In this video, learn about six quick mood enhancers that can help you go from grumpy and sad to good tempered and happy.
Video by Einzelgänger
Key Takeaways
A bad mood often goes together with ruminating about the past or worrying about the future. In many cases a mental problem has a physical solution. In other cases the solution lies in changing the way you think.
1. Movement
It’s common knowledge that physical exercise like walking, running or strength training elevate your mood — especially if you let the blood pump through your veins you’re likely to experience feelings of euphoria.
Afterwards active people are more happy in general and the secret lies in a movement — any movement. This could be from running a marathon to walking from your office chair to the coffee machine.
I think there are different factors at play here like oxygen and blood circulation, a change of scenery, and that movement will more likely tether you to the present moment.
Also movement is a way to progress—whether it’s cleaning your room or training for muscle growth—humans like progression.
2. Shock
If you feel down or depressed try taking a cold shower. Taking a cold shower has many benefits.
If you take a cold shower for a few minutes you will experience an instant mood increase.
Cold showers can be excruciatingly uncomfortable and that’s the very reason why they work. The simple idea behind this is that comfort grows out of discomfort. To feel great you need to feel like crap first.
You basically shock your depression away by exposing your body to cold water. The euphoria that comes after the cold shower will make you feel better.
3. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a treatment based on the ancient philosophy called Stoicism. It’s a mind hack that makes you feel better by changing the way you think.
When you’re thinking about the past or worrying about the future you, create a huge amount of excessive thoughts. Excessive thinking can become very problematic to the point of deep depression, psychosis, and even suicide.
The thing is, thoughts are not real. Thoughts are either fantasies about what could happen in the future and memories which are perceptions and reflections of past events.
Neuro scientists discovered that memories are highly adaptive and reshape themselves in order to fit new circumstances. In other words are not reliable.
Cognitive behavioral therapy hacks into the brains disordered thinking patterns and attacks them by using logic and reason. It will challenge the negative and delusional stories you’re probably telling yourself and reshapes these thoughts into rational thinking.
This way you expose the crap that you’ve been feeding yourself that makes you feel miserable.
4. Listening
Another problematic phenomenon about excessive thinking is that we are inclined to hold on to our thinking patterns and sometimes we are utterly immersed by them.
"Many people live with a tormentor in their head that continuously attacks and punishes them and drains them of vital energy. It is the cause of untold misery and unhappiness, as well as of disease."
The Buddhists call this the monkey mind, in which the mind recklessly jumps from subject to subject. A way to dissolve this excessive thinking patterns is listening to your thoughts without engaging in them.
You can do this by sitting down and observing your thoughts closely. This way you create room between you the observer and a stream of —what do they say, what do they want.
By listening closely to your thoughts without engaging with them, you’ll notice that you are not your thoughts. They simply come and go. Don’t fight them and they will pass away peacefully.
5. Talking
Another way to lift your mood is talking.
Just throw it out if you talk about what bothers you and how you feel, you’ll experience a sense of relief. However don’t overdo this because talking too much about how bad you feel will possibly work counterintuitive.
Also pick wisely whom you talk to. Some people are chronically miserable themselves. Talking to them will only make it worse. You know what they say misery loves company.
The trick is you don’t necessarily have to talk about your problems. The of engaging with other people and a human connection that comes from that is often mood lifting.
Of course this depends on the people you communicate with. I would say seek out positive uplifting people the ones that have a track record of making you laugh and avoid the negative, cynical ones.
6. Sleep
If nothing of the above helps, it’s a good idea to look at your quality of sleep.
A bad mood can very well be because you are sleep deprived, especially if you have been working or studying a lot lately or maybe you are an athlete and your muscles did not get enough rest.
Even a small nap can do wonders for your mood. As mentioned previously, a mental problem often has a physical solution.
When it comes to your mood, a lack of sleep can be absolutely detrimental. Prioritize quality sleep.