Day 3: This Awesome Trick Can Boost Your Mood Anytime

Feeling grouchy? Lethargic? Annoyed or irritable?

Bad moods happen to the best of us, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything you can do about them.

The fact is, most of us feel like we’re at the mercy of our moods and try to push through or wait it out instead of taking positive action to improve our state of mind. Many people don’t even believe that it’s possible to change their mood and instead make themselves and everyone around them miserable.

There are some tricks you can use to boost your mood, but the most important thing is making that leap of faith and have confidence that you’re taking positive action to make yourself feel better. With that in mind, I’d love for you to try this trick that works for me 9 times out of 10 (the other time I’ve got a sinus headache and need a neti pot to fully get back in my good mood groove).

The next time you are in a funk, crabby as hell, blah to the bone or feeling like you’re about to jump out of your skin, try this:

1.                  Stand up.

2.                  Find a spot in the room where you can see your shadow on the wall.

3.                  Start doing a little skippy-joggy motion.

4.                  Loosen up your shoulders.

5.                  Do a couple of one-two jabby-jabs

6.                  Make sure that you’re breathing in and out.

7.                  Keep up with the skippy-jog

8.                  If you feel up to it, do your best Mohammed Ali impression: “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” “I AM the GREATEST!”

9.                  Do some more jabby-jabs.

10.                  Continue until you’re laughing your ass off at yourself.

11.                  Resume life in a much better mood.

You don’t have to shadow box; the trick is to do something, anything that gets you moving and helps you break your state.  Exercise helps to clear the mind and make negative emotions less intense. Doing something silly and not so grown up is a good way to remind ourselves that life has its good points, too.

Other combinations that work for me and will most likely work for you, too:

• Skipping around the house like I used to do when I was 7 and in pigtails.
• Trying to do the Crane Kick from the Karate Kid movie.
• Turning on my favorite, most cheesy Disco or 1980s music and lip synching my heart out.
• Pretending I’m in the scene in Rocky where he’s running through the town and up the steps to the city hall.
• Doing jumping jacks.
• Pretending I’m Richard Simmons leading a workout.

Sound crazy? Maybe it is, a little, but is it any crazier than barking at everyone because you’re in a bad mood? Or getting behind on your work because you feel too meh to get started?

There are strategies you can use to improve your mood long term and to adopt a more positive world view, however for a quick mood boost and confidence lift, why not try a little shadow boxing, lip synching, interpretive dance to hair metal ballads or prancing like a pony?

You’ll get the one two punch of getting some exercise, which is known to improve mood and a break in state to help you leave the bad mood behind.

Tracy O’Connor blogs about ghostwriting and living a better life. Follow her on Twitter.

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