Part 4 - Contamination

Part 4 of my Enriching Life blog is all about contamination, the things that enter our conscious and subconscious and have a positive and negative impact...  As you will see from reading this post, it is amazing how much we absorb each and every minute of the day, in fact as you read this it is my hope that you are being positively contaminated as I start to spread the Enriching Life infection.

The power of music:  I am sure that you will agree that music has great power, it can move you to tears, it can bring back special memories, it can annoy you to the point of going crazy and let’s not forget it can also get those feet moving as we dance around the house like crazy people when there's no one else around (oops, is that just me?).  We all know this, however how much attention do you pay to the music you invite into your ears?   Over time I have worked with a number of people that are feeling depressed and one of the first things I ask them is what music are you listening to?  the answer generally is something slow and sad, full of depressing lyrics about how someone has stopped loving another or how someone is no longer in their lives.  My immediate reaction is to tell them to stop it, clear your MP3 player of all the depressing music and stick something upbeat and fun on instead, contaminate the mind with positives not negatives.

This may sound really simple but ask yourself how many times have you listened to a slow sad song when you have been feeling down?  Brilliant if you can say never, but for most people including myself in the past, we have fallen in to the trap...  When we are feeling low we tend to be attracted to negatives, I can remember when my Nan passed away (a women I loved dearly and had a great influence on my life) I was immediately drawn to sad music, music that enhanced my mourning, I would sit for hours listening to songs that reflected my sad state, one song that stands out to me now is The Corrs "Forgiven not forgotten" with the first two lines clearly demonstrating what I mean  "All alone staring on, Watching her life go by"  followed in the second verse with "A bleeding heart torn apart, Left on an icy grave".  Even if you were feeling on top of the world these lyrics would be enough to make you feel pretty low, so why did I add to my sorrow.  At the time I didn't think about it, I was too caught up in grief to realise that I was wrapping myself in further sadness.  I was not honouring my Nan's life, which had been full of laughter, dancing, joy and great memories, I was caught up in her death, very sad when I look back and think that I wasted months focused on her death and forgot about the life she lead.  Do I like to feel sad?  No of course not, feeling sad is not a state that is good for us, we all experience enough sadness in our lives without inviting more of it in...  I have now learnt that there is a time for sadness and I will allow myself to indulge in my sorrow for a time, but I very quickly remind myself that life if for living, I change my record and start listening to something that will bring me back to life.  As a great women once said to me "this is your one wild and precious life, live it".  Thanks for those words Kath Temple, they contaminated my mind in a very positive way!


I know that most of you will know this song well but I would like to share it with you for personal reasons...  When my Nan was in her late 60's we watched Dirty Dancing together, my Nan stood up as this song was playing and did a high kick (she used to be a ballroom dancer and was exceptionally good), she turned, looked me and said, I've still got it...  I love that memory and I honour her now by sharing this with you.

Hidden messages: The music I have talked about above is obvious, we can clearly see that there will be a negative emotional impact if we listen to music that is clearly melancholic, however our subconscious mind is highly sensitive and picks up on far more than our conscious mind.  Recently I became increasingly interested in the power of music on the conscious and subconscious levels, this lead me to pay more attention to the lyrics of the music I was listening to, in fact I attempted to put a positive CD together to listen to in the car whilst travelling to work in the mornings, it was my intention to give myself a morning high in order to set my day up for success, my challenge was to not only to find music that was melodically uplifting, it also had to be lyrically positive.  I was fully aware that the lyrics I invite into my ears enter my conscious and subconscious mind, delivering either positive or negative messages, I wanted my morning CD to be 100% uplifting.   It is amazing how much the conscious mind misses whereas the subconscious mind is like a sponge, soaking up far more than we give it credit for.  If we are listening to an up tempo song with messages of hardship, sorrow, grief etc our subconscious will be sublimely effected, the mood shift this creates may not be huge but believe me, if you want an enriching life, avoiding negative contamination where possible will assist you in your pursuit.  Anyway back to the CD, when I started searching through my music collection I was surprised to find that a large proportion had a negative message, I had been listening to songs believing they were uplifting, up tempo and positive without any regard for the lyrics.  I quickly changed my music of choice and continue to search for music that pleases my conscious and subconscious mind.  I did manage to put together my CD and have to say that on a few occasions I felt as high as a kite when I arrived at work, it generated a few questions from my colleagues as to why I was so happy, when I explained about my positive CD I was met with a few strange looks, some laughs and from some a look of enthusiasm.

Surround yourself with laughter
its a great positive contaminator

Your mind is open all the time:  I have talked a lot about music, however this is not the only form of contamination that surrounds us, we are polluted all the time, through television, movies, books and people.  Our minds have very little immunity against the infectious society we live in.  We are influenced all the time, our moods are lifted when we turn on the news and there is a good news story and they are very quickly brought down when there is a tragic news story.  We are lifted when we watch a feel good movie or we can taste the bitterness of a sad film for days when it moves us to tears.  We operate on feelings and the impact of our surroundings should never be underestimated.   Recently I went to the cinema to watch a horror film (mistake), I walked in feeling really buzzed, I had spent the day on an NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) course and had been practising confidence trances, I was in a really good place.  Within 10 minutes I could feel the physical shift of my body as my mental state became more negative, my heart rate was increasing and the adrenaline was pumping...  I was highly tuned in to my mental state at this time and did not like the way I was feeling.  As the film continued I became less and less comfortable and decided that I was going to shut the film out...  Now this may sound a bit strange to you, but I put myself into a state of hypnosis, I sent myself off to a lakeside location and took a stroll along the crystal clear waters, I felt my physical state shift as my mental state improved, I felt relaxed and my adrenaline was replaced with serotonin (the bodies feel good chemical), I was back where I started when I walked into the cinema, I was back on a feel good high.  You may be thinking why didn't I just leave? That thought had gone through my mind, but I was out with my partner and we had not been out for a while due to work commitments, therefore it felt right at the time to do what I did.  Now when I look back I must admit I have a smile on my face when I think about how strange I must have looked to the other cinema goers, the film was full of jumpy and scary moments that they were all physically reacting to and I was sitting there relaxed in my seat with a contented smile on my face.  Now I select my films with caution and aim to see only those that enhance my feelings of well-being, there are plenty of cheesy feel good movies out there to keep me happy.


Choose positive contamination: In order to live a happy life we must reduce the negative contamination, I am not saying we need to remove it, for some the feeling of adrenaline whilst watching a movie is a feeling they desire and I am not here to say that this is wrong, we all have different desires, wants and needs, however if you are feeling less than happy, restrict it, avoid negative enhancers, choose a happy movie, song or book instead.  The more we invite positive contamination into our lives the more normal the feeling of feeling good becomes, our bodies become more used to positive chemicals flowing around our systems and we become happier.  Give it a try, what have you got to lose, stick a couple of buzzy songs on, watch a comedy and avoid negatives.


People contaminate people: You may have noticed that I have steered away from talking about how people have an impact on our happiness, our moods and our way of living, the reason for this is that the subject is vast, people have a huge impact on us in so many ways. When I started to write this part of my blog I was going to cover all areas in one go but it became apparent that this section would be far too long, therefore I am going to cover people in part 5, how we are positive mood enhancers and negative zappers, how our reaction and framing of people can lead to unnecessary negative feelings and how just a few simple actions can create happier relationships.


Thanks for reading...  Take care and remember the most important thing to wear each day is a smile!


Thought I'd leave you with a bit of cheese.... A funny scene from Disneys Enchanted

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