“Whistle Worries Away”
by Kenneth
Barton
“Take your Focus off
your Problems through Music.”
It’s
difficult to do two things at the same time, not impossible, but difficult none
the less. I found when working on a
difficult task that whistling always helped me to relax and focus my attention
on what I needed to get done. Many of my
fellow workers could not understand how I could accomplish difficult jobs, that
to them were impossible, with relative ease.
Who would have thought whistling could be the edge I needed to keep my
job secure.
I come from
a family that is slightly musical, not that any of us play musical instruments,
but we all enjoy singing and whistling.
Especially, when we go out for a long drive to relax, I have found
that’s a great time to sing or whistle a tune.
There’s something about letting music flow out from your inner being
that calms a person’s soul. Music they
have always said, “Calms the savage beast”, but it does much more than just
calms someone down, it also restores the harmony we need to within to be
happy. I can’t remember ever whistling a
tune when I was in a bad mood. Usually,
I whistle when everything feels great and all is right with the world.
Many years
back I read a neat little book called, Self-Hypnosis that taught me how to use
different things to help me achieve my goals.
For example, I learned to create within myself a relaxed state before
studying my notes for an exam, by taking a mental walk in my mind. I close my eyes, take in deep breaths, and
imagine myself walking through the woods down a trail that passes through a
forest of tall trees. Around me are
flowers, ferns, some protruding rocks, with squirrels sitting on top chattering
away. I see the blue birds flying over
head and the robins singing songs while perched on branches. Down the trail I can hear the roar of a great
water fall and feel the mist filling the air about me. As you can see, this mental picture has a
relaxing tone to it and helps me focus on my studies.
You might
ask, “How does this help me when it comes to taking a test?” It’s simple, when the teach passes out the
exam and says we can begin, I would lay my pencil or pen down on my desk, cross
my arms, close my eyes, and take my mental walk down my trail to the water
falls, just as I had every time I sat down to study. Then when I was done with my walk and sitting
on my rock, I open my eyes, turn my test over, and begin the exam. It only takes a couple minutes to do this,
but it allows me to set my mind up in the same frame of mind it was in when I
was studying; thus, allowing me to recall the information much easier that I
had studied.
The first
time I did this before an exam, I had to explain myself to the teacher because
he thought there was something wrong!
Another
technique I learned from this was to force myself to smile even when I don’t
feel like it. “Why?” you ask. Simple, since it takes more muscles to frown
than it does to smile, by forcing yourself to smile you reduce the physical and
mental stress you put on yourself by frowning.
This doesn’t sound like it would make that much difference, but it
really does! My sister use to try and
trick me into smiling, but that didn’t help because she was forcing me to do
something against my will, so it only made me angrier. Remember the saying, “He convinced against
his will, is of the same opinion still.”
Trying to make someone change just doesn’t work, but helping them
understand how change can help can make a big difference.
So, on
gloomy, depressing, dull days, I try to remember to ‘Smile’, because I know by
doing so I can turn off the gloom and turn on the sunshine. Napoleon Hill, the author of “Think &
Grow Rich”, used this psychology to create his own reality, but that’s another
story. Smiling doesn’t change the
reality of a given situation, but it does change how I will respond to that
situation. Rather than allowing the situation
to control me, and me reacting to it; rather, I am able to control my response
to that situation and maintain control of my actions & emotions.
Whistling
can be used exactly the same way to help you deal with the day and to maintain
a positive attitude throughout the day.
Smile, sing, and whistle your worries away, and create the beautiful,
fun filled, awesome day you wish for yourself.
Who knows, your tune may work just like the “Pied Piper” of
Hamelin. But rather than leading the
children out of town, you can help lead the doldrums away from those you meet.
We all know how
contagious a yawn is, when you see someone yawn, you just have to yawn
yourself. That works the same way with a
smile or hearing a happy tune. You have
likely experienced this when passing someone who looks at you with a friendly
smile; you can’t help but smile back.
The same works with whistling a happy tune, folks can’t help but pick up
on the tune themselves, and soon their whistling too. Like the old Coke Cola song by Bill Davis,
“I’d like to teach the world to sing (In perfect harmony)”, you can bring a
little harmony to your corner of the world by whistling a tune, singing a song,
and passing on a smile.
For those
who don’t know how to whistle, take a lesson from the old 1944 movie starring
Humphrey Bogart (Steve) and Lauren Bacall (Slim), in “To Have and Have Not”;
where Slim says to Steve, “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together, and blow.” Have a great and prosperous year and whistle
away the doldrums that come your way.
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