My Ultimate Happiness Playlist: The 10 Songs That Make Me Feel Good

One of my favourite songs right now is Matt and Kim’s Get It. Why? Every time I listen to it, it makes me smile because I can imagine my three-year old niece running around her living room, bopping along with a determined look on her face. It’s not even a kid’s song, but she likes it, so I like it. It has a good beat and that is really all that matters sometimes. I decided to create a list of some of my current and past favourite songs and musical obsessions. These songs make me so happy, even though they aren’t all necessarily happy songs. They won’t necessarily make you happy, but I do hope you like them.

Music taste is so subjective because our relationship with a song goes deeper than just the music. Music brings back memories of what we were doing when we listened to the song and who we were with. Listening to a song can have such an emotional impact on me - when I am feeling anxious, a certain song might calm me down and ground me in a way that a conversation with a therapist just can’t replicate. When I am feeling depressed, a certain song can make me feel less isolated and alone because the music reminds me that there is a world out there larger than myself and my problems. A certain arrangement of chords can evoke feelings of confidence and make me feel epic or on top of the world - which isn’t always necessarily a good thing because it can make me feel a bit manic. But I’ll tell you a little secret about bipolar disorder, at least in my opinion - sometimes a little mania actually does feel good, and in moderation, can make me productive, more passionate and excited about the task at hand.

Music has a strong impact on mental health - the experts say it too! According to a music therapist, depending on the tune, music can release hormones into your system like “dopamine, which will help us feel good, oxytocin, which will help us trust people and serotonin, which can help us sleep.” Music has also been found “both to improve the body’s immune system function and to reduce levels of stress. Listening to music was also found to be more effective than prescription drugs in reducing anxiety prior to surgery”. And according to Daniel Levitin, “we’ve seen evidence now that music can alter brain chemistry and even the production of cytokines, immunoglobulin A, and other components of a healthy immune system.” This is just scratching the surface on the massive amount of research on this topic. I highly encourage you to go check it out.

So, without further ado, here is my playlist! Don’t judge me too hard if you don’t like it. Feel free to comment below and tell me your favourite songs!

1. Matt and Kim - Get it