“After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” ~ Philip Pullman
This is a scary time. I don’t know why we humans have to go through traumatic periods. It’s happened so many times throughout our existence. It’s sort of like some force, maybe it’s us, says, “You’ve become too complacent. It’s time to shake things up so you’ll grow.” I created this post to give encouragement, and maybe some entertainment that will give us some things to think about.
I’ve been reading The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit For Rewiring Your Mind by Pam Grout. It’s a book with one lesson a day that helps the reader practice letting go of old programing. It’s an appropriate book to be studying during this time of crisis. Since everything is topsy turvy we’re almost forced to take out all our attitudes and beliefs and examine them. After so many lessons, A Course in Miracles, and Pam Grout, have us do ten review lessons. She offered a play list to help her readers understand that day’s lesson in an inspiring way. Here is her list of songs below. I thought I’d share them because they are all feel good songs. And who couldn’t use some good feelings right now.
Pam Grout’s play list:
“I Feel Good” by James Brown
“Happy” by Pharrell Williams
“Celebrate” by Kool & the Gang
“Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin
“Better When I’m Dancing” by Meghan Trainor
“Imagine” by John Lennon
“It’s a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong
“Dancing Queen” by ABBA
“Living in the Moment” by Jason Mraz
“Shower the People With Love” by James Taylor
Pam’s positive playlist inspired me to suggest some feel good movies, TV shows, and books too. These are entertainment that I love to watch and even read over and over, especially when I need a little pick me up. These are only partial lists, but maybe they will help you seek out your own feel good movies, TV shows, and books.
My feel good movies:
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
The Mountain Between Us
The Age of Adaline
Feast of Love
Arrival
The Man Who Went up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Now Voyager
The Razor’s Edge
The Princess Bride
Young Frankenstein
The Muppet Christmas Carol
The Man Who Invented Christmas
All the Star Treks
Cloud Atlas
Possession
The Star Wars saga
ET
Little Women
Moonstruck
My feel good TV shows:
Friends
Almost any Star Trek, particularly Next Generation, and Deep Space Nine
Cosmos and Cosmos: Possible Worlds
The Story Of God
Bones (Because of the development of the relationships.)
From Masterpiece Theatre, Downton Abbey, Grantchester, All the Jane Austen adaptations
Some of these feel good books are also on the movie list. That’s on purpose. I love watching a movie and then reading the book. It gives me a broader base of knowledge about the plot and characters.
My feel good books:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Any LaVyrle Spencer book
The Harry Potter Series by J. K. Rowling
Any Jane Austen novel
The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Now Voyager by Olive Higgins Prouty
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
The Dressmaker of Kahir Kahna by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Winter Solstice by Rosamun Pilcher
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Cadfael Series by Ellis Peters (This was also a Masterpiece Mystery series, but I like the books a lot better. Some of the screen writers did not honor the spirit of the books)
The Circle of Ceridwen Series by Octavia Randolph
I’m the kind of person who is always looking for ways to get out of ruts in thinking, feeling and behaving. I actively seek growth and change. If you’re not one of those people, then this time when routines are shattered might be extremely hard for you. I hope, though, that you can take a breath and take stock of not only your life, but of our society and see how changing yourself can make both better.
In any case, I hope my lists help you through this unusual and trying time.
Please share a song, movie, or book that help calm your nerves or make you feel better when you’re down.
Thanks for reading. If you like what you’ve read, share it with someone.
Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2020
Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.
Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.
The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published.
Sage Woman Chronicles 