Happiness booster: Sing in the morning.

One of my resolutions is to "Sing in the morning." It's hard both to sing and to maintain a grouchy mood, and it sets a happy tone for everyone in my family — particularly in my case, because I'm tone deaf and my audience finds my singing a source of great hilarity.

The idea to "Sing in the morning" came from my older daughter, a few years ago.

"What did you do at school today?" I asked.

"Well, we all talked about how our parents wake us up in the morning."

"What did you say?" I prodded, with curiosity and trepidation.

"With a good-morning song."

Why she said this, I don't know, because I'd only done that a few times. After hearing her comment, though, I began singing a good-morning song every day.

What a nice habit, to start the day with a good-morning song!

One of the most powerful happiness-project lessons, and the Third of my Twelve Commandments, is to "Act the way I want to feel." We think that actions follow feelings, but often, feelings follow actions. By deliberately starting the day by singing -- that is, by acting cheerful, light-hearted, and energetic -- I can help generate those feelings.

Also, because of the psychological phenomenon of "emotional contagion," we "catch" the emotions of other people. If I can manage to act light-hearted and energetic, I can infect the other members of my family with good cheer.

The morning sets the tone for the whole day, so I've found that it's worth making a special effort to make mornings run smoothly -- whether that means organizing everyone's stuff the night before, doing the "evening tidy-up" before going to bed so the apartment isn't too messy when we emerge in the morning, or singing a garbled version of "Let's Go Fly a Kite."

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Sing
• mood
• psychology
• happiness
• happiness challenge
• resolution
• family
• children
• parenthood
• emotion

[GretchenRubinNY]

I can't sing at all, which just adds to the hilarity for my children. And even though I'm not a GOOD singer, it's still a cheering thing to do.

[GretchenRubinNY]

That quotation is from "Talks to Teachers on Psychology."

[coolest611]

do u fake cry

[happysongoftheday]

Ha ha, it really works! I have been singing every morning since the beginning of 2011 and wow! This is a great channel, Gretchen, thank you!

[lexxypexxy]

What if you have a horrible voice?

[weidesvideo]

Very interesting idea… and probably effective, too!

Just that my poor singing may irritate others… :)

[Fuliginosus]

"Sing Before Breakfast." So sang Buddy Ebsen and Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1936.

What William James book are you quoting?

[POLARIS2333]

Act the way u wish u felt .. I LOVE THIS