Do One Little Thing (And Change Your Whole Day For The Better)

Memory, mood, stress levels, and intelligence are not just functions of your brain structure and state. What you eat, what you do, how the weather is, your physical health, and your community and environment impact your psychological state. Everything is interconnected.

You are not just a brain giving orders to a body. And you are not an island either. More and more scientific papers are making it clear:

• Changes in your gut microbiota are associated with the progression of depression. (1)
• Walking improves memory and cognitive capacity as people age. (2)
• Handgrip strength is inversely associated with the incidence of depression and anxiety. (3)
• Sugar lowers your mental performance, while omega-3 can help you recover. (4)
• Sunlight impacts your mood and learning capacity. (5)
• Satisfying relationships make people live longer. (6)

The bad news is that many things can ruin your day. If you haven’t slept well, you are late because of traffic, your boss criticizes you in public, and the sun doesn't shine, you will have many excuses for feeling miserable.

The good news is that if you want to change your psychological state for the better, you can attack the problem from just one angle and start changing your whole state. That's what I do with my clients. I provide them with different tools to work on themselves, their bodies, their environments, and the people around them.

Once, I had a very shy client who wanted to gain confidence and advance in her career. I gave her a simple exercise to do: Every day, on her way to work in the morning, she had to smile and speak with a stranger. She was terrified, but she was brave and did it anyway. She was stunned by how people reacted. To her surprise, most people were extremely friendly, and some of them engaged in long conversations with her.

Feeling connected, accepted, and welcomed pushed her shyness away and put her in a happy mood every morning, which positively influenced the rest of her day. Her mood spread throughout the office. She realized for the first time the power and influence she had on her colleagues and her boss. She gained the confidence she was looking for and became an important team member in the office. Her voice was heard and respected.

That was not the only work we did together, but it was pivotal in changing her situation. She transformed her relationships with people. Her mood improved. She felt more confident, and her situation noticeably changed.

Sometimes, changing one little thing can put you on a whole new path.

• You can decide what to eat and what not to eat.
• You can go out for a run or stay on the sofa.
• You can say a kind word or criticize a colleague.
• You can smile and say hello or remain silent.

You are connected to your body, other people, and your environment. Change one thing for the better, and see how your life and work change.

Carmen López.

Business Psychologist

1. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(23)00092-0/fulltext#:~:text=Increasing preclinical and clinical studies,regulating the gut-brain axis.

(2) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811921005814

(3) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jcsm.12963

(4) https://www.uclahealth.org/news/high-fructose-diet-sabotages-learning-memory

(5) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30173913/

(6) https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/strengthen-relationships-for-longer-healthier-life