Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows

Hello, I’m Mr Brightside. Well at least I’m a Mr Brightside in training. I didn’t used to be. I used to see doom and gloom and things exploding all around me whereas as now I see sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. How can you bias your brain to do the same? By creating positive anchors everywhere. Little reminders that make you feel good and when you feel good, you attract more good. So get off the doom and gloom loop train. These are some of the ways I do this thing.

Inspiring pictures: Remember how that Luke Perry (insert more recent hunk reference) poster used to make you feel every time you opened your locker? Well having inspiring pictures around can give you that same sort of feeling and boost your mood. I have inspiring quotes on my fridge, angel cards on the shelf, vision boards of hunks and holidays and houses on the wall, affirmations on the mirror, screensavers of hunks in holiday houses on my computer and phone. Basically everywhere I turn, there’s a picture inspiring me to feel good.

Passwords: If you have one of those new fangled job things that involve computers, chances are you will be typing in passwords multiple times a day. Even if your job doesn’t require it, your pesky online shopping addiction does. So why not make it something inspiring like mrslukeperry? This acts a constant reaffirmation of your goals and is much more fun than Password1. Change all your passwords and enjoy a little daydream with each enter. A Luke Perry highlight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hDEna-ds0w

Reminders: While we’re harnessing computerised power for good not evil, you can also set your phone reminders to congratulate you on winning a holiday, buying a home or receiving a hunk hourly, daily or weekly. It gives me a little thrill to get a reminder message saying, “Congratulations on winning a trip to Japan, buying a pad in Fitzroy (insert trendy suburb of choice here) and Luke Perry is scheduled for delivery tomorrow (I just looked him up-he’s now 50. Note to self-update reference).

Upbeat music: The power of the funk. An uplifting playlist does wonders for your mental state. Blast it in your car, through your headphones on the bus or from your ghetto blaster as you walk down the street with it on your shoulder. I love a mixture of 90’s alternative (you can take the girl out the Triple J hottest 100 of 1994 but you can’t take the Triple J hottest 100 of 1994 out of the girl), gangster rap and cheesy fun-to-sing-at-karaoke type songs. A crack commando unit’s worth of songs but always a mood booster.

Snap band: This one involves a tiny bit of pain but is a great pattern interrupter and it’s a fine line between pleasure and pain as we all know. Wear a rubber band around your wrist and every time you find yourself buying a ticket for the doom and gloom loop train, give it a flick. At the very least, you’ll be conscious of how often you’re heading towards this station and give yourself a jolt back towards the land of sunshine, lollipops and rainbows.

Are you a Mr Brightside? What are your tips for staying on the sunny side of the street?

Love and light and Luke Perry 4 lyf xxx Yvette