6 Ways to Get Yourself Out of a Bad Mood–Fast!

Ahhh the grumpies….Everyone gets in a bad mood once in awhile.  Maybe you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or someone inadvertently says something that triggers your grumpiness.  However you found yourself in a bad mood, you know you don’t want to stay in it.  How do you get out of a bad mood?  Here are 5 suggestions:

1.  Take a walk in nature.

bad moodLook around you and be present to the beauty that surrounds you.  Right now I’m looking outside my office window as I type this and I can see and hear two birds sitting on a telephone wire singing to one another.  They don’t have thoughts running through their heads that beat themselves up or are busily carrying on conversations about how angry they are at someone or at life.  They’re singing.  And in a little while, they will get off their manmade perch and find food, water, or shelter for themselves.  Their priorities are to survive.  We are so lucky and fortunate that we have the luxury to think and to have that capacity!  Our needs for survival are met–we have food, water, clothing, shelter, life!  Anything beyond that is icing on the cake.  We can choose to connect with one another and cultivate those relationships.  We can choose our thoughts and what we focus on.  We don’t have to focus on gathering berries or hunting a buffalo; whether the crops will come in or where we will sleep for the night.  We are so blessed–we have so much more time to think about what really matters in life!

2.  Exercise.

There’s nothing like getting those feel-good endorphins pumping through your body after an awesome workout.  I still get a runner’s high after my workouts–that’s nature’s best medicine right there!

3.  Connection.

Connect with those you love.  Spend time laughing with one another, volunteering together for a good cause, or go do something different that you’ve been meaning to do but have put off.  You can’t bond electronically–through tv, telephone, texting, or emails.  And make sure you connect with people who support you, lift you up, and are positive.  Who you surround yourself with makes a big difference on your life.

4.  Count your blessings.

This is where gratitude comes in.  It’s oh so easy to think about all the things you don’t have–I think it’s human nature to focus on the negative, after all it kept us alive in the distant past.  “Oh gosh, where are the leopards hanging out tonight?”  “Oh my–when will we eat again?”  It meant survival.  Nowadays we are so blessed compared (okay–there’s another way to get out of a bad mood–stop the comparing!) to how they lived hundreds of years ago.  I think priorities have changed and with it comes dissatisfaction, comparison, and the pursuit of goals that are inauthentic and meaningless.

5.    Laugh!  Lighten up!

Stop taking life so seriously.  Someone always has it worse off than you do (oh, there’s that comparison thing again!).  You  have to “get out of yourself” and get into life.

6.  Motivation and inspiration

relationship adviceFind something that is motivating to you.  I love to go on TedTalks to watch their videos.  And there’s so many motivational speakers to listen to or read their material as well.  I also recommend inspiration journals–a journal where you keep things that are inspiring to you like quotes, pictures of artwork, pictures, etc.  I also like vision boards–it’s where you are the inspiration for the board and what you’d like to be, do, and have in your life.  (Tiffany, of The Best You and one of my SITStahs from the SITSGirls has a great article on vision boards–about why yours may not be working for you–and how to make it better.)

After I finished this post and was editing it, I thought of a few more ways to lighten up your mood like trade in your expectations and stop the comparisons.

What do you do to get out of a bad mood?  What helps you the most?

 

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