Improve your mood and feel happier? “Take it one day at a time.” …..Covid-19 improvise….part 99

There’s a lot you can do! I’ve experimented with small habits that don’t take long to practice, plus they elevate my mood. You can try a few and see what works for you.

Has the monotony of CoVid-19 started to take its toll on your enthusiasm?

Take a little time to identify the triggers in your life that make you smile. Is there music that makes you burst into song?

A friend who always makes you laugh?

An activity that inspires or relaxes you?

Make a list of all of those happy triggers and try to incorporate one into your day—every day. Sing more—even if you’re off key. Phone a fun friend.

Practicing gratitude rewires our brain to think about positive things, the things that we have going for us, instead of the things we do not have and that can leave us feeling frustrated and unhappy.

Everyone has at least something going for them, it’s just that these things are often neglected or taken for granted. To try this, create a gratitude journal and write in it for 5 minutes each morning and list 3 things you are grateful for. If you keep doing this for a month, you’ll notice that it will set an overall positive tone to your whole day.

What can you write about?

It can be the simplest of things, such as having a warm bed to sleep in, a roof over your head, a family or community you’re part of, a job that improves the quality of life to people around you, food in your fridge, a dog or cat that you have as a pet, or having an education that allows you to read and learn new things every day.

Instead of repeatedly being critical and blaming yourself for past behaviors, be kind to yourself.

Like most of us, you’re probably no stranger to the self-blame game.

Maybe you’re getting over a difficult and traumatic event, and you believe you should have reacted differently, done something differently, or chosen a path that would have guaranteed a better outcome than the one you’re currently facing.

 It’s not an easy feeling, not knowing what will happen next. And maybe you don’t necessarily have to do anything right now to take the next step.

To make a change in the right direction, practice being patient with yourself.

The benefit?

It will take the edge off things a bit. Use this time to reflect on what happened, and find out whatever you can learn from the situation.

Try to avoid blame as much as possible, which may include blaming others in addition to yourself. Use the time to practice self-compassion, be kind to yourself, give yourself some time to heal and get better.

As you wake up, visualize having a good day.

Did you ever experience waking up with a feeling of dread and then not even having the motivation to get out of bed?

That’s nothing unusual — we’ve all experienced days like that. Next time it happens to you, try a simple technique that helps to train your brain to anticipate what happens next and to focus on a positive outcome to your day. All you need is 5 minutes.

 Here’s how it goes. Think about the work you need to do on that day, and picture yourself accomplishing what’s on your list and having enough time to do it.

Make a rough estimate of how much time you’ll need for the important things, and plan what you’ll do if you run into a problem (in other words, have a plan B).

Finally, imagine doing an activity that will make you feel happy — running into a friend, having an interesting conversation, watching a soccer game, sitting on a park bench enjoying the sunshine, playing guitar, going on a bike ride, or simply eating an ice cream cone.

Find any excuse to smile and laugh.

Sure, being a grown up is supposed to be serious business. I remember being a kid and thinking that grownups can do whatever they want, whenever they want to.

For me, that seemed like the perfect recipe for happiness. But if someone told me that growing up comes with responsibilities like working and paying bills, it wouldn’t have been nearly as impressive!

So how do we deal with all the serious things in life?

A simple solution — find any excuse to smile and laugh. Whenever you do, you give yourself an endorphin boost. Endorphins (also known as happy hormones) have many benefits, from reducing stress levels to making you feel happier and acting as a natural painkiller.

You can even make yourself smile for no specific reason, and still get the same benefits. According to a facial feedback hypothesis, our brain doesn’t differentiate between real or fake smiles, and it interprets the position of your facial muscles in the same way, which helps it release more endorphins.

Disclaimer: The information on this POST is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional advice. The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this article is for general information purposes / educational purposes only, and to ensure discussion or debate. 

Thank you …Instead of keeping the same dull routine every day, do something enjoyable today to boost your happiness in the long run.

Think of it this way: whatever you do regularly on a daily basis can add up.

Would you rather that it adds up to something you don’t care for, or something that gets you excited about your future?

There are many positive things that can yield big results for you in the long run, but first you should identify what they are.

Here are 3 steps for making a positive change in your daily routine.

First, make a list of activities you enjoy doing that can provide you with benefits in the present moment as well as in the future. It could be doing something related to your personal goals, skill set, or relationships: for example, reading more books to gain expertise in a field, getting fit to be able to run a marathon, spending quality time and developing a better relationship with a friend or partner.

Second, schedule time to do these activities on a regular basis. Add the activities to your weekly and monthly schedule so that you’re consistently working on them. For example, read one book a week, work out every other day, or spend weekends socializing with friends.

Finally, implement the change with small steps. It’s better to do something for a few minutes today that can add up to achieving bigger goals in the future. For example, read your book for 30 minutes before going to sleep, go on a bike ride in the late afternoon, or get up earlier on weekends so that you can go on a longer hike with friends and still have time to enjoy dinner together in the evening.

Want to add word or two? 

Recalibrating your definition of comfort is the best advice I have for this tunnel we’re all part of. It might look like stress eating or turning digital worlds off to enjoy a new book .It could be tending to your house plants or finally joining an online fitness class that doesn’t make you feel bad about your body.

It’s whatever ground us in reality rather than pretense, so you come out without too deep of scars from anxiety and loneliness.

There are so many things out of our control right now but if we remind ourselves that the power to soothe comes first from within, then we’ll find comfort in times of uncertainty.

Your comment ….?  

Comfort is a coping mechanism, and the spectrum ranges from distraction to relief. It’s not meant to promise a happy ending or necessarily save your day.

It’s what you do to get through one moment to the next — or, as my therapist friend reminds me, the kindness I extend to myself by doing, or asking for, what I need.

When we’re in the thick of life’s stressors, sometimes we just want to experience happiness now.

Not only does research show that happy people experience many advantages in life due to their happiness, but happiness just feels good. 

While it may seem that happiness is always waiting around the corner with a better job, better relationship, or better house, the happiness that comes with those acquisitions can be fleeting. 

More importantly, you don’t have to make big changes to feel happier; you can find feelings of happiness right now.

The phrase, "Laughter is the best medicine," has become a cliché because it’s so true.

We know that laughter has benefits far beyond mood. Laughter can actually enhance immunity and prolong life. However, to elevate your mood, laughter can’t be beaten—in fact, the mere expectation of laughter has been known to bring benefits.

There are several quick ways to have more fun and get more laughter in your life (jokes are some of my favorites), but the long-term strategy of maintaining a sense of humor about life can bring continual happiness, as well as less stress.

One quick and simple way to turn your mood around is to change your expectations and comparison. Instead of looking at what you don’t have, look at all that you do have.  

There will always be people who have more than you in one area of life or another, but many have less. Revel in the benefits of gratitude, and change the way you view what you have (and don’t have), and you can feel more happiness right away.

Then there are no good or bad days. Just good or bad moments that make up a day.