(an excerpt from p. 26 of my book, Dear Inner Critic: a self-doubt activity book)
DANCE PARTY
Today, you get to be the DJ.
Make a list of songs that make you feel good and happy. Whatever music delights you.
Listen to these songs regularly, on purpose. Repeat as necessary. The positive feelings you get from these songs and their messages—especially because they come from music—may start to nudge out the voice of that certain unhelpful someone. This actually works—sometimes my feel-good songs jump into my head spontaneously.
Dance whenever you feel like it.
If you want to, share your list with a friend, or hum or sing the songs whenever you require an energy shift or some sunshine.
You’ll have your own songs. Here are some of mine:
Anne Harris, “Lullaby”; Prince, “I Would Die 4 U” (esp. the cover by Anne Harris); Talking Heads, “This Must Be The Place”; Staples Singers, “I’ll Take You There”; Curtis Mayfield, “Move On Up”; Singing Sweet, “When I See You Smile”; Waco Brothers, “Plenty Tough & Union Made”; Erykah Badu, “Back In The Day”; Pharrell Williams, “Happy”; Sufjan Stevens, “Chicago”; Bruno Mars, “Uptown Funk”; Style Council, “You’re The Best Thing”; The Roots, “You Got Me” (esp. live with Jill Scott and Erykah Badu); Belle and Sebastian, “If She Wants Me”; Muwosi, “Who I Am”; Ini Kamoze, “Here Comes The Hotstepper”; Pentatonix, “Cheerleader”; Snoop Dogg, “Beautiful”…
Extra credit:
Sing even louder.
