Systems in Music Therapy: Focusing on Good Things

I have a positivity system that comes into full necessity for weeks like this. It is my Daily Happiness system that I use in my personal social media accounts.

I woke up this morning in the throes of nightmares. I know that this is the direct result of the school shooting in Uvalde, the cumulative shootings happening around the country, and being alone during my break, but that doesn't make going through nightmares any easier. I never remember my happy dreams - just the ones where I am attacked and running away from danger.

So, when the anxiety dreams rear their ugly heads, my positivity system comes in handy.

Now, there are many discussions out there about toxic positivity and denial and all that stuff, but I have found that my system does me good, so I keep up with it. Without it, I tend to get overfocused on the negative things that happen around me and then that is all that I see - the negative. The negativity settles over my eyes and everything is viewed through my negative lens. I do not like who I am when this happens to me, so I try to combat it through my system.

My system is simple. Each morning, I find one positive thing that brings me happiness and I mention it on my Facebook feed. It is often something minute in nature - today it was a bit more complex and included the new Star Wars series on Disney+, the fact that my sister does not have to go to school until August (more safety), and some things that I got done yesterday and this morning. I accomplished something yesterday, and I am happy about that. So, it became part of my happiness routine.

It's a little thing, but it helps me to focus on things that make me feel happy rather than wallowing in the things that make me feel misery. I hope that you have some sort of routine to sink into when the news becomes overwhelming and too much is happening that is difficult to understand or process.

Happy Friday.