Don’t get trouble in your mind.
“Don’t get trouble in your mind” is the cheery refrain of a bluegrass chestnut, performed in the video below by the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
I’d never heard the song until a friend posted this video on Facebook the other day, and it just hit me in a sweet spot. Since then, it’s been an earworm.
But unlike most earworms, this one could prove useful.
Don’t get trouble in your mind.
Gosh, don’t we though?
Don’t we get trouble in our minds, inventing and then worrying about bad-news scenarios that may or may not happen in the future? Don’t we do that? And don’t we have fights with people in our heads, and imagine our own failures, and ruminate on things we’ve done that may or may not have been as heinous as we remember?
That’s all just trouble in your mind.
Such a waste of energy and we should cut it out. But it’s not that easy to stop. For some of us, falling into rumination is like falling asleep. You can fight it for a while, but eventually it’s easier to just slip into it. You give up the struggle.
But stop yourself. Tell yourself, “don’t get trouble in your mind.”
And that should do it. Because at that point, the song will take over. It will burrow into your brain and crowd out the worries with its carefree wisdom.
You might be able to fight it for a while, but eventually will give up the struggle.
Don’t get trouble in your mind.
Don’t get trouble in your mind.
Don’t get trouble in your mind.
Don’t get trouble in your mind.
Sometimes all your mind wants is something to obsess about. Might as well give it a song.
By the way, my book, The Introvert’s Way: Living a Quiet Life in a Noisy World, was released to the world last week. Please take a look, consider getting it for yourself or an introvert you love.
Photo of a banjo is available at Shutterstock.
