your morning playlist is about dreams is up to you.
Here are two simple ideas to get your playlist of dreams started :
Visualize: Sit for a 5 to 15 minute meditation visualizing your dream coming true. See yourself making your dream come true. And live in the time when you have actually realised your dream – the way you feel, the way you look, the way your life changes … visualize and feel each and every thing.
Vision Board: The first thing to do every morning is spend time with your vision board. A vision board is a great tool to get you inspired and excited about your dreams. It’s basically one central place where you put together all the elements of your dream which excite you in forms of inspirational sayings, posters, photographs etc. Anything and everything which you see yourself achieving in your life in future … anything and everything you want for yourself goes on this vision board.
Use Playlist Of Appreciation In The Evening
“Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky
We spend way too much time thinking about things that we don’t have, things that aren’t right. If only we would give that much attention to the good things already existing in our life … the quality of our life will change dramatically.
As Colette beautifully said …
‘What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.’
So instead of using time before sleep in worry and thoughts of lack of things, use it to recognize and appreciate all the ways you have been blessed.
Some simple ideas to get your playlist of appreciation started …
Gratitude Journal : The idea behind gratitude journal is simple. Every evening, open your journal and write … ‘Today I am grateful for …… (fill in the blanks). You can have a pre-decided number on how many entries you will make per day (3 things you are grateful for today or 5 or 10 … whatever you choose)
Share Your Learnings: The way you think about things you are grateful for, think about things you learnt today. Especially on a day when things went wrong. What goes right when everything is wrong is that you get to learn something.
Sharing your learnings has two benefits – it helps you to build positivity (making lemonade from lemons) and brings you closer to your family with awesome night time conversations.
Playlists Of Happiness …
The morning and evening time slots, playlist of dreams and playlist of appreciation are just some examples to give you ideas on how can you create your own playlist of happiness based on time periods suitable to you.
Remember, playlists are all about giving your thoughts a direction. Because left on their own, thoughts run wild.
Some playlists which come to my mind right away when I think of happiness are ..
Playlist of Love
Playlist of Forgiveness
Playlist of Play
Playlist of Fun
Playlist of Inspiration
Playlist of Prayers
Playlist of Positive Thinking
Playlist of Success
Playlist of Friendship
Playlist of Relationships
Playlist of Learning & Growth
Playlist of Meditations
… What thoughts would you like to put in each of these playlists? And what are your playlists going to be? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
About the Author
Avani Mehta writes beautifully on motivation, inspiration and happiness. Not only does she write beautifully, but she is also a very very beautiful person. Hop on to her personal development blog to grab a copy of her free e-book : The Fabulous Motivators . You’ll Love it!
photo credit
With Immense Love & Gratitude,
~Zeenat~
For me, Happiness is …
Waking in the morning to my favorite song …
Listening to foot tapping numbers as I prepare for my work day …
Listening to soft instrumentals on a quiet evening …
And a whole lot of other songs and music pieces I love in between. … Happiness hence, is about having the right songs and music handy and in play mode all day. Creating playlists of my favorite songs which give me happiness is therefore an obvious and ideal thing to do. A playlist of morning numbers, a playlist of peppy songs, a playlist of soft songs, a playlist of instrumentals … there is a separate playlist for each theme. Each song for each playlist is picked out with care … each song gives me joy. Then why not do the same thing for my mental playlist? After all … we think the same thoughts everyday. Well … almost same (80% of the 6000 thoughts that we have each day are repetitive). Use Mental Playlist To Bring You Happiness
We think thoughts in same pattern everyday. While thoughts can change here and there, the theme remains same. If we wake up in morning with work related thoughts, then that’s how it is each and every morning. If we wind down at night thinking about things gone wrong, then that’s how it is each and every night.
It’s as if … there is a playlist of thoughts in our head which keeps repeating. The order of thoughts might not be same but they sure stick to same theme.
Most of the time we play in our mind thoughts of sadness and grief and worry and haste and anger and regret …
That most playlists are based on negative themes is not good news. But the fact that we repeat same themes everyday can definetely be. Create Time Based Playlists
There are certain time slots during our day in which we habitually think the same thing. As given in the example above, when we wake up and when we go to sleep are two time periods which happen each and every day. And mostly by habit we think the same thing at that time. Because this is negative, it affects our mood negatively. But what if we get into the habit of using the same periods to bring happiness … how awesome will that be! Use Playlist Of Dreams In The Morning
“Dream all you can and all you want to. For only those who have dreams can have their dreams come true …” – Avani Mehta
Imagine waking up in morning thinking about your dreams. Imagine seeing them come true in your mind. How wonderful that morning will feel.
How you ensure that your morning playlist is about dreams is up to you. Here are two simple ideas to get your playlist of dreams started :
Visualize: Sit for a 5 to 15 minute meditation visualizing your dream coming true. See yourself making your dream come true. And live in the time when you have actually realised your dream – the way you feel, the way you look, the way your life changes … visualize and feel each and every thing.
Vision Board: The first thing to do every morning is spend time with your vision board. A vision board is a great tool to get you inspired and excited about your dreams. It’s basically one central place where you put together all the elements of your dream which excite you in forms of inspirational sayings, posters, photographs etc. Anything and everything which you see yourself achieving in your life in future … anything and everything you want for yourself goes on this vision board. Use Playlist Of Appreciation In The Evening
“Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky
We spend way too much time thinking about things that we don’t have, things that aren’t right. If only we would give that much attention to the good things already existing in our life … the quality of our life will change dramatically.
As Colette beautifully said … ‘What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.’
So instead of using time before sleep in worry and thoughts of lack of things, use it to recognize and appreciate all the ways you have been blessed. Some simple ideas to get your playlist of appreciation started …
Gratitude Journal : The idea behind gratitude journal is simple. Every evening, open your journal and write … ‘Today I am grateful for …… (fill in the blanks). You can have a pre-decided number on how many entries you will make per day (3 things you are grateful for today or 5 or 10 … whatever you choose)
Share Your Learnings: The way you think about things you are grateful for, think about things you learnt today. Especially on a day when things went wrong. What goes right when everything is wrong is that you get to learn something.
Sharing your learnings has two benefits – it helps you to build positivity (making lemonade from lemons) and brings you closer to your family with awesome night time conversations. Playlists Of Happiness …
The morning and evening time slots, playlist of dreams and playlist of appreciation are just some examples to give you ideas on how can you create your own playlist of happiness based on time periods suitable to you. Remember, playlists are all about giving your thoughts a direction. Because left on their own, thoughts run wild.
Some playlists which come to my mind right away when I think of happiness are ..
Playlist of Love
Playlist of Forgiveness
Playlist of Play
Playlist of Fun
Playlist of Inspiration
Playlist of Prayers
Playlist of Positive Thinking
Playlist of Success
Playlist of Friendship
Playlist of Relationships
Playlist of Learning & Growth
Playlist of Meditations … What thoughts would you like to put in each of these playlists? And what are your playlists going to be? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
About the Author
With Immense Love & Gratitude,
~Zeenat~