So you’re in a funk, or a bad mood, but you really don’t know why, and you can’t seem to get yourself to rise beyond it. Perhaps something happened at work, you are having bad communication with a friend or you and your partner aren’t on the same page. It could be even that you’re just feeling low, not exactly your enthusiastic self, but not sure how to change that.
The first thing I recommend is to actually tune into what is it that could be causing this energy dip, or lack of interest, or general feeling of lowness.
What comes to mind? Write it down.
Once you have a clearer idea of what may be adding to your mood, you have a better chance at being able to shift it.
I’m sure we can all raise our hands in agreement that we’ve all been there before. I personally know I have. I’ve dealt with depression, panic attacks, funks and mood swings my whole life, and what I’ve come to learn over the years are a few key components to actually shifting my energetic vibration to change my mood.
This is about understanding how you can channel your life force as way to balance yourself and shift your mood.
Here are 5 concrete actions to help you do this.
1. Move
Movement is by far my number one choice to shake up (or shake off, thanks T-Swift) that negative energy. My go-to movement is yoga, but yoga not just in finding strict poses but actually just moving through your body, sensing your physical being.
Try moving, dance, jumping up and down for at least 2 minutes. Then stop. Stand in Mountain Pose with your feet hip width distance, core engaged and your arms extended by your sides. You can literally feel the energy coursing through your body, and you just created that all through movement. Scientifically, what’s happening is your lymphatic system is moving and the body is engaging in releasing endorphins and all kinds of feel goodies.
In just a few minutes movement can completely transform your perspective. And it’s within your capability to tap into that.
2. Drop Into Your Breath
You may think of this as meditation, but I am intentionally not calling it that for this purpose. When I first started trying meditate I would get so frustrated with myself, and end up feeling like I’d “ruined” the meditation moment because I couldn’t do what everyone said and “quiet my mind”.
Well, this technique is meditative, but the goal here is not enlightenment, it’s connection.
This will help you connect back to your body, to your breath which is the main source of your life force, without it you don’t exist. It controls everything when it comes to your energy, think of your stress response or what happens when you run. You can actually tap into this.
So lay down, or sit in a comfortable position. Set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes. Close your eyes, sometimes this helps to better connect. Just start to notice your breath, don’t try to change or manipulate it. Just notice it.
Feel your breath expanding in your lungs. Stay there, feeling in your lungs and see where you’re not breathing your body. Are you breathing only in your upper body and not so connected to the lower, maybe you’re not connected to your back side, etc.
By bringing your awareness back to your breath for a few minutes you allow yourself the space to reunite with your whole body, noticing where energy is lacking and restoring balance through you.
3. GUGO
Get up, go outside.
I cannot implore enough the importance of rekindling your relationship with nature. If you’re the type of person who works in a city, in brick buildings and a crowded office you especially need this restorative time.
Being outside changes so much in your physiological and physical being. We forget sometimes win our human brains how much we desperately need the Earth. It’s electrically charged, and a sure-fire way to recharge for yourself is to step outside. Better yet, get barefoot in the grass and practice some grounding, watch as you soak up the energy and your perspective starts to get a little brighter.
4. Crank the Tunes
Music makes the mood. Seriously, there’s a reason for saying “set the mood” whether you’re talking about an epic party playlist or an intimate evening in with a special someone.
Same thing goes when you’re flying solo. Put on music that makes you feel alive, or rather makes you remember how you want to live. Belt your heart out on your commute home, or even at your desk if that’s where you work. Don’t be afraid to let the music transcend into your bones, feel how amazing it is to be uplifted in pure joy of music and if so inclined, a little dancing will never hurt that ‘tude either.
5. Change Your Thoughts
“What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create.” Our reality is largely based on our own conceptualization that happens in our brain and creates thoughts that we deem our reality. Or not.
In fact our thoughts are just thoughts. Mindfulness is realizing that a thought is just a thought, once you realize a thought does not equate truth you can devalue it and separate yourself from it.
So when you’ve got that monkey mind exploding negativity like confetti in your brain, remember you get to choose. You get to choose what thoughts become truths, what thoughts become reality. So it’s really not so much about “changing your thoughts” per say, but rather choosing your thoughts. And choose wisely, friends.
