Michele Woodward

Powerful Coaching. Powerful Results.

music

Spring Cleaning

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I know it’s finally, really spring because all I want to do is clean stuff up and hum jaunty, happy tunes to myself.

Yesterday, I replaced the porch lights, cleaned the light fixtures and sang “I’m gonna pop some tags” the entire time. My singing voice is particularly resonant on the line, “I wear your granddad’s clothes. I look incredible.” [here’s the link to the song – lyrics are not safe for work, children or the easily offended]

I hauled cushions for the patio furniture out of winter storage to the tune of Rockin’ Robin (tweet, tweet, twiddly-diddly-deet, tweet, tweet, TWEET, tweet).

At the car wash it was, naturally, – “you might never get rich, but let me tell ya it’s better than digging a ditch”.

In my garden, though, it’s all classical music. Lilting, lyrical, wordless tunes soar through my head as I prune the rose bush, dead head the hydrangea and rake up the debris of winter.

Good golly, now that you think of it, spring cleaning is a terrific metaphor, right?

Like, how you can take this time to clean up any area of your life that needs a little pruning. Needs a little washing. Needs some attention. Needs twiddly-diddly-deet.

At this time of year, you have the perfect excuse to do whatever needs doing.

Because it’s spring cleaning time.

Difficult conversation? Simple, it’s just like sweeping the porch.

Hard money decisions? No problem, it’s just like packing up the winter clothes for storage.

New commitment to health? Easy, it’s just like washing the salt and road grime off the car.

All you need to be successful is the will to welcome the new and a catchy song to hum.

Let me get you started on your own change with a little anthem that might be perfect – Carry On. By the band called… wait for it… “fun.” Can it get more perfect than that? Because it will be fun.

All you have to do is to pick something that needs doing, and start singing.

Because it’s spring, sugar. Anything – everything – is possible.

 

Songs of Summer 2012

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Music provides the soundtrack to our lives – and summer songs hold a special place for many of us. So how about it? Is it time to review the top pop songs of this summer, and fuel your own vacation mindset? Why, yes – it is! Let’s Go.

You’re Wide Awake, aren’t you?

 

Excellent. We’re going to have a Good Time

– oh, believe me, I Won’t Give Up until we run through the best of the best this summer.

Speaking of summer, Some Nights

you’re really the Wild Ones, aren’t you?

Under the Lights,

the Payphone glimmers (explicit),

beckoning you to make a call, perhaps, you think to “Somebody That I Used To Know.”

That’s What Makes You Beautiful, my friend.

The way you enjoy your summers, listening to Springsteen…

Brings you back to the time when we’d roll down the windows, blare the music and shout “We Are Young!”

Ah, all that nostalgia. Honey, Give Your Heart A Break.

It’s summer. Let’s enjoy every bit of it.

So Blow Me (One Last Kiss)…

And Call Me Maybe?

Funk Sway

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The ancient Chinese art of feng shui seeks to correct or balance the energy in a place so that maximum happiness, prosperity and good fortune can occur. Feng shui is helpful in decluttering, redecorating and renovation. Practitioners train for years to understand the complex rules surrounding the harnessing of “chi” — the energy that surrounds us.

I have my own method of decluttering, redecorating and harnessing chi. It’s simple, with just a few rules. All you need is a CD player and the right music and you can change your life and your chi.

I call it “Funk Sway”, and it’s based on one universal premise: there is no way to be unhappy when you are dancing to classic funk music.

I am a certified Funk Sway master, and by reading this you will achieve your mastery, too.

Here’s what you do: go to the room you want to re-energize. This next step is a very important element to set the tone for the entire Funk Sway process: you must play the funk classic “Play That Funky Music (White Boy)” by Wild Cherry. Begin to sway…perchance to dance. When the song has concluded, choose your next song depending on what you’d like to achieve in your life.

To declutter, you must play “Pick Up The Pieces” by the Average White Band. Play it loud. Swaying will happen, trust me. Amid the swaying, and dancing, begin to literally pick up the pieces. In a few short minutes, you will be funk swaying your way into a tidier room!

To affirm your sense of gratitude, you need “Thank You (Falettime Be Mice Elf Agin)” by Sly and the Family Stone. Require some affirmation? It’s “Tell Me Something Good” by Rufus (and Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan). Want to develop a career in the movies? “Hollywood Swinging” by Kool and the Gang sets the proper tone. Lost something? Why, you need Parliament’s “Flashlight” (or maybe a… neon light).

Grateful for your health and body? “Brick House” by the Commodores. Need to focus on being a more empathetic individual? “I Feel For You (I Think I Love You)” by Chaka Khan (Chaka Khan — you know you always say it twice).

When you have met your objective for your Funk Sway session, the concluding song must be “Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)”.

Your environment is now funkified. Your burdens have been laid down, and joy pervades.

It’s time to free your inner funkster. Open yourself to the messages of the universe, contained in a brutal back beat and righteous horn section. Sway to the funk. Be one with the funk.

It’s time to Funk Sway your chi, y’all.