5 Great Ways to Boost Your Mood

This time of year tends to be a bit gloomy for a lot of people, or to put it more accurately, people tend to embrace gloomy thoughts and attitudes in the Winter season. The reasons or excuses for this phenomenon are many, but are really not relevant to this piece. We’re going to focus on solutions here, not on problems!
So here are 5 ways to help you boost your mood and get rid of those depressing thoughts:

1. Detox your thoughts. Many people begin the new year with a physical detox of the body, but few decide to do the same thing with their mind. Detoxing your thoughts is easy. Just start to become aware of your thoughts. You have a set of thoughts that you habitually run over and over again every day of the week. Take stock of what they are and throw out the ones that are not helpful to you. Replace them with positive thoughts.

2. Stop worrying. I love this great quote from Wayne Dyer: “It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there's nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized.” It’s so true. Instead of thinking about all the things you don’t want to happen, start thinking about the things you do want to happen. What are your goals? What would you like to achieve?

3. Change your physiology. Get your body involved – it has a tremendous impact on your mood. This might sound pretty silly, but give it a shot – I guarantee you’ll feel better: Stand up, take a few deep breaths, hold your head up high and grin from ear to ear. Now make a fist with your right hand and punch the air while shouting, “Yes!” Repeat this several times, never losing the smile. Don’t worry about how silly you look – no one will see you, and I won’t tell!

4. Avoid negative people. We all have them in our lives – people who would find something to complain about if they won a hundred million dollars! There are people who will find the negative in every situation they encounter. Such people complain constantly, engage in idle gossip, and will serve only to bring you down with them. You don’t want to be down on their level – you want to stay positive!

5. Be careful of what you say. Just like you did with detoxing your thoughts, detox your spoken words as well. When people ask you how you’re doing, instead of saying, “Oh, I’m not too bad,” in a dull, voice, say, “I’m doing great today! How are you?” Or if you get given a massive task to complete, instead of saying, “Oh boy, how am I ever going to get this done?” say something like, “This is a big challenge, but I’m more than equal to it, and I’ll feel great satisfaction in getting it done.”

It’s easy to improve your mood and stay positive if you continually monitor your thoughts, words and deeds. Just one more bonus tip, (I know the title says 5, but I’m feeling generous!) – do something good for someone. Help someone out in some way. Buy some groceries for an elderly neighbour, or when you go through a toll booth, pay for the person behind you as well. Just do something to give your fellow human beings a little lift. This will make you feel absolutely wonderful!