Best happiness life hack this year: Creating and listening to my “Happy” playlist on iTunes. I got this suggestion from a HuffPost 30 day happiness challenge I tried earlier in the year. I can’t remember any of the other suggestions, but this one stuck. It’s easy. It’s fun. And it really, really works.
Put all your favorite happy songs on a single playlist. Then, when you need an instant mood changer, you’ve got it. Sounds deceptively simple, but there is definitely an art to crafting such a list. I weighed the pros and cons of some songs. Had to remove others that weren’t upbeat enough. Ran to the list several times and have finally refined it to perfection. This won’t work for those of you who prefer streaming radio like Spotify, but for those of us born before Regan was shot, I like to buy and own music. Go figure. I don’t like others to pick songs for me and I don’t want any suggestions. I want to hear what I want to hear when I want to hear it.
Hence, the Happy Playlist. Mine includes some oldies but goodies — 38 Special’s Caught Up in You, Jackson 5, Beatles, boy bands like N’Sync (yes, I admitted it!), Meghan Trainer (Your Lips are Movin), Neon Trees, Journey. Need I say more. Songs that never fail to make me feel alive. The good times roll when the Happy playlist is on.
And it’s hella cheaper than $1500 tickets to hear some of the same folks sing at the fancy “Desert Trip” this weekend, featuring the Stones, Dylan, Paul McCartney, the Who and Neil Young. Seventy-five thousand mostly, middle-aged (or older) fans are expected to make the trek to this three-day extravaganza in southern California, being touted as “the last Boomer Blowout.” Hospitals are on high alert for out of shape partiers and businesses are sprouting up to tap into this demographic’s affluence. But it’s all about the music, babe.
Good times, but I’m sticking with my playlist. Try it!
Boonedoggler 