No one feels great all of the time. Even if you’re generally a positive and upbeat person, life always has a way to throw a curveball in your direction from time to time! And when that happens, you could find yourself down in the times. Hopefully the low spirits will pass within a couple of hours, but if they don’t, then it’s important to remember that there are always things you can do to brighten your mood. In this blog, we’re going to run through some of the most effective and underrated ways to get yourself back into a positive state of mind.
Go For a Hike
Humans belong outdoors. That’s not always evident since we spend so much of our time in cities, but nature is our home. Of course, only the most committed decide to live in nature on a full-time basis. But no matter where you live, there are ways to bring some of the outdoors into your life. How about a hike, for instance? Studies have shown that just two hours spent in the outdoors can significantly reduce signs of depression and anxiety. Force yourself to go on a decent-length hike, and you’ll feel better by the time you’re reclining on the couch in the evening.
Indulge in the Good Life
We all need a little pampering from time to time. There’s much to be said for engaging in a little bit of TLC for the self! Take a look at booking yourself in for a massage or treatment at a spa. They can be more affordable than you might think and can do wonders for your state of mind. The people with the healthiest mindsets book themselves in for a taste of the good life once a month or so.
Take a Trip Down Memory Lane
You might be in low spirits right now, but it’s unlikely that life has always been that way. Remember the good times? Sometimes you just need a little reminder of how pleasant life can be. Studies have shown that reminiscing can have a hugely positive impact on how you feel. You can engage in this practice on an as-needed basis, but you can also just make your happy memories just part of your life. By using a service like Pixa Prints, you can print your photos of happy days gone by onto a canvas and place them in your home. When you’re feeling down, all you’ll need to do is look up at the wall and remember that you’ve had good times before and will have them again.
Running and Cold Showers
Not everything you can do to lift your mood is as comforting as a spa or an evening spent reminiscing around a roaring fireplace. Sometimes, you need to push your body a little. People that don’t exercise believe that others do so for aesthetic reasons, but they don’t. That’s just a happy side effect. People run and pump iron at the gym because it’s a bona fide mood-booster. If you go for a thirty-minute run, you will feel better. And if you really want to enhance the good feeling, you can take a cold shower. That doesn’t sound tempting because it’s not, but the positive effects can be monumental.
Attend an Event
It’s very easy to sink into a negative state of mind when all you’re doing is sitting in your home, thinking the same thoughts over and over again. You’ll end up in a pit. It’s good to give your mind a bit of a break from itself from time to time by focusing the attention elsewhere. So why not look at attending an event? It can jolt the system enough to lift your mood. It doesn’t matter what it is: it could be a movie at the cinema, a concert, play, or anything else. It’ll be especially impactful if it’s a comedy event that makes you laugh or if it’s a tragic performance that shows you just how good you have it.
Write It Out
It can be difficult to process low moods. Sometimes, all we have is the feeling, and the event/thing that caused that feeling. When you’re a jumbled mess of feelings, it can be a good idea to process what’s going on inside. There are several ways to do this, but one of the most effective is to write it out. It doesn’t have to be a work of literature. No one else is going to read it. Just get writing what’s going on inside, and don’t stop. Very often, what you’ll find is that you’ve written yourself to a positive state of mind within a page. When you read it back, you might actually be able to see the progression of your mood on the page. Even if you don’t end up in a euphoric state, you’ll find that you feel much better than when you started.
Do a Good Deed
There are plenty of things you can do for yourself to make you feel better. However, one of the most significant things you can do is to do a good deed for someone else. This is backed by a long list of credible studies, which suggest that doing something nice for another human can have a big impact on your mood. There’s no shortage of things that you can do. You can send a care package to a friend that’s going through a tough period. You can volunteer your time to help people who are less fortunate than you are. Or you can simply do a random act of kindness. As well as making yourself feel better, you’ll be helping someone else, and engaging in a practice that the world needs more of.
Conclusion
Life can be tough. We all need tools to help us to stay positive, and especially now, when life as we know it has been changed almost beyond recognition. Take our tips above, and you’ll find it much easier to stay in a positive state of mind.