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One of my favorite podcasts is Happier with Gretchen Rubin (subscribe). She is the author of a number of NY Times bestselling books like Better Than Before, Happier at Home, and The Happiness Project. On each of her podcast episodes she presents “happiness hacks,” which are small changes you can make to be happier. On a recent episode, which was broadcast live from Seattle, the happiness hack she presented was to find your happiness 911 songs.
What are happiness 911 songs?
Just like you’d expect, happiness 911 songs are those songs you can play when you are feeling frustrated or upset and really just need a boost and almost immediately you feel better.
I loved this idea, so I decided to give it a try.
So, I started putting together my happiness 911 playlist on Spotify. The Happier podcast put together a huge Spotify playlist of all the listener’s favorites here, which is awesome. I pulled some of my favorites from there and added a few of my own to create my custom happiness 911 playlist, which I have embedded below. Just putting together the playlist instantly made me happier! Give it a try and listen while you finish reading or open a new tab and keep it playing in the background.
My Happiness 911 Playlist:
Give it a try and listen while you finish reading or open a new tab and keep it playing in the background. I guess I would describe it as eclectic. I certainly threw all the rules out the window and included both Miley Cyrus and Paul Simon and had no shame in adding numerous girl power anthems. No judgment. If it makes you happy, put it on.
What I thought:
It is pretty incredible how much music can change your mood. Once I had my happiness 911 playlist pulled together, I started listening to it when I needed a boost. My favorite places to listen were at the gym or working out, when getting ready, and when out running errands. I even brought my headphones one time when grocery shopping and listened to it then. The louder the volume, the better, and results are definitely increased by singing along 😉 (although I did try to keep that to a minimum when in public).
Doing this really reminded me of my first date with my husband who is one of the happiest people I know, arguably one of my favorite qualities about him. I remember he picked me up from my apartment in Claremont and as we were driving, he hands me this CD case. You know the kind that everyone had in the 90s when people still listened to CDs that zips up around the sides? (By the way, this is only about 4 years ago). He told me to pick something out, so I opened it and in there was every CD that epitomized the 90’s in one place. I pulled one out, probably Third Eye Blind or Smashing Pumpkins, and he proceeded to sing along and beg me to join in.
There is something so appealing about people who choose happiness in their lives; you just want to be around them. So go make your happiness 911 playlist (no 90’s CD case required) and choose happy (the emotion, not the Pharrell song. Well actually, add that one to the playlist while you’re at it.)
Leave a comment and let me know what your happiness 911 songs and quotes are, and please subscribe to the newsletter for bonus content and first access to future giveaways.
