Using Music to Shift a Bad Hour
For an hour that has gone wrong and needs shifting rather than analyzing. It picks the mood to aim at, starts from where you actually are, keeps one playlist you never have to think about, and puts a track before the hard task.
Music · Emotion Regulation · Mindfulness · Self-Care · 9 items · whenever you need it
The checklist
- Name the mood you want to get to, not the one you are in — music works better when it is aimed.
- Start with where you actually are — a sad song first lets a brighter one land later.
- Keep one playlist you never have to think about — a list you trust saves deciding on a bad day.
- Put something on before the hard task, not during — a start you can hear beats a silent one.
- Use headphones when the room is too much — one layer between you and everything else helps.
- Play something from a good year once a week — a song can hand back a whole season of your life.
- Try the same album at the same time each evening — a repeated sound becomes a signal to wind down.
- Notice what you skip and take it off the list — a song you always skip is working against you.
- Sing or move to one track with nobody watching — music in the body does what listening alone does not.
Use this checklist Free account: tick items off and keep each day's record.
How to use it
Run through it whenever you need it, honestly and without scoring yourself. A checklist is a way of noticing, not a test: an item you cannot tick is information about the day, not a verdict on you. Over a few weeks the pattern of what gets ticked and what does not says more than any single pass.
With a free Theraglee account the checklist remembers each pass, so you can look back. Without one, you can still read it here and keep your own copy.