A good mood is a good indicator of the quality of your life. What is something healthy you can do today that will raise your mood? If we were a band, it would be time for a “best of” album.
But here are some cool suggestions from Moodraiser – the top ten ways to raise your mood:
1. Respond to good news enthusiastically
It’s called “capitalizing.” If your partner gives you good news, how do you respond? Four possible ways to respond are: 1) enthusiastically, 2) negatively, 3) positively but subdued, or 4) uninterested. Studies show when you respond enthusiastically, as opposed to any of the other ways, it makes a big difference in how satisfied your partner is in your relationship, how committed s/he is, and how in love s/he is with you. And, of course, if your partner is more satisfied with your relationship, is more committed to you, and more in love with you, that will really raise your mood, too.
2. Look at personal photos
This is one of my personal favorites and works every single time! Studies shwo that listening to music and eating chocolate didn’t really change experimental subjects’ moods very much. Alcohol and TV each gave people a 1% rise in their happiness score. But the clear winner was looking at personal photos. It gave people, on average, an 11% rise in their mood. While turning on the TV or having a beer might be easier, looking at photos scores higher each time!
3. Experiment with your posture
Someone who feels down tends to slump. Someone who is happy tends to sit up straighter, walk more upright with the head held up, looking ahead instead of down. If you have been paying attention, you know this already. Posture tends to be a reflection of mood. What you might not have realized is that it goes the other way too: You can change your posture and it will influence your mood. Experiment with your posture while you’re walking or sitting. Do more of what makes you feel better, and less of what doesn’t.
4. Compare your situation to something worse
Think of something you are unhappy about. Now notice that the reason it makes you unhappy is that you are comparing your situation to something better. You’re comparing your situation to something more ideal. But try this: Think of someone in this world who would take your situation over theirs in a heartbeat. Or imagine your own situation was much worse than it is. Whatever you are unhappy about, you can easily find a worse situation to compare it to. And from that perspective, you are lucky to have the problem you have, even though it is obviously not ideal. Who says the ideal is a legitimate thing to use as a comparison anyway? Something worse is at least as legitimate, and has a benefit too: You feel better.
5. Pretend the universe is in a conspiracy to make you happy
When something bad happens, pretend the universe is in a conspiracy to make you happy and it gave you this bad thing as the perfect way for you to learn something — a lesson that will ultimately make you happy. This way of reframing a setback will improve your mood in the moment, and will raise your mood in the long run. It’ll help you learn and improve what you do in the future. It will help you make the most of whatever happens. What unpleasant situation do you have? Is it teaching you something valuable? Could it, if you looked at it that way? Your ongoing mood has a lot to do with how things look to you. And how things look to you has a lot to do with how you look at things. Use this to your advantage by using this reframe.
Aren’t these great? I’ll continue with the rest of it tomorrow.
Cheers!
Vidya
