Day 27 - What's On Your Soundtrack?

It amazes me how thoughts, words, music and even smells can immediately trigger deep emotional responses. For instance, if I were to tell you to think of the theme music from the movie, Rocky, I can almost guarantee you that as it plays in your mind, you begin to feel powerful - like an underdog that's destined to overcome their greatest obstacle. You'll likely picture yourself running up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum and your heart rate may even begin to elevate.

Some of these emotional triggers are universally programmed in many of us through our exposure to movies and other mass media. Others, are more personal, like the smell of cinnamon that, for some, may trigger feelings of love and acceptance that came from a dear mother or grandmother who loved to bake.

The point is that we all have these emotional triggers that conjure up feelings and beliefs that were programmed into us when we were first exposed to them. The more intense the emotional experience or frequent the exposure dictates how powerful the triggers - and their effect on us - actually are. As much as we may like to think we are always conscious and fully in control, too often, we are not. To some extent, we all fall into patterns of feeling and behavior based on our response to these triggers.

So, what can we do about it?

1 - Begin To Get Rid Of Your Negative Programming

Slow down your mind and try to be more aware of how you are feeling and thinking throughout the day. If you are experiencing a negative feeling - especially one that seems disproportionate to the what you're actually going through at the moment - try to think if there is anything there that has triggered that. 

I know for myself, I found that there was a particular phrase that a client of mine used that triggered the same emotional response I had as a child when a well-meaning, yet emotionally abusive loved one would shout it at me. Until then, I had no idea why a client that I otherwise loved would irk me so much with that.

By raising your level of awareness as you go through your life, you may be able to root out some destructive triggers and weed out some root causes of self-defeating or self-destructive behaviors. But, even when you don't find out what the root trigger is, you'll be far more in control as you are able to choose how you feel about an experience versus playing an 'old record' simply because someone pushed a button.

2 - Create Your Own Positive Soundtrack

The cool thing is that we can create quick and massive positive changes in our level of performance by filling our minds with positive input. Am I suggesting that you can JUST think positive things and make all the negative experiences go away. NO WAY! At the same time, an upbeat, positive mindset helps us take positive actions and perform at our best. It helps us to look beyond the challenges so that they have less effect on us.

Don't believe me? Then tell me how well you think you'd perform in your work, day by day, if you were playing the theme song of "Take This Job And Shove It" over and over in your mind, versus the theme song of "Rocky." Yeah... that's what I thought ;-)

In the Bible, Philippians 4:8 tells us --

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."

As with  so much of scripture, I believe this passage is not given as a restriction to limit us, but as a guide to experiencing more and greater joy. It is telling us by creating a positive soundtrack in our mind, we will have greater success in life!

So, how do we create a positive soundtrack? The key is in what we feed our mind:

The people we surround ourselves with - Are we making sure to spend most of our time with those who are positive, who build others up and genuinely want what's best for others?

The things we read - Are we reading biographies of people who we truly wish to emulate? Are we reading the Bible and other non-fiction books that help us grow and improve ourselves? Even in our choices of fiction, are the messages and lessons of the book worthy of our time or are the "good guys" not so good and the "bad guys" not so bad and the moral of the story somewhat 'dark?' Proactively pick titles that will help you develop a mindset that will bring increase to your life.

The things we watch - Just like books - garbage in, garbage out! And, if you choose to watch something that you know in your heart is more of a 'sinful indulgence' you're going to have to be extra careful to not let the negative programming take hold.

The music we listen to - this is a GREAT way of quickly changing our emotional state and empowering us to deal effectively with negative situations. I have a series of songs I listen to every morning to get me in the right frame of mind for the day. Though I'm not a country music fan at all, the song above is one of those songs. It's my FIGHT SONG for when things go wrong or I fail at something.


By consciously filling our minds with 'good stuff' we are taking responsibility for our own programming. We create our own soundtrack so that no matter what we experience, our mind and heart will immediately recall that song, that quote, that friend's words that will help us make the most of whatever situation we are in.


So what's on your soundtrack? Do you have any tips that could help the rest of us create a positive soundtrack in our own minds?
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About This Chart: For those who haven't been following, I created this daily chart for the purpose of communicating and tracking some of my more important goals - publicly. You can read about it in THIS EARLIER POST.