Tuning Your Radio: Part 1
Lately, I’ve noticed many of my decisions and reactions are impacted by what kind of environment I’m surrounding myself with, as well as the useful or harmful voice in my head. What shows am I watching? What books am I reading? What music am I rocking out to? And most importantly, what people am I allowing to infiltrate my tiny spot in the universe? Each answer can have a precise impact on how my mood, mindset for decisions, and general outlook on life. It got me thinking about tuning your radio.
Stick with me here. Think about it: when you’re in the heat of exercise or revving up that elliptical, my guess is you aren’t listening to beats by Mozart. For the exact same reason, you don’t walk into a Zumba class and find tranquil nature sounds playing. Relaxing and calm music, however, is perfect to set the mood for yoga, when you’re breathing deep into that stretch and praying this is not the pose you’ll need to be physically lifted out of.
The music you listen to drastically affects your mindset.
Ever been driving and your favorite song comes on? Next thing you know, you’re cruising at 90 mph! Been there! Luckily, the autobahn in Germany is a little more forgiving than speeding in the states.
I’ve been working on establishing my relationship with the Almighty, and I found myself sobbing while listening to a beautiful worship song.
How? How can music have such a dramatic affect on our emotional state?
Music is not the only media source that can take you from 0-60 in two seconds flat.
Before my last pregnancy, I was an avid Law and Order: SVU watcher. My goodness, I loved it. Something about crime and the idea that some of this stuff could actually happen. During this last pregnancy, I was off my emotional rocker—pregnant with triplets, living in a foreign country—whatever. I watched one episode, and I was crying for weeks! All of a sudden, I was terrified to let my older son play outside. Everyone was a potential pedophile, and all our neighbors had some secret agenda for being nice.
I needed to take a step back and realize my reality was not the one I’d been watching. My reality was full of good people, who honestly wanted to help.
I decided to walk down the path of personal development and read a book about it. After one chapter, my entire outlook was more in focus. I suddenly had this passion for digging in and getting the work done—and done well! Not because it needed to be done, but because I knew I had this passion and basic love for what I was doing. Now I make it a practice to have a consistent routine that includes things that bring life and joy into my day.
I get up early enough to work out before anyone else is awake in my house. After that, I meditate for ten minutes. In those ten minutes my body is calm and peaceful. I push out all negativity and anxiety about tasks that need to be done during the day.
Check out part two of Tuning Your Radio here.
