As a therapist, I often encourage individuals to dive in, explore, and express emotions. Temporarily containing emotions is sometimes necessary, but it doesn't go away; we need to express things. Still, moods and emotions are not the same things.
While emotions are responses to happenings, moods are longer lasting. The mood is like the sky; it overshadows everything, a sunny sky or a dark sky shades everything. We can learn from our moods. For example, if we've been downcast for some time, it may be a sign that something needs to change, stress to be addressed or self-care to be improved.
Long-lasting moods can be tough to manage. Depression paints the sky black, and it's hard to see much. That darkness overshadows almost everything. Similarly, longstanding stressors can leave us feeling in a place of constant depletion.
If tricky moods are causing havoc in your life, it's essential to reach out for help. In the case of mood disorders like depression or bipolar disorder, intervention from a mental health professional is often necessary. While self-help strategies may help some, these are complex conditions, with psychological, biological, and social dimensions.
Still, an everyday bad mood doesn't have to turn into a bad day. When we are in low moods, we are vulnerable to isolation and miss out on chances to brighten our days, but this doesn't have to be the case. There are steps we can take to change our moods. What follows are ten strategies to lift your spirits.
1. Focus on a Small Good Thing
You can still smell a flower, even if your mood guides your eyes away. You can smile as you watch a parent playing with their kid. Small moments as these matter. Under a dark sky, there are still places of color—flowers, streams, and even rainbows. Focusing on these brief escapes gives us a chance to refresh.
2. Talk to Someone, Anyone
When we are alone we are vulnerable to rumination. A conversation, even a small one can change our mood. This could be giving a compliment to a woman at the gas station or asking someone at a rest stop where they are from. These moments of connection can change our perspective.
3. Identify Something to Look Forward to
A low mood is likely to guide your focus to all possible awful things for the future. Things that might not even happen. Take a chance to reverse the pattern. Think of something you are looking forward to. It doesn't have to be anything big like a vacation or marriage. It could be looking forward to calling your sister after work, watching fireworks on the fourth of July, or wearing a favorite sweater. Are these necessarily life-changing things? Probably not. But these are small joys. If we ruminate on all the small annoyances, why can't we do the same for the good things?
4. Go Outside
I mean this one. Sunlight and fresh air might sound cliche, but we need these. Sometimes a 15-minute break laying on a hammock or walking around the neighborhood can change an entire day.
5. Remember the Good Things
Unhappy moods lead us to think about unhappy memories. A foul mood primes us to ruminate, dwell, and stew. See if you can bring to mind even one positive memory. Focus on it. Bring it into sharp clarity. It could be a memory of a treehouse you used to climb into when you were a kid or a memory of hugging your partner. Our minds have ways to make the imaginary feel quite real. Often, this hurts us through worry and rumination. Yet, we can take those same capacities to feel better.
6. Music
Music has a powerful ability to change our moods. Even without words, it is possible for us to feel the emotion behind a melody. You can ascend a mood with music in several ways. Sometimes, we need to express ourselves. We match our mood or energy with music. Other times, we can use music to create a new mood, for example, by accessing whale sounds or calming tones.
7. Humor
When you've been down, you might not feel like turning on a comedian or telling jokes. Still, humor can flip our perspectives and break mood patterns. If you are struggling, perhaps start by accessing some familiar or nostalgic sources of humor, like a cartoon you enjoyed growing up or a favorite comedian.
8. Enjoy a Pleasant Smell
Have you ever smelled something, perhaps that distinct smell of a skating rink at 10 p.m., and found yourself transported? Our sense of smell is closely related to brain regions indicated in functions of emotion and memory. We can use smell to lift our moods. For many, a coconut candle can offer a brief vacation, and the smell of fresh-cut grass can be surprisingly grounding.
9. Take a Picture
Photography is an activity that demands focus on the moment. It doesn't have to be anything extravagant. Even a brief photo walk around the perimeter of your yard might lend opportunities to photograph squirrels playing, or a small plant creeping up through the sidewalk-things you might otherwise be unlikely to notice.
10. Be Kind to Yourself
Be kind to yourself. When we are feeling down, we often treat ourselves worse. Yet, these are the times when we need the exact opposite. Pay attention to your self-talk. Give yourself a break from mistakes, low mood days make those more likely. Beating yourself up won't help.
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