What Your "Earworms" say about you.

Earworms, those songs, often annoying, that swirl around your head sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for days on end.

Music has always been a passion of mine. Through out my life I have been in bands, been a DJ and spent a large part of my career in musical theatre. I am very rarely without a tune in some way or form whether out loud, on headphones or simply singing along to myself.

Recently as a consultant starting to explore the field of Mindfulness, I have started to pay closer attention to those earworms that seem to play more often than others on my internal jukebox. Both the melodies and the lyrics. I began to ask myself a series of questions;

• What was happening at the moment a specific melody or peice of music came to mind?
• What was I feeling?
• What happens if I actively change the internal soundtrack to my life? What if I decide to flip the record over and use my earworm, as they call it in Mindfulness, as a resource?

So here is a small chart count down of a few of my recurring earworms. Note these aren't simply my favourite songs or tunes that I heard on the radio in the morning, but rather part of a sub-conscious playlist.

1. Dazed and Confused - Led Zeppelin. The title pretty much sums up what I'm feeling if that starts swimming around.
2. Something Big - Burt Bacharach. This often plays when I'm working on a project in which I feel slightly out of my depth. "Like a grain of sand, I want to be a rolling stone".
3. Nobody Home - Pink Floyd. I spend a lot of time on the road and for anyone who has been on tour or worked away from home they will understand the sentiment of the song.

So when any of these songs start playing I have started to replace them with an alternative earworm that will either calm me, motivate/inspire me or simply put a bit of context on the situation. This little bit of playlist management has not only begun to improve my mood but also my productivity. So here is my alternative playlist.

1. Kings of the Rodeo - Kings of Leon. Its good to feel like a rock god at your desk sometimes.
2. Don't Worry Baby - The Beach Boys. Personal nostalgia that makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
3. Last Night Changed it All - Esther Williams. Great piece of funk that makes me strut inside and out.

And sometimes when a meeting, situation, client or personal appraisal is getting serious, upsetting or just plain boring try "Shaddap you Face". by Joe Dolce.

What are your Earworms? Let me know. I'm always interested to know how music moves other people and how people use it to move themselves in different directions.

Finally let me leave you with my favourite piece of music that provides levity, humour and some much need context to even the most serious of situations. Try playing it in your head next time your getting a dressing down from the boss.

You're Welcome.