6 Songs To Motivate You Through The Day
Photo Courtesy of Simon & Schuster
Michaela Haas, PhD, is the author of Bouncing Forward: Transforming Bad Breaks into Breakthroughs from sister company Simon & Schuster and Dakini Power: Twelve Extraordinary Women Shaping the Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West (Shambhala, 2013). She is a reporter, coach, and lecturer who has taught at the University of California Santa Barbara, the University of the West, and centers in America and Europe.Michaela is the owner of HAAS live!, an international coaching company for media, mindfulness and communication training. She has been practicing Buddhist meditation for twenty years and combines powerful storytelling with scientific research and spiritual depth. Visit MichaelaHaas.com!
When the sky is falling and this roller coaster ride called life gets way off track, sometimes the best way to pull me out of the abyss is to turn on the right track. Here are my favorites for dark times, the songs that remind me not to give up, not to give in, and that I can do this!
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Don't Give Up! By Herbie Hancock Ft. P!nk And John LegendPink starts out this powerful video by admitting, "Pain is my motivator. Frustration, anger, confusion, loneliness….all this chaos is what brings us all together." Herbie Hancock's Don't Give Up! is my favorite Bouncing Forward song, especially when it's so movingly performed by Pink and John Legend.
Photo Credit: ADRIAN SANCHEZ-GONZALEZ/AFP/Getty Images
Grateful By Rita OraWhen I interviewed Maya Angelou for my book Bouncing Forward, she advised me to develop "an attitude of gratitude. You could have died last night, you know. Be grateful. Stand on the good foot. People like you better. And you like yourself better." When I have trouble with this, I put on Rita Ora's interpretation of Diane Warren's "Grateful." She reminds me to be grateful even for the storms and the scars. My favorite line: "I had to fall to rise above it all." Or, as the Dalai Lama says, "Your enemy is your best teacher."
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Survivor By Destiny's ChildThis is where I sing Destiny's Child's refrain "I`m a Survivor, I gonna make it" at the top of my lungs. I swear, the louder I sing, the higher it lifts my spirits. Sorry, neighbors.
Fighter By Christina AguileraChristina Aguilera's strong voice alone boosts my resilience. Thank you, pain, for making me stronger.
Brave By Sara BareillesSara Bareilles encourages us to be brave, to speak up, to say what we want. Let's show her "how big your brave is."
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Beautiful Day By U2Since the devastating shooting in 2011, the joy of former congress woman Gabby Giffords has become singing, and her favorite song is U2's "Beautiful Day," a song about someone who lost everything and yet appreciates the beauty of his surroundings. This is also the song she picked when she got to choose a tune her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, would wake up to in space.
Don't let that beautiful day get away. What are your go-to song that lifts your spirits? Please share your music medicine in the comments!
Michaela Haas, PhD, is the author of Bouncing Forward: Transforming Bad Breaks into Breakthroughs from sister company Simon & Schuster and Dakini Power: Twelve Extraordinary Women Shaping the Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West (Shambhala, 2013). She is a reporter, coach, and lecturer who has taught at the University of California Santa Barbara, the University of the West, and centers in America and Europe.Michaela is the owner of HAAS live!, an international coaching company for media, mindfulness and communication training. She has been practicing Buddhist meditation for twenty years and combines powerful storytelling with scientific research and spiritual depth. Visit MichaelaHaas.com!
