Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Mood

I just finished one of Jennifer Weiner's books, Who Do You Love.

In it, Andy, one of the main characters of the story, handles his moments of extreme frustration by running.  It allows him to cut out all of the negative internal chattering going on in his head by focusing all his attention on how he feels as he runs.

I, too, have found that I can use certain physical activities, like golfing, to distract me from thoughts that I don't think are benefiting me at that moment either because they increase my stress levels or they darken my mood.

Also, in this novel, a therapist suggested a strategy to Andy - to change your mood, change your setting.  Something as simple as getting up from what you are doing to have a cup of tea can be enough in most situations to brake the momentum of negative thought patterns.

We all have techniques or tools we use to manage our moods.  What do you do?

Revel in Your Satisfaction

This is a bit like the "take time to smell the roses" advice.

I am recommending that if you want to feel happier on a day to day basis, take the time throughout your day to revel in feelings of satisfaction.

You can feel a sense of satisfaction for all kinds of things - they don't have to be big.  Here are a few examples.

• getting your exercise routine in
• handling a difficult situation well
• sticking to your meal plan when faced with temptation
• doing something nice for somebody else
• doing something nice for yourself
• getting through something at work that was challenging - sometimes this is just getting through your long list of "To Do's" for the day

So go forth and revel in feelings of satisfaction as you go through your day.  You'll feel better for it.

Please share the things you got a sense of satisfaction from.  I look forward to hearing from you. 

What Makes Your Heart Sing?

In September, I will be starting a monthly series of guided meditation sessions focused on the topic "What Makes Your Heart Sing?".

I thought by writing about the process of developing the content, I would start the flow of ideas.

I picked this topic because I, personally, wanted to explore the things that excite me and to play within that energy stream of emotions and feelings that go along with those thoughts.

Just like the song, "My Favorite Things", from the film, "The Sound of Music" when you purposefully think about the things that make you feel happy, you can uplift your mood.

Sometimes we have to start off with small and simple thoughts like "raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens" to get our momentum of thought and emotions going in the direction of our choosing.

What do you do to change your mood when you are feeling down?