What was the last song you had stuck in your head?

If you’re not familiar with the concept of an earworm, then here’s a definition for you. An earworm is a catchy and/or memorable piece of music or saying that continuously occupies a person’s mind even after it is no longer being played or spoken about.

While earworms are almost always related to music, you also have other earworms that, if given the opportunity, can continuously occupy your mind.

Unfortunately, the earworms I’m alluding to aren’t as positive as a catchy song or tune. They’re the earworms where you’re playing back recent arguments or heated discussions that you’ve had. You know the ones where you can’t believe they said that to you. The ones where you’ve felt disrespected, demeaned, and in some cases, even unloved.

Experts, yes, there are experts studying earworms, recommend that one of the best ways to get rid of an earworm is to replace it with another piece of music. The great thing about this technique is that you can also use it to eliminate emotional earworms.

When you ruminate on a conversation that causes you to feel a negative emotion, you’re essentially giving oxygen to it and allowing the earworm to grow stronger in your mind. As the old saying goes, energy goes where attention flows. So, to quiet down or eliminate the negative earworm, you should re-focus your attention on positive or other uplifting conversations you’ve had.

I know, it’s easier said than done, but what’s your other option? Keep playing the negative conversation in your head?

So, the next time you find yourself stuck with a negative earworm playing in your mind, you now have a choice to make. Keep it going and continue reliving the negative conversation or drown it out by replacing it with positive, mood-enhancing thoughts.

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