I was 7 or 8 years old when I first heard Bobby McFerrin’s song “Don’t Worry Be Happy”. I lived in Miami, FL at the time and was in the back seat of the car on a family trip down to Marco Island for the weekend. I had the song playing on my Walkman, and was pretty psyched that my new Walkman had the feature that would rewind to the beginning of the song and stop automatically. Remember those? You could listen to cassette tapes on the go! The tekmology was incredible!
At that time in my life, I had nothing to worry about. Life was easy breezy and I didn’t really understand what the lyrics meant, but I liked the tune.
(By the way, the entire song is a capella, meaning all vocals, and they were all done by McFerrin, each part dubbed over the last. Pretty cool sounds.)
Now, 20+ years later, I still listen to the song regularly, and I always feel better during and after the listening than I did before. It’s a great reminder not to worry, to be happy, and the lyrics will always ring true even hundreds of years from now.
Here’s a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don’t worry, be happy
In every life we have some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don’t worry, be happy
Don’t worry, be happy now
(chorus)
Ain’t got no place to lay your head
Somebody came and took your bed
Don’t worry, be happy
The landlord say your rent is late
He may have to litigate
Don’t worry, be happy
Look at me, I’m happy
(chorus)
Give you my phone number
When you worry, call me, I make you happy
(chorus)
Ain’t got no cash, ain’t got no style
Ain’t got no girl to make you smile
But don’t worry, be happy
‘Cause when you worry, your face will frown
And that will bring everybody down
So don’t worry, be happy
Don’t worry, be happy now
(chorus)
Now there, is this song I wrote
I hope that you learned it note for note
Like good little children
Don’t worry, be happy
Listen to what I say
In your life expect some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don’t worry, be happy, be happy now
In every life we have some trouble, when you worry you make it double.
Don’t worry, be happy.
Yesterday’s Sunday Newsletter started with this quote:
“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.”
– Eckhart Tolle
When we worry about a situation, it doesn’t change. We only make it less bearable. The situation itself is not the painful part – our worrying about it is. The situation itself just is. It’s not good or bad in itself, it’s our thoughts about it that make it good or bad.
When we worry about something, we choose to worry about it. We always have the choice not to worry, although it may not be as easy as it sounds.
Some things that help me not worry are: 1. To realize that worrying is pointless and it doesn’t solve a single thing; 2. To be grateful for what I do have; 3. To remember why I’m even here in the first place – this life is but a dream.
Maybe those will help you too, but you can come up with your own anti-worrying strategy. It’s a personal thing.
Don’t worry, be happy, and enjoy McFerrin’s ridiculous music video featuring Robin Williams (edit: RIP) and Bill Irwin: