{"id":672,"date":"2014-08-06T05:34:04","date_gmt":"2014-08-06T09:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.livelifemadetoorder.com\/blog\/blog\/?p=672"},"modified":"2026-02-09T20:58:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T20:58:27","slug":"tips-boost-mood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.livelifemadetoorder.com\/blog\/tips-boost-mood\/","title":{"rendered":"Turn that Frown Upside Down: 8 Tips to Boost Your Mood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feeling like you could just punch someone in the face? Wishing you could hit the reset button on your day? Just feeling a bit blah? Woke up and found yourself in a bad mood before you even lifted your head from the pillow? <\/span><\/p>\n

We can\u2019t be happy all the time; the list of things that can sour our day is infinite. Sometimes, everything just seems to go wrong all at once, and your day is filled with nothing but problems and strife. <\/span><\/p>\n

As someone who can be quite moody at times, and whose mood can change at the drop of a hat, I developed a great interest in tackling this issue. Here are some of the suggestions I find most helpful in my own life, and I hope they will be of use to you as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Be Okay with the Negative Feelings<\/span><\/h2>\n

Feeling better when we are feeling kind of crappy actually doesn\u2019t require us to directly address the issue at hand, or try and \u2018fix\u2019 anything. Of course, we want to do what we can. But, if I had to name my number one mood-boosting tool, it would definitely be acceptance of my current state.<\/span><\/p>\n

You see, we don\u2019t like feeling badly, and the sheer presence of negative emotions triggers even more emotional upset. We feel a great deal of resistance to our current state, and this only intensifies everything and makes us feel even worse.<\/span><\/p>\n

When we accept, we feel less emotionally invested in our bad mood\u2014it just is what it is; we know it will pass and we just sit with it. We still may feel like crap, but it is more manageable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Turn to Gratitude<\/span><\/h2>\n

This can be a tough one ,but works wonders. It is hard because we are so caught up in what is making us feel unhappy, and we feel so justified in our anger, annoyance or what have you, the suggestion to take our attention off of that, and turn it to something good, can really rub us the wrong way.<\/span><\/p>\n

I myself, can get mad about really stupid things, and Ryan, who is oh-so-wise and calm almost every second of the day, always reminds me of this little tool. And in my state of agitation, I just want to smack him\u2014love you honey \ud83d\ude42 But, I know he is right. And, when I can pull myself away from my problems enough to focus on the good in my life, I do feel better almost instantly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Take a Quick Meditation Break<\/span><\/h2>\n

When we are not in the best of moods, we can get really absorbed in a negative train of thought, which just feeds that gross energy even more. It might be obsessing over something someone did that made you mad, an imaginary conversation with someone you are pissed off with, envisioning all the worst-case scenarios of a particular issue you are dealing with in the moment, or a million other things.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I find myself engaging in this bad-mood-perpetuating behavior, I find a quick meditation break to be very helpful. It eases the tension in my body, puts me back in control of my thoughts (at least to some degree!), and makes me feel more refreshed mentally, which leaves me better equipped to deal with my feelings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Take Yourself So Seriously<\/span><\/h2>\n

One of the biggest benefits I have gained from all my \u2018self-improvement\u2019 work is becoming more aware of my thoughts and feelings. This awareness reaps countless benefits, with one of the most powerful being the ability to recognize when we are being a tad dramatic and taking ourselves too seriously.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes I am so in tune, I realize my level of ridiculousness before I have even finished my complaint-filled sentence. I then have a good laugh at myself, and usually let the issue go relatively quickly. Sometimes it takes a bit longer, but I almost always recognize this tendency.<\/span><\/p>\n

When you find yourself in a bad mood, take a moment to really think about what is bothering you. Is it really something that serious or deserves such indignation? Are you maybe blowing things out of proportion? What is the real impact of the problem at hand?<\/span><\/p>\n

Hey, sometimes we just feel like being mad\u2014we have some pent up emotions and they can release themselves through a bad mood. If you feel like feeling like crap for a bit, go for it. But, when your ego is the main driver of your emotions (which I guess it always is, but you know what I mean here), learning to recognize that, and choosing to ease up a bit is never a bad idea. <\/span><\/p>\n

A perfect example is being angry because of something your husband did, and continuing to be mad even though you have pretty much gotten over the \u2018incident\u2019, out of some sense of wanting to punish the other person. But guess who else you are punishing in the process?
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Step Away from What Isn\u2019t Necessary<\/span><\/h2>\n

When we are not feeling so hot, sometimes the best thing we can do is step away from activities that are just compounding our bad feelings. Now, I get there are sometimes you can\u2019t just say screw it. If you are working a tight deadline for a project at work, I imagine telling your boss you can\u2019t get the job done because you need a little \u2018me time\u2019 to recharge your batteries will not go over too well.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, when it comes to the stuff that truly doesn\u2019t need to be tended to at this very moment, let it go<\/em><\/strong> for now, and just veg out or do something else that makes you feel better. This could be a tough one sometimes, because our definition of \u2018necessary\u2019 can be a bit screwy, and we think we must <\/em>do certain things , that when we really break the situation down, don\u2019t actually need to be done right this moment or at any point during the day.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Power of Perspective<\/span><\/h2>\n

While it doesn\u2019t always feel like it when we are in the thick of feeling shitty, we have this amazing tool at our disposal every second of every day, and that life-changing tool is perspective. We can always choose how to view our situation\u2014sometimes we don\u2019t choose wisely, and that\u2019s okay. No one\u2019s perfect. But, if we can embed this idea deeper into our awareness, we will remember to exercise it more often, rather than getting completely absorbed in our bad feelings.<\/span><\/p>\n

I travel a lot, and as awesome as it is, it can be a giant pain in the ass sometimes. But, if I relayed to you some of the things that I get mad about, you would probably want to reach out through cyberspace and punch me right in the face.<\/span><\/p>\n

I realize that if my biggest problems on a given day is an inaccurate bus schedule that delays my arrival to one of the most beautiful spots in Costa Rica, or being perturbed the \u2018luxury\u2019 overnight bus I booked in Thailand doesn\u2019t even provide blankets (I know..inexcusable! ), I don\u2019t have it so bad.<\/span><\/p>\n

Engage in a Happy Distraction<\/span><\/h2>\n

I am a big fan of the happy distraction\u2014the little things that bring you some kind of joy, and help you focus your energy on things that make you happy. Being a travel addict, going on AirBNB and looking at houses for rent in various locations I would like to visit is one of my favorites, and always lifts my spirits. It sparks that excitement I have for travel, and gets the wheels turning on possible future trips, because as any travel junkie knows, we are always looking ahead no matter where we are right now, and how much we love it.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, think about a list of your own happy distractions and whip those puppies out anytime you want to battle a bad mood.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just Go to Sleep<\/span><\/h2>\n

This one may not always be an option, but by god, when it is, use it!<\/em><\/strong> When feeling like crap take a nap is one of my mantras I live by; in fact, I just got up from one a few minutes before finishing this post. Had a rough night\u2019s sleep. Wasn\u2019t exactly in a bad mood, but not feeling great.<\/span><\/p>\n

Felt a bit of pressure to keep doing my work, but I employed that previous nugget of wisdom, and walked away from it because I was having trouble concentrating, and it did not need to be done that very second.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sleep can have a magical effect on our mood, just as if we were giant toddlers. It\u2019s the same for us as it is for a cranky little kid. It resets something. My perspective is almost always better upon waking.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, there you have it. My top tips for getting back to your happy and shiny self!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Feeling like you could just punch someone in the face? Wishing you could hit the reset button on your day? Just feeling a bit blah? Woke up and found yourself in a bad mood before you even lifted your head from the pillow? We can\u2019t be happy all the time; the list of things that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[19,6,31,23,37,70],"class_list":["post-672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-happiness","tag-acceptance","tag-happiness-2","tag-hard-times","tag-meditation-2","tag-perspective","tag-stress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livelifemadetoorder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livelifemadetoorder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livelifemadetoorder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livelifemadetoorder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livelifemadetoorder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.livelifemadetoorder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13050,"href":"https:\/\/www.livelifemadetoorder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672\/revisions\/13050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livelifemadetoorder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livelifemadetoorder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livelifemadetoorder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livelifemadetoorder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}