You’ve probably heard of a CD release party or a book release party, right? And, I’ll bet you’ve even heard of a pity party.
But, have you ever heard of a Pity Release Party?
Remember, folks, you heard it here first.
I don’t know about you, but quite often things come up in my life that I need to release or let go of.
We’re talking fears, doubts, anger, negative thoughts and, yes, even self-pity.
For example, just yesterday I was taking a walk through my neighborhood park when I happened upon a group of parents watching their children play baseball. Cute, right? However, what wasn’t so cute was that they were completely blocking the path…and they weren’t moving!
I just didn’t get it.
I was baffled. I wanted to say a bit more than a polite “excuse me”, but fortunately I held my tongue.
Now, here’s the real kicker…
While all this was happening, and just leading up to it, I had been listening to a playlist of positive uplifting music I had created on Spotify
. As this situation unfolded, specifically, I was listening to the song Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah
.
My, oh, my! What a wonderful day! I mean, you just can’t get any more positive or happy than that song!
I’m not kidding. Yet, while I was listening to that song, I was fuming mad!
At that moment, my happy playlist didn’t seem to be helping.
So, what happened?
What helped me was not just releasing my anger, because if that’s all I had done, it would’ve kept coming back, and it tried.
Instead, one thing I did was I realized that most of the path did not have bystanders on it. I realized that where I was walking at the moment didn’t have bystanders on it. That moment had passed and was behind me. Why let something that happened in the past effect my current situation?
Or, as my wife put it, we have to remember to look at all of the path, not just one moment of it.
Another thing that helped me was replacing my anger with something positive and helpful – and to persevere in doing that.
In this case it was listening to more music from my playlist.
Within a few moments, I was in tears, and do you know why?
Was it because I was hurting for the lostness of mankind? Was it because I was upset with myself for having such a reaction?
No. I was in tears because I had forgotten all about that stuff and was now listening to the song When You Believe
– the song from the Prince of Egypt soundtrack, as sung by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. I was so moved by the first line, “Many nights we’ve prayed with no hope anyone could hear.”
Those lyrics – along with the rest of the song – moved my heart. I was shedding a tear of joy and comfort – knowing that the really important things I’m doing are not going by unnoticed.
So much for being angry. Truly, “there can be miracles when you believe!”
I had released my unpleasant emotions, and they were superseded by a sense of joy.
I call that a reason to celebrate – to have a party!
You too can release what isn’t helpful and replace it with something helpful – and have a release party!
It doesn’t have to be positive music. It can be anything you choose. The principle is the same –
Release and replace…and party on!