Tips for Getting in a Better Mood

The sky is grey, you haven’t had your morning coffee yet, and you feel kind of blah?

Set Your Intention

There are many little things you can do to boost your mood. One of the first things we do in counseling is make a decision and set your intention. You have to decide that hanging out in the “blahs” is not where you are spending your time today. Make a decision and commit yourself to feeling better. Set your intention on being more positive.

Begin by Knowing Your Mood Boosters

Then start taking actions that work for you. It is helpful if you have already spent time knowing what tickles your toes and boosts you up to at least a 5 on a 10 point scale. If you don’t know, start your investigation and think about it so you can call upon your helpers when needed.

Take Action Doing the Things that Help you Feel Better

It always helps me to spend a little time in nature. If I have time, it is nice to go for a walk in a nearby park. If little time, sitting in my backyard, listening to the birds, watching the ducks and herons, enjoying my roses, smelling their delightful scent, cutting some herbs are lifting activities for me.

Another activity which is good for my soul is reading a good book. Taking 15 to 30 minutes to get absorbed in a good story takes me out of my own reality and immediately puts me in another. The empathy I feel in an adventure, romance, or historical fiction does wondrous things for my mood. My imagination is stirred and I feel numerous things I wasn’t feeling when I first woke up on a “blues” day.

One of the best activities to do on a “blues” day is remember what you are grateful for. This always pulls me up several numbers on the scale. Recognizing how wonderful my life is and feeling positive about what I have – all the present time blessings in my life pushes me upward in my thinking and feeling. Sending a thank you note is another way to make you feel better.

Do acts of kindness. Help the older person up from the chair. Offer to open the door for someone. Give up your seat in the waiting room for someone. Tell the receptionist how cheerful she is and that is means something to you. Compliment your spouse on something important that you haven’t mentioned in a while. Tell your kids what their successes mean to you. Pick up a Starbuck’s for your assistant. Bring home dinner for the family. There are so many things you can do for others if you get out of your own head, your own problems, your own “Oh Poor Me” thinking.

These things won’t make clinical depression go away in one day, but they will help boost your mood on a daily basis. They also help in the long run if you make them part of your daily routine. For a “Blah” day or a “Blues” day, these activities will boost your mood scale up. Try it now. If you are at 4 or 7 out of 10, these activities can make it go up to 5 or 8 or even 9. Go for one or two points higher than your low point of the day.

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