Episode 11: Hit Play and Start Again

Description: Dr. Tina Boogren shares the power of the one song reset. Whether you dance, sing, or just listen with intention, one song can interrupt stress, boost dopamine, and help you start fresh. Quick, free, and always available, this reset can transform your day in just a few minutes.

Resources:  Use the code Wellness20 to get 20% off Tina's book 180 Day of Physical Wellness for Busy Educators.

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Transcription: Hi, and welcome to Self-Care for Educators. I am your host, Dr. Tina Boogren, and I am so happy you are here. This is episode 11 of season six, and this week's invitation is the one song reset. Now, I've talked about music so many times, but it's worth revisiting. I think music is so powerful for our mental wellness, for our emotional wellness. I might even put it under physical wellness because I've been known to dance, which is a good thing. Social wellness, dance with someone else, I mean, music just, ugh. I love it so much. Huge shout out to our music teachers, band directors, orchestra, choir, all of the above. Oh, we're so grateful for you. Music is so important. 

So here's how we're going to tackle this as an invitation this week. Remember I said it's the one song reset. So all I want you to do is choose one song, that's going to be just maybe what, two and a half to three and a half minutes long. And I want you to allow that song to completely shift your state of mind.

So maybe you dance, maybe you sing at the top of your lungs, maybe you close your eyes and you listen, maybe you listen with full intention. Whatever you do, allow that song to become a reset button for your emotions. 

So here's why this works. So music triggers dopamine and dopamine is that feel good chemical in our brain, and it happens within seconds when we listen to music. It interrupts stress cycles. So when we are stuck in that rumination or that worrying, or that tension, one song can disrupt that and create new energy, which is so good. Here's what else. It's accessible and it doesn't take a lot of time. Right? I am always, always, always looking for and sharing strategies that don't cost any money and don't take a lot of time because Lord knows, whew, we have enough on our plates, especially this time of year. 

So instead of having to do like a full workout or a long meditation session, listening to one song is available right now and really doesn't require any extras. And when we do add that movement or that singing, we are engaging the body and the mind, and that just amplifies that emotional reset. So maybe there's a particular song that you know is your go-to song, that it puts you in a good mood when you hear it. Use that this week. Maybe you even create a whole reset playlist where you're going and you're building a playlist of five or six or whatever of your go-to songs and label that playlist “Reset” so it is on hand and ready to go when you need a quick boost. Or maybe you, you label it with a catcher title, but that's the idea, the reset playlist. And then I want you to just enjoy that. So dance, right? Dance around the kitchen. Just tap your feet. Sing loud in the car, right? That's just going to amplify the positive effect of this. 

Maybe you do this with a friend. So I've shared this example at quite a few workshops that I've been at recently. I worked with a team, and I love this so much, they decided that they were going to have a one song dance party in the morning. And they just met in one of the teacher's classrooms in the morning and whoever's classroom they were in that week or that day, got to choose a song. And they danced. Ah, they didn't care what they looked like. There was no judgment. It was just fun moving their bodies. And boom, they went about their teaching day. Didn't do it with students, they just did it with themselves. I love that. I know for this group, they started out doing it once a week on Monday mornings to get their week started, right? And then they added Friday afternoons to kind of put a bow on the weekend and whew, have fun moving into the weekend. And again, they just rotated classrooms and whoever's classroom they were in, they hosted and they got to play the song. Boom. Takes like, what? Three minutes and then you're on your way. I love that so much.

Maybe you do this with students, maybe you do this with your family. Maybe you do it in your kitchen before you leave, or you do it in your classroom when no one's in there. Or it is the song that you play on the way to work and you can sing so loud in your car. What a gift that can be. Maybe if movement isn't possible or that's not really your thing, then you do kind of the opposite and you engage in mindful listening and you get real still and you get real quiet. Maybe even you close your eyes and you really listen to the lyrics, the instruments, the rhythm, and just allow yourself to be fully absorbed in that song. 

As always, I love that pairing strategy. P-A-I-R-I-N-G, where we tie, if we're trying to create a new habit, we pair it with something we already do. So maybe this becomes a ritual that you utilize between work and home. Or if you've got, like your plan period’s in the middle of the day. Before you start doing any work, you just give yourself the one song break. Maybe you do this before a big meeting, like whatever that works for you. I love that. 

For many of you like me, I know that you, it's important that you start your day with music, so keep doing that. I get ready with music, but now I'm thinking about, gosh, what if I even, you know, make sure my alarm is playing music instead of a very annoying alarm sound, and kick my day off that way. And also think about our emotional wellness and like match the song to your mood. So we want this to hopefully help us. But the help might be fully sinking into a song that brings up emotions that feel really emotional, like a calming ballad, right? That helps us just kind of feel that. And when it's done, we move on. 

Most likely, we're probably gonna choose an upbeat song, right? That's lifting our energy up, and I love that. It doesn't matter. Choose songs based on what you need emotionally that day or during that particular time of day. I think it would be great to create a shared playlist, so maybe you with your teammates or with your family or with your friends, you kind of collaborate on this reset, this emotional reset playlist, and maybe you use this as like a celebration. So when you get to mark something off of your to-do list or you recognize, oh, I actually paid attention to my stop doing list, I'm gonna reward myself with this one song kind of celebration, that feels really fun as well.

So I really want you to think about like using this this week in a gazillion different ways. Maybe you have one particular go-to song that you know that is going to be the song. Maybe you ask for suggestions, maybe you create this playlist. Just, I want you to play around with this idea this week because I think it just feels so good. The one song reset. I'm gonna do it as well. As always, you guys, you know that I come on here and I share things that I'm either working on or plan on working on, and I am walking beside you on this journey. 

We're so grateful to Adrienne, to Solution Tree, to Marzano Resources. I just feel so grateful for all of you, and I'm so grateful for you, the listener. Thanks for coming back. Thanks for trusting me. Thank you for trying these strategies, and thank you for living your very best life. You're amazing. I'm cheering so hard for you. I love you. Make it a great week.