27. March 2009 by John Schinnerer.

Here are some more positive tunes to keep you bouncing into the weekend. You can check any of these out for free at www.blip.fm.

JohnSchinnerer ‘Dancing in the street’ Jagger and Bowie. Smile. Recent studies showing that happiness is contagious even through people you don’t know.
♫ David Bowie & Mick Jagger – Dancing In The Street | play

    JohnSchinnerer Great pick! ‘The Logical Song’ We spend too much time in the rational mind. Need to get more familiar with the emotional mind. (reblip)
♫ Supertramp – The Logical Song | play

    JohnSchinnerer ‘We must never let our fears rob of us our dreams’ G. Stein. ‘Bravery is not the absence of fear, rather it’s overcoming fear.’ J. Schinnerer
♫ www.mp3ex.net - Jennifer Lopez – Brave | play

    JohnSchinnerer An incredible collage of sound, mesmerizing. Muse - ‘Invincible’ We are resilient. We bounce.
♫ Muse – Invincible | play

    JohnSchinnerer Happy, happy - positive emotions - awe, inspiration, elevation, curiosity, interest, joy, and more
♫ Simple Plan – Happy Together | play

    JohnSchinnerer ‘Come Dancing’ Get moving! Exercise gets the blood (carrying oxygen and glucose) to your brain. Dance, dance, dance (Isn’t that Fallout Boys?)
♫ The Kinks – Come Dancing | play

    JohnSchinnerer Kinks ‘Rock N Roll Fantasy’ Get out of the fantasy. Live life. Realistic optimism, positive psychology, self-compassion - tools to help engage in life
♫ The Kinks – A Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy | play

    JohnSchinnerer ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ by Monty Python. It doesn’t get any cheesier - but it does bring a smile to my face!
♫ Monty Python – Always Look on the Bright Side of Life | play
 
    JohnSchinnerer [Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer] @patita @adbert Way to go! Terrific song by PG! (reblip)
♫ Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer | play

    JohnSchinnerer Great song covered by one of the best guitarists out there. ‘Hawaii Five-O’ Sign up to listen if you want positive, uplifting music coming your way
♫ Gary Hoey – Hawaii Five-O | play
    JohnSchinnerer Excellent pick @KingofP! This was one of my favorites from the past too! ‘Fly like an eagle…’ (reblip)
♫ Steve Miller Band – Fly Like An Eagle | play
    JohnSchinnerer Here is some Herbie Hancock to get you movin’ (’Rockit’). Gets your blood pumpin’
♫ Herbie Hancock – Rockit | play
    JohnSchinnerer @gsmeck - ran out of props, here’s my favorite R.E.M. song. Fantastic pick me up song! Props to you @gsmeck, @annadynamite! You rock! (reblip)
♫ R.E.M. – Orange Crush | play
    JohnSchinnerer Argent – ‘Hold Your Head Up’ #music. Great pick! Thanks thehillers for reminding me of this song. Great timing to put this one out! (reblip)
♫ Argent – Hold Your Head Up | play
    JohnSchinnerer Check out this list of over 300 positive tunes (uplifting songs) I’ve got http://www.guidetoself.com/publications.htm John Schinnerer, Ph.D.
♫ Roger Miller – King Of The Road | play

    JohnSchinnerer Brain scans show listening to pleasant music activated areas linked to positive emotions which was linked 2 better performance on tasks
♫ Mama Cass Elliot – Make Your Own Kind Of Music | play
 
    JohnSchinnerer Positive music ‘restores vision’ in stroke victims in UK study (From BBC News) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7959732.stm
♫ BIG_BAD_VOODOO_DADDY_King_of_Swing | play
 
    JohnSchinnerer Great song. Just hang on. You’re in the middle of the ride. ‘The Middle’
♫ Jimmy Eat World – The Middle | play
    JohnSchinnerer We can be heroes. ManaJunkie, you are your own hero. We’re all heroes everyday. ‘We can be there forever and ever.’ (reblip)
♫ The Wallflowers – Heroes | play
    JohnSchinnerer ‘Seasons of Love’ from Rent. Nice pick! (reblip)
♫ rent – Seasons of Love | play
    JohnSchinnerer ‘Father & Daughter’ Dads - cherish your daughters. Daughters - be grateful for your fathers. BTW, gratitude is one necessary tool for a happy life!
♫ Paul Simon – Father And Daughter | play
    JohnSchinnerer Iz doing ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’ is one of the most relaxing, gentle songs I’ve heard. Great for bringing it down a notch.
♫ Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – Somewhere Over The Rainbow / What A Wonderful World | play

    JohnSchinnerer Dirty Vegas..Days go By… Thanks to DJGhostGirl for this one! You are the best! ‘Still I think of you…’ (reblip)
♫ Dirty Vegas – Days Go By (Full Vocal Mix) | play

    JohnSchinnerer A little Calypso beat to get your hips swayin’ courtesy of Harry Belafonte ‘Jump In Line’. Use the music to keep your emotions and moods positive!
♫ Harry Belafonte – Jump in The Line | play

Posted in Emotional mind, Music psychology, Positive mood music, Guide to Self, Dr. John Schinnerer, Positive Psychology | Print | No Comments »

19. March 2009 by John Schinnerer.

If you are looking for a way to share your favorite tunes with the world, or just with your followers on Twitter, you may want to take a look at www.blip.fm. Great concept. Make yourself a DJ, share songs with others.  

Here is a sampling of my playlist which focuses on songs which support the basic tenets of positive psychology (at least, as far as I understand them!)…enjoy… 

JohnSchinnerer ‘My One True Friend’ Happiness is largely a result of supportive, positive relationships. Cherish your friends! ♫ Bette Midler – My One True Friend 

JohnSchinnerer “Wind Beneath My Wings” What a world it would be if we could tell our loved ones just how heroic they are to us. ♫ Bette Midler – Did You Ever Know That Your My Hero  

JohnSchinnerer ‘You’re Never Fully Dressed W/out a Smile’ from the musical Annie. I’m speaking on realistic optimism to help the opera company kick off Annie. ♫ Chris Vettel, Natalie Backman, Kelly Cosme, Liz Power – You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile (album)  

JohnSchinnerer John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ - a great tune to inspire creativity and off-the-grid thinking! Imagine your best possible self… ♫ John Lenon – Imagine  

JohnSchinnerer ‘One Love’ by Bob Marley - a spiritual prophet - helped us focus on positive emotions. Thanks, Bob! ♫ Bob Marley And The Wailers – One Love/People Get Ready  

JohnSchinnerer Ahh, love, that combination of awe, happiness, curiosity, interest and passion in a safe relationship. ‘It Must Be Love’ by Madness ♫ Madness – It Must Be Love  

JohnSchinnerer Here is another great resiliency song “Break My Stride” by Matt Wilder. Don’t roll - bounce! http://drjohnblog.guidetoself.com/ ♫ Matthew Wilder – Break My Stride  

JohnSchinnerer ‘Runnin’ Down a Dream’ oozes optimism. Feels like anything’s possible… ♫ Tom Petty - Running Down a Dream  

JohnSchinnerer ‘Fall Back Down’ by Rancid - another fantastic song to boost resiliency (the quick recovery from difficulties). Don’t just roll - bounce! ♫ Rancid – Fall Back Down 

JohnSchinnerer You, me, everybody, everybody needs somebody to love! ♫ The Blues Brothers – Everybody Needs Somebody to Love  

JohnSchinnerer ‘Heroes’ We can be heroes. Right here, right now. You are your own champion. You are the hero of your own story. ♫ David Bowie – Heroes (live in Paris, 2000)  

JohnSchinnerer India.Arie has some great positive psych songs - Better People, I Am Not My Hair, There’s Hope. Gotta keep it all in perspective! ♫ India.Arie – Better People  

JohnSchinnerer Great song from my childhood ‘Last Train to Clarksville’. I loved the Monkees show. ♫ The Monkees – Last Train to Clarksville  

JohnSchinnerer ‘Blessed’ by Elton. Little known song. Great message to hear over and over again. Let it create a new neural network in your mind. You’ll be blessed! ♫ Elton John - Blessed  

JohnSchinnerer Brian Setzer has an amazing ability to tap into up beats. “Rock this town” is a classic tune which makes me feel joyous and alive. ♫ Brian Setzer Orchestra – Rock This Town  

JohnSchinnerer “Jump, Jive & Wail” Nothing like a little swing to put the skip in your step. Joy makes you playful; makes you want to get involved, draws you in. ♫ Brian Setzer/Louis Prima – Jump Jive & Wail 

JohnSchinnerer The emotion “Hope” is just as likely as despair during difficult times. Chose hope. It energizes & is based on belief that things can improve. ♫ Shaggy_-_Hope   

JohnSchinnerer “99 Red Balloons” Bouncy, uptempo song for positive feelings. The visual image of 99 red balloons floating through the sky is most uplifting also! ♫ Happy Hardcore Anthems – 99 Red Balloons (remix)   

JohnSchinnerer “Think of happiness today” Slow tempo, good messages to send through your head. Feel happiness too! ♫ Soft Charisma – Think Of Happiness Today  

JohnSchinnerer “Do Wah Diddy” - Happiness depends partly on the ability to savor moments of beauty, taste, touch, etc. - sensory experiences. Slow down, smell roses ♫ Simply the Best of the 60’s – Manfred Mann - Do Wah Diddy   

JohnSchinnerer “Better together” - one of the proven keys to happiness - supportive relationships with people who are truly happy when you get good news. ♫ Jack Johnson – Better Together  

JohnSchinnerer Appropriate optimism is one of the keys to a happy, meaningful life. Surround yourself with positivity (or ‘accentuate the positive’) ♫ Johnny Mercer – Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive  

JohnSchinnerer Mindfulness reminder - stay in the present moment, focus on your breathing. Live for today. Live in the moment. ♫ The Grass Roots – Let’s Live For Today JohnSchinnerer Love = combo of joy, interest, peacefulness, happiness, awe, inspiration, attraction, all the positive emotions in a safe, comfortable relationship. ♫ Al Green, Annie Lennox – Put A Little Love In Your Heart  

JohnSchinnerer This song will uplift your spirits, put you in a better mood and bring back some pleasant memories. www.GuideToSelf.com ♫ Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah    

JohnSchinnerer Minimize negative emotions. Maximize the positive emotions - love, awe, interest, hope, gratitude, serenity, joy, inspiration. 3:1 ratio. ♫ Jimmy Cliff  – The World Is Yours (Positive mind) feat. TASSANE CHIN  

JohnSchinnerer Just move your body to the music - you will feel better! A little James Brown, anyone? ♫ James Brown – Get Up Offa That Thing  

JohnSchinnerer Please lemmee know if you have suggestions for positive uplifting tunes. I’m pulling together a list. I have 350 songs so far! www.GuideToSelf.com ♫ The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations  

JohnSchinnerer Nothing like a little music from Rocky to inspire and uplift. Works really well as background music for exercise and workouts. ♫ Rocky – Gonna Fly Now 

JohnSchinnerer Research shows relationships are a large component of happiness. Be happy together! ♫ The Turtles – Happy Together  

Posted in Emotional mind, Emotional management, Consciousness, Music psychology, Positive mood music, Happiness, Dr. John Schinnerer, Creativity, Guide to Self, Emotional IQ, Positive Psychology | Print | No Comments »

16. March 2009 by John Schinnerer.

By John Schinnerer, Ph.D., Guide To Self, Inc.

Which comes first – fear or economic chaos?

Companies as varied as Yahoo, American Express, and Time Inc. are laying off employees. Corporate profits are dropping. The stock market is in a chaotic panic. Housing prices have plunged. Consumer debt is on the rise. The U.S. economy is in a full blown recession, and possibly, a depression. Money and the economy are at the top of a long list of stressors for Americans as reported in a recent study by Harris Interactive and the American Psychological Association.

Eighty percent (80%) of Americans are stressed about the state of the economy. So how do you manage the unyielding stress that comes with difficult economic times?  

Identify Fear, Anxiety and Stress

The first step to overcoming stress is to correctly identify it. When you are afraid, your blood gathers in the large muscle groups such as those in your legs, preparing your body to flee. Your body freezes for a moment to gauge your possible reactions such what is the quickest escape route. The brain sounds the alarm to put your body on alert, making it edgy and ready for action. Accompanying this is an overwhelming flood of anxious, fearful thoughts which seem to be uncontrollable. This intense cycle of fear and worry can paralyze you. It also paralyzes the rational mind, making it difficult to think clearly.

Fear and stress are closely linked. When fear is sparked, the emotional brain begins its dance of anxiety, forcing the brain to focus on the perceived threat. The fearful mind spins in an endless loop of negative thoughts. Fear lies at the heart of all stress. Stress is fear stretched out over time. It is the general alarm reaction sounded by the nervous system when you perceive that a demand is being made on you that you cannot handle. Once the alarm has focused your attention, the negative thought spirals, the racing heart, and the muscle tension are of no further assistance to you. On the contrary, long-term stress causes damage to your body on a number of levels – difficulty thinking clearly, damage to arteries, killing brain cells, and limiting the number of options open to you.

On the bright side, stress and fear can be managed depending on how you approach them. Nothing is more important right now than learning to manage your stress – the fate of the entire world may depend on a critical mass of people staying calm and overcoming stress.

Turn Off the Alarm

Once the stress is identified, the second step is to turn the alarm off. This is done through exercise, deep breathing, meditation, prayer or other means to clear your mind of negative thoughts. If you have not yet learned to clear your mind, a good place to start is Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide to Managing Emotion and Thought.

Courage, Bravery and Heroism

The third step is the realization that courage is the antidote to fear. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is overcoming fear. This step involves taking concrete actions to keep moving forward in a constructive direction. By reframing the question as, “What am I willing to try?” you can make change exciting, rather than paralyzing. Courage is not the absence of fear but the exorcising of it. Feel the fear and push through it anyway. It is the conquering of the fear that makes one courageous. One cannot be brave without fear. Think of courage as a virtue to be exercised daily rather than imagining it as expressed only in acts of heroism.  

You are courageous…every day.  

Focus on Gratitude

Another way to bounce back from stressful times is to direct your thoughts daily to those things for which you are grateful. This simple act connects you with your higher, more centered self. To do so, think about the following:You are alive.You are loved by others.You can see, hear and breathe on your own.You can read and comprehend these words.You can vote in a country with freedom of speech and of religion.All of these are basics which are often taken for granted.

Make your own daily list of things for which you are grateful. By cultivating gratitude, you consciously move your thoughts away from the thousands of voices adding to the environment of fear and begin to stem the tide of stress.  

Look for the Positive Meaning Amidst the Rubble

Finally, look deep into your current situation and seek any and all positive meanings that may be pulled from it. Every situation exists to teach you something. Your best strategy is to uncover those life-altering lessons in difficult times and use them to motivate you towards positive, constructive action. An example of a life lesson in this situation is the realization that you are resilient, you will survive. And with that knowledge comes power (“If I can survive this, I can survive anything.”).

With complete awareness, allow yourself to calmly and rationally consider what options are available to you to create your best possible future. Remember that our country has survived such economic hardships in the past and we will survive this one. Americans are highly resilient. We will bounce back from this difficulty with more energy, greater innovation, and more wisdom than we had prior to it.

That is what we do, for we are Americans.

We don’t just roll.

We bounce.

About the AuthorJohn Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Dr. John Schinnerer graduated summa cum laude from U.C. Berkeley with a Ph.D. in psychology. Dr. John Schinnerer is in private practice helping individuals learn happiness by mitigating destructive emotions and fostering constructive emotions. Using positive psychology, he helps clients achieve happy, thriving, meaningful lives. His practice is located in the Danville San Ramon Medical Center at 913 San Ramon Valley Blvd., #280, Danville, California 94526. Dr. Schinnerer has been an executive and psychologist for over 12 years.  

Dr. John Schinnerer is President and Founder of Guide To Self, a company that focuses on coaching individuals and groups to their potential using the latest in positive psychology.  His blog, Shrunken Mind – How To Make The Most of The Human Mind, is at drjohnblog.guidetoself.com. Most recently, Dr. John Schinnerer hosted over 200 episodes of Guide To Self Radio, a prime time radio show, in the San Francisco Bay Area.Dr. Schinnerer is also President of Infinet Assessment, a psychological testing company to help firms select the best applicants. Infinet was founded in 1997 and has worked with companies such as UPS, CSE Insurance Group, McQuay International and Schreiber Foods.

Dr. John Schinnerer previously served as Chief Communication Officer of Emotion Mining Company, which measured emotions for branding, marketing and organizational change.
Dr. Schinnerer’s areas of expertise range from positive psychology, to emotional awareness, to moral development to sports psychology. He is a noted speaker and author on topics such as emotional intelligence, happiness in the workplace and executive leadership.Dr. Schinnerer wrote, “Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought,” which was awarded the “Best Self-Help Book of 2007”.

Posted in Emotional management, Guide To Self Beginners Guide To Managing Emotion, Anger Management, Men's emotions, Hope, Resiliency, Staying calm, Anxiety, Managing stress, Business & psych, Dr. John Schinnerer, Life coach, Guide to Self, Positive Psychology | Print | No Comments »

13. March 2009 by John Schinnerer.

This report just in - big pharma is looking to put the positive psychology movement back a few years with a new pill - Despondex.

 Full report is here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd4tugPM83c

Posted in Psychology humor | Print | No Comments »

12. March 2009 by John Schinnerer.

   “We all possess love and affection that are naturally and inherently a part of us. So we have to enhance them, rather than ignore them and let them disappear. This is of vital importance, because this love is one of the essential qualities of our mind, something truly precious and crucial for a human being.

   Now when a person embodies that attitude of love and affection, his or her conduct in life will be admirable, and what we call that of a ‘true human being.’ In fact this is the mark of a good human being, rather than whether or not he or she is a spiritual practitioner. It also lies at the root of a happy and peaceful human society. How important it is, then, that we recognize this, and do everything we can to enhance that attitude of love and caring for others.

   Human beings naturally possess this love and affection, and so I feel it is the role of the religions of the world to bring out their potential and make these wonderful qualities grow. Isn’t this why so many different spiritual views and philosophies have indeed evolved—so that we can develop these wonderful, natural qualities more and more? In a nutshell, this is the whole reason why we undertake spiritual practice: to become a good human being, someone who is patient, tolerant, altruistic, compassionate, contented, and self-disciplined. We practice because that is the kind of person we want to become.”

From The Vision of Enlightenment (2006) by the Dalai Lama

Posted in Emotional management, Mindfulness, Emotional mind, Happiness, Guide to Self, Positive Psychology | Print | No Comments »