Can you remember the things you instinctually did as a child that made you feel better when life got stressful? Did you have a hobby or an activity that without much thought at all you turned to when you needed to escape reality. Coloring, drawing, dancing, singing, playing an instrument, exercising, do you remember if any of these helped you navigate through the stressors of childhood? Do you still do that thing, if not then why?
Once in a while, I wake up feeling like I am going to struggle through the entire day. Most often those are the mornings after a stressful night or when I am not looking forward to my scheduled activities for the day. Since I work very closely with people, it is imperative that I get myself together and get a grip on my attitude before I start interacting. Sometimes I notice my attitude and it’s as easy as making a decision to snap out of it, other times the struggle seems to linger.
Yesterday morning was one of those mornings. I woke up feeling as if it would be impossible for me to get through the day. l hadn’t slept well the night before and had an extremely long and busy day ahead. I just knew I would be so busy that there would be no time for me to do anything I actually enjoyed. The whole day was going to be about work, meetings, and errands. I certainly wanted to crawl back in my bed, bury myself under my blankets, and sleep the day away.
Instead, as life would have it I had to get up, get dressed, and start the busy day. As soon as I got in the car and started the engine the music blared from the speakers, enough to startle me. My son had driven my car the night before and had left the volume turned almost as high as it could get. Just as I reached to turn it off, I realized that the song playing was one of Whitney Houston’s. Since I was 10 years old I have been a die-hard Houston fan.
Before the song could end, I found myself searching for my “Whitney Houston’s Greatest Hits” CD (yes I still have CDs in my car). I needed to hear track #3, “Greatest Love of All”. I left the volume as high as it was and played that song over and over again all the way to work. At times I found myself just listening to the words and at times I sang along at the top of my lungs. By the time I arrived at work I was in the best mood. I wasn’t just feeling better than I did when I got out of bed, I was feeling great.
When I was 10 years old I was in a countywide talent show. I nervously sang “Amazing Grace”. Another young lady very confidently and beautifully sang “The Greatest Love of ALL”. It was the first time I heard the song and I immediately fell in love with it. I asked my aunt to buy me the tape. She did and my love for Whitney Houston was born. I loved her voice and all of the songs on that tape but “The Greatest Love of All” was by far my favorite, it became the song of my heart.
I blasted that song on my little stereo throughout my pre-teen and teenage years. I would sing along at the top of my lungs and somehow the world and all my problems would disappear. I would literally get lost in the words, the rhythm, and the way the song made me feel about myself. At the very least it made me feel better every single time, but sometimes after singing it about 10 or 15 times, I would feel like there was nothing in the world I couldn’t do. Over the years I had forgotten the influence of the song on my mood. Yesterday the Universe reminded me.
When we are young we are innately drawn to those things that are good for our soul. We instinctively know how to recover ourselves from the unpleasantries of negative feelings and moods. As we grow older society with all its many ways of influence, has a way of pulling us further and further away from our instinct. We eventually lose sight of those things that once 
comforted us. We start to turn to “adult” methods of relieving stress. Unfortunately, for many of us, the “adult” methods aren’t very effective, at least not effective enough to turn bad moods into great moods.
We have to remember what comforted us when we were young. Getting older changes a lot about a person, but many of the things that helped us cope once will still work now. If you can’t remember what those things were, just stay alert, the Universe has a way of reminding us and usually right at the perfect time.
Peace, Love, Blessings, & Continued Learning!
