My Favorite Things

Who can forget Julie Andrews, in the 1965 film, “The Sound of Music, singing “A Few of My Favorite Things” with the Von Trapp children during a thunderstorm? She did so to comfort them and divert their attention away from the storm.

 My Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things! 

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels

Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings

These are a few of my favorite things!

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eye lashes

Silver white winters that melt into spring

These are a few of my favorite things! 

When the dog bites, when the bee stings

When I'm feeling sad,

I simply remember my favorite things

 and then I don't feel so bad! 

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things!

(A few of these are among my favorite things as well! What are some of your favorite things?)

Maria was a happy and positive woman who took the children on picnics, bicycle rides, climbed trees with them and took them out on a boat on the lake adjoining the von Trapp estate. Maria brought music back into the von Trapp home and the family’s life improved.

I think there may be several lessons to take away from this: 

·         We need to be positive. It’s enjoyable to keep company with positive people.

·         We should let the child in us come out, at least once in awhile.

·         Music adds value to life

I read an article recently that reported people who see the brighter side of things are less stressed and enjoy greater health benefits. A study of 99 Harvard University students found that students who were optimists at age 25 were significantly healthier at ages 45 and 60 than those who were pessimists. Other studies have linked a pessimistic explanatory style with higher rates of infectious disease, poor health and earlier mortality.

As for embracing our inner child, just for the fun of it, we could retry doing the things we loved doing as a kid. Here are some suggestions from wikiHow:

·         Go to the playground, the toy aisle or a cartoon movie session. 

·         Stop obsessing over the small things. Kids are carefree! Let go of worries and see if the world around you tumbles. You'll be surprised that it doesn't. And maybe you'll regain some clarity and perspective. 

·         Kids are able to feel something intensely and then move on quickly from it. Try it. Feel what you feel without judging the feeling ("I shouldn't feel this way") so that you can move on from that feeling without holding onto it. It works! 

·         If you have kids or grandkids, do the stuff they like to do. Swing with them or trick-or-treat with them. Look at the world through their eyes. Build castles and mud highways with them. Get dirty, blow bubbles, toss balls over the neighbor's fence and fetch them back sheepishly. Jump rope and eat snack-sized puddings. 

·         Stop obsessing over calories. Have a lollipop. Have a chocolate fudge coated something that looks so fattening and screams "eat me". Run around madly afterwards as a kid would do and you'll soon burn off those calories! 

·         Never say the phrase "I'm too old".  

·         Turn everyday chores into something fun: Doing the laundry? Lie in the basket of warm laundry; well, your head at least! 

·         Digging holes outside? Play in the mud.

·         Cleaning your room? Dance to some music. 

·         Decorating? Paint rude words on the wall before you hang the wallpaper over it.

·        Come back to Earth gently. Sure, you will eventually have to return to responsible adulthood. But learn from the fun that childhood teaches. Learn to always cast back your memory to fun childhood times and the things that made you feel safe, fulfilled and happy. Build on those memories in a way that allows you to be the responsible adult influenced for the better by the carefree child inside you. 

Warning: It’s probably not wise to act like a kid at work but remember:

You don't stop having fun when you get old; you get old when you stop having fun!

Which brings us back to music. Research has shown it has a profound effect on body and psyche. In fact, there’s a growing field of health care known as music therapy, which uses music to heal. Those who practice music therapy are finding a benefit in using music to help cancer patients, children with ADD, and others. Even hospitals are beginning to use music and music therapy to help with pain management, to help ward off depression, to promote movement, to calm patients, to ease muscle tension, and for many other benefits that music and music therapy can bring. This is not surprising, as music affects the body and mind in many powerful ways. Music has been shown to:

Bring about a more positive state of mind, helping to keep depression and anxiety at bay.

Keep people healthy by lowering blood press, boosting immunity, easing muscle tension.

Promote a calm, meditative state (music with a slower tempo); or

Stimulate brainwaves to resonate in sync with the beat, with faster beats bringing sharper concentration and more alert thinking (music with a strong beat).

I’m sure there are others. and the most important one may be the reason most of us listen to music anyway: for the sheer joy and entertainment value.

Maria’s happiness, positive attitude, childlike countenance and songs spilled over and influenced everyone she came in contact with. I hope we can all be more like her. I’m going to try. How about you?