I do use music, but it works inconsistently for me, so I wasn't sure if it was good general advice.

I do have one dramatic example. This summer, a friend of mine suffered a loss and had several personal worries, and I was considering cutting him out of my life completely because it seemed daunting to try to comfort him. I found a recording of the Prisoners' Chorus from Fidelio and I had an epiphany -- "Hey, that would be an incredibly shitty thing to do! I care about my friend, after all!" And, of course, I stayed in touch with him. It was really a remarkable change: the song actually made me more caring and motivated.