5 Ways to Pep up the faltering mood!

Mood Swings?

We are all familiar with this word and most of us have experienced one. Whether it’s a bad mood because of unhealed emotional pain or just someone who hurt us through their words or actions, whether it’s due to our own recent ill health episodes or a future financial worry that’s eating us from within, a bad mood, irrespective of how long it lasts, can ruin our day, our relationships and our health in the long run.

At times a ‘feeling low’ phase creeps in for no apparent reason. Our mind quickly goes into the analysis of why we are not feeling so great and just ends up confusing us all the more as we get trapped by its never ending analysis and reasoning. Whatever the case maybe, here are 5 ways in which we can all pep up our faltering mood and do a lot of good to ourselves and others. I have personally felt that this works for me and so I urge you to try them out the next time you find yourself at the bottom end of a mood swing.

1. Feel the pain, don’t avoid it — Yes, all said and done, the truth is that a bad mood is an indication of emotional pain. It could be something that is visible and on the surface or something that’s buried deep into our subconscious but manages to surface every now and then without us even knowing it. Don’t distract yourself immediately. Stop to acknowledge it and just feel the pain. Don’t get into the analysis of ‘why’ because that’s not important. First and foremost is to just be aware and let that pain pass through us. It could physically manifest as little pain in the chest or a heavy feeling in the head but feeling it and sensing it is the first step to being free of it. Just sit quietly for a while with eyes closed and be aware of the self. Let the tears roll down if they do. Feeling and acknowledging a bad mood is very healing.
2. Get on to something creative almost immediately — Once we have spent a while (ideally a few minutes) feeling and acknowledging our mood, it’s time for self love and creativity. Creativity loosens and frees blocked energy, (and hence blocked emotions) allowing us to feel much better at the end of it. Whatever makes you feel good — be it running or aerobics or football, or cooking, painting, baby time or music — engage in it. It might feel like a huge task to get the mind and the body to engage in anything as the mind wants to ponder and indulge in its vicious games of blame, cynicism, anger, criticism, self pity etc. But engaging in a creative task even when we don’t want to, can be a great blessing. By the end of it we are guaranteed to feel much better as we’ve let our energy free flow.
3. Read or Listen to something energizing & inspiring — This is the next step, post engaging in our favourite activity. In most cases we would be ready to get on to work after step 2, however continuing further can go a long way in bringing us back to ‘our best selves’. Reading an inspiring note from our favourite book or listening to an inspiring talk have known to have lasting impacts on our minds and indeed go a long way in influencing our moods positively.
4. Accept the present Reality — The following words rightly quoted by a famous writer have always inspired me —

“Life isn’t predictable and the solutions we seek to answer our life questions don’t always come nicely wrapped. Waking our conscious minds to accept our reality, embrace change and the unpredictability of life, is one step toward finding out what we need to do next in our life.”

For many of us this is true. Changing our present reality can possibly never happen unless we accept it wholly first. I’ve also realized that we cannot really control the series of events happening to us but we can appreciate every situation by completely accepting it in a non — judgmental way. In fact when we look at our present reality without comparing it to the past and independent of an aspired future, we would find that it is beautiful and special in so many different ways. Carefully looking at things in our present that are truly valuable to us will more often than not manage to evoke a sense of gratitude, as we will invariably find that we are blessed with so much.

5. Get on to the Act — This is the most important in my view but only comes after the first four. Let’s ask ourselves a simple question —

“ Am I doing everything in my power (that I can do) to change the way things are currently?”

If the answer is yes, then have I done enough of it or have I given up too soon?

Or Have I just been passive and dormant?

Surprisingly, in most cases we would find that either we haven’t tried enough to create the kind of life that we want for ourselves or we haven’t had the faith and the courage to continue after failing a couple of times. It is possible that we might end up making wrong decisions in situations, but fearing the outcome and not acting at all is still worse.

Forget about the long term outcome and how our life would be 20 years down the line, it is impossible to comprehend how much we and our situations change as life moves on. However, if there is something that we could do NOW, that can make a difference to our lives at present,- it could be something as simple as learning a new skill or reaching out to help someone or just saying ‘we care’ and showing it genuinely to our loved ones; let’s get on to the act immediately without any further delay and watch how it works wonders on our moods over a period of time.

Best Wishes,