In my previous newsletter, I suggested trying out saying to yourself “What else can I enjoy right now,” repeatedly, until it becomes an unconscious mantra. That directs your attention toward what you can enjoy (rather than the gripes and problems that so often occupy our attention, and make us feel bad). But there is another aspect that becomes apparent if you compare it with a similar statement, “What can I enjoy right now,” which has a much weaker effect. The latter statement implies that you aren’t enjoying anything right now (even though that is not a logical consequence of the statement), while the “else” in the former question presupposes that you are ALREADY enjoying something.

Now for this month’s quickie: Everyone knows how a song or jingle can get “stuck” in your head, playing endlessly, and often annoyingly. Why not use this ability in a positive way? Think of some song that already has a positive effect on you, and deliberately sing it to yourself over and over, until it becomes an unconscious background. One of my favorites is “I’m sitting on the top of the world.” Another, sung by Rita Coolidge, I have forgotten the title of, but the lyrics go, “You can do whatever, you want to do whatever, you want to, and you’ll never die.” Singing a song that elicits a state that you find useful or uplifting is a great way to establish and maintain a mood, and it can also change your mood when you’re “down.” Sometimes when I first sing a song that is very different from my current mood, it seems artificial, or I have tears resulting from the conflicting moods, but quickly the song takes over and my mood changes. I think one factor in its power is that the words primarily activate the left hemisphere, while the melody activates the right one at the same time.