Gratitude I

The Gratitude Song

James Dempsey

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues but the parent of all others.” ~ Cicero

I have developed a lot of mood changing energy exercises over the course of my healing practice.   But there is one that I personally use the most often.  It is the “Thank You, Thank You, Thank You” song.  Thank you are two of the most powerful words in our language.  Just saying those words out loud creates happy chemicals in your brain, and repeating them out aloud is an excellent way to change your mood – quickly.

I have written a ton of stuff about Gratitude and how it can affect your mood.  Some of the techniques I teach are fairly complex and demand some concentration and thought.  I started to notice, more and more, situations in which I would need a mood lift, fairly quickly  and began to look for the quickest, easiest way to do it.  I believe I have actually discovered a method that can change your mood in less than a minute.

I sing:

“Thank you… thank you… thank you…
Thank you… thank you… THANK you…
Thank you, thank you… thank YOU…
Thank you, thank you… thank you.”

I sing it in a “sing song” voice, like I child might when they are making up a little song.  I sing it over and over until I feel my mood shift.

I am a person who is bipolar.  After years of suffering low moods I have found that I can turn things around in less than a minute with this little ditty.

I sing it at least once every day.

There are days that I have to sing it many, many times.

I have made it the first tool I reach for when I need a lift.  It sounds silly, and maybe it is, but it is easily the single most effective mood elevator I have found.

The other cool thing is that you can also play with this song and sing it along to just about any song you are listening to on the radio.  You can sing it over any tune, as long as it isn’t like “Sympathy for the Devil” or some other bummer song.  The words can be stretched and morphed over any of your favorite songs with a little bit of imagination, and some verbal gymnastics.

I used  to sing this song along with whatever song is on the radio during my daily commutes to and from work.  I have done it for years. It is a tremendous stress reliever during rush hour, and is really amazing during traffic jams when otherwise I would feel crushed and victimized by forces beyond my control.

This song helps me TAKE control of the situation that would otherwise stress me out.  The other thing about doing this on your commute is that your car is a great place to sing this song, LOUDLY, without feeling self-conscious about it.

I have taught this technique to many people in seminars, and workshops.  I ran a workshop once in which I taught this song to the group.  I dialed through five or six stations on a portable radio and had them sing along.  Four months later, a woman who had attended that workshop approached me with this story.  She had been unemployed for 5 years and just recently had gotten a new job.  She told me she thought that the single most important thing she did to turn herself around in the months following the seminar, was that she sang the “thank you, thank you, thank you” song multiple times each day.  I WAS FLOORED.  But after I thought about it, I wasn’t really surprised, because it had worked for me too.

Sounds silly, but it works.   Give it a try.  And remember,

If you think you can sing… sing loud.

And if you think you can’t sing…………..sing louder!!

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