Take control of your consistent emotions and begin to consciously and deliberately reshape your daily experience of life. – Anthony Robbins

Often when we are confronted with a situation or outcome that we feel is undesirable, it’s easy to fall into a negative thought pattern. We dwell on the situation and amplify what is already perceived as “bad”, rather than accept it for what it is and move forward.

It is often a slippery slope that is hard to get off of when we are focused on only the negative and self-created ‘imminent doom’ that awaits us. However, this can all be avoided when you realize that you can instantly break that negative pattern by recognizing that we already have a ‘positivity toolkit’ containing these 12 ways to instantly change your mood.

1. SMILE!

I mentioned in my previous post about smiling that we are biologically hardwired to feel better if not ‘good’ whenever we smile. Although it may seem weird at first to force a smile to change your mood, it is impossible to feel negative when you’re smiling ear to ear. It is best to do this in front of a mirror to see yourself smiling. It still works if you don’t have a mirror.

2. Music

There are numerous scientific studies that account for how music can change our mood in an instant. While it may sound like common sense to listen to a song that stirs up empowering emotions such as excitement, joy or gratitude – when you’re on that slippery slope, you can easily forget this powerful tool is at your disposal. Songs that are high energy, relaxing, or imparts to you an emotional and empowering connection work the best.

A perfect example would be if you were experiencing road rage. By putting on soothing classical music, it can trigger an emotional state that overrides the road rage and move you out of that negative state of mind.

What are the songs that changed your mood immediately in the past?3. Engage your body’s physiology

What I mean by engaging your body’s physiology is changing the way you move powerfully where you can change your emotional state immediately. While you can use your body language to communicate to others, you also unconsciously communicate to yourself. Engaging your physiology can come from:

• Smiling (as opposed to frowning)

• Improving your posture (are you slumping or is your back upright?)

• The step in your walk (are you dragging your feet or taking long and powerful strides?

• The position of your head (is your head held up high or looking down at the floor?)

• Your gestures (are they weak and passive or powerful and dominant?).

4. Exercise

Related to engaging your physiology, you can dissipate a bad mood by expending that negative energy towards something healthy and constructive like exercise. For myself, I either swim or run in order to get out of a bad mood with the end result of feeling powerful and invigorated. By exercising, you can trigger the brain to release “feel good” hormones otherwise known as endorphins.

It doesn’t have to be a full fledged workout, playing a sport or taking a walk is a great option as well.

What physical activity can you engage in to change your mood?5. Socialize

Whether you’re socially inclined or not, you start to feel better when you interact and surround yourself with positive people you can relate to. This can span anywhere from calling up your best friend to talk your situation through, to talking to a classmate or a co-worker, to going to a party. Any of these force you to focus on something rather than dwelling on the problem.

Whom can you talk to, meet or hang out with that can break you out of your negative state?6. Change your breathing

The way we breathe can affect our mood as well. If you notice, whenever you’re in a great mood, your breaths are spaced out evenly, you breathe easily, calmly and deeply. Compare that situation to when you’re feeling really stressed, nervous or anxious; your breaths are quick, erratic and shallow.

When it comes to breathing, we can consciously control the way we breathe and thus the way we feel. We can lower our heart rates and become cool as a cucumber

7. The way you frame or perceive your situation

Do you see the glass half-empty or half full? The way you frame situations (view the world) can significantly alter the way you see things and ultimately the way you feel.

Imagine a scenario where you had failed a midterm. You can:
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• (A) feel like a failure, think of past failures, mope for a week, then “try to do better next time”

• <!–[if !supportLists]–>(B) see it as constructive (but harsh) feedback and immediately take action to create a plan of what you need to do in order to ensure your success in that course. Most importantly, follow through.

Which scenario would you rather be in?8. Asking the right questions to direct your focus

It is said when you ask lousy questions you get lousy answers; however, when you ask great questions you get great answers. Instead of asking questions that amplify victimization, place the blame on others, or are limiting, try and ask questions that look beyond your problem. Your answer may lie beyond what your current perceived situation is.

For example, in a generalized situation of something “bad” regularly occurring, instead of asking “Why does this always happen to me?” ask “What are the actions that I can take to prevent this from happening to me?”

9. Meditation

While there are many different ways of meditating which I won’t go into, meditation can be defined as: “self regulation of attention, in the service of self-inquiry, in the here and now.” You can do this in solitude, but if that’s not possible you can close your eyes for a moment and take several deep slow breaths – breathing in the positive and exhaling negative energy. The self-inquiry aspect of meditation is crucial as it requires you to dig deeper into yourself, discovering the root of the negative thought pattern. Once you’ve reached that “Ah-Ha!” moment, you step out of the negative thought pattern into one that is constructive and resourceful.

10. Writing in a journal

When you put pen to paper (or blog), it’s a great way to vent all your thoughts, feelings, and frustrations unrestrained and without judgment.

This practice is particularly useful for the purposes of reflection. For when you observe your thoughts from a moment ago, a disconnect is created between your current state and the negative situation you were ‘in’. This realization occurs usually after writing a passage and leads to knowing the bad mood is just a ‘broken record’ that has been stopped, replaced, and acted upon objectively and constructively.

11. Sharing an intimate moment

If you have a significant other, being in his or her presence can change the way you feel instantly. Talking, hugging, cuddling or having sex (if you are that serious) can pull you out of downward spiral. It’s scientifically proven that engaging in any of the aforementioned releases endorphins that can transform the negative thought pattern into one that is joyful.

12. Do something you enjoy for a moment

This is another obvious activity we can do but might not be apparent when we’re in a bad mood. Be it knitting, sudoku or dancing like no one’s looking – anything that brings joy into your life can break you out of a negative thought pattern.

At one point or another, you have employed each and every one of these ways of changing your mood to certain degree. With these ways of altering your mood in mind, you can steer yourself away from being a Sad Sack to being a Glad Bag

Also check out:

• How to bust a bad mood
• Get off your butt: 16 Ways Get Motivated When You’re In a Slump
• Practical and Powerful Ways to Overcome Depression
• 6 Ways to Be Positive in Any Situation
• Investing In Yourself: Feeling Good

Since my last update, I’ve been swamped with studying for midterms after fully making use of Reading Week (March break for us Canadians) by reading The level of focus, clarity with what needs to be covered in my Consolidations and Corporate Tax courses has taken precedence of what would normally be training regularly for my half-marathon. But for anyone else during these times that require intense focus, you shouldn’t drop everything that isn’t related to my studies.

Originally uploaded by eduardo.peiro

While I don’t have my new running shoes that I ordered from eBay in my possession yet, I’ve supplemented some of my long and tempo runs by cross training with swimming. So far I’m up to 22 lengths consecutively, where I add an extra lap for each week.

Squeezing in a workout during midterms is challenging but not impossible. It doesn’t need to be a full fledged workout. It can be a brisk 30 minute jog, a few laps around the pool to get the heart pumping or some core body work for the abs. You just need to keep in mind your priorities and stick to your schedule.

I’ve been experimenting with Parkinson’s Law and Pareto’s Principle (80/20 rule) just not just studying for midterms in order to increase my productivity but all areas of my life as well. So far, it’s working great, but I need to be conscious of these principles as well as visual reminders of those principles. The results have been positive so far, and I’ll explore these concepts further in a future post.

Why I insist on training during studies is that it keeps my mind sharp and my energy level up in order to what I need to get accomplished despite having a full day’s worth of studying, and more… which reminds me – I have to go to the pool now.

I’ve got some awesome articles on cultivating charisma, leadership and improv coming down the pipeline. Stay tuned!

- Will

During the time, I was able to keep it up for about 3 weeks straight back when I trying it out in late Dec ’07 up until Mid-January 2008. That was when I caught the cold and had confined myself to bed for a few days.

Whatever momentum I had built up over the past few weeks of waking up at 5:30 AM, I felt I had lost. It was like having the wind being knocked out of me while running full-speed ahead.

While I thought it was something minor where I could recover on my own, boy was I wrong. It taught me an important lesson that when you build up so much momentum – a routine that you feel is working for you – becoming sick can just throw everything you’ve worked for up to that point into turmoil.

By day 4 after I had caught the cold, I took some DayQuil medicine in order to alleviate the symptoms, which helped me feel better, but I didn’t feel I was my same ‘great’ self a day prior to becoming sick. What it boils down to is that being proactive about your own health is something that needs to be addressed immediately so you minimize the loss our most precious resource – time. I’ll be adopting the use of ColdFX – a daily cold/flu prevention medicine available in all major Canadian Drug stores.

I have to admit at this point of my life, it’s a constant struggle and battle to sustain that positive change especially when you’re coming from toxic cycles of waking up to an erratic schedule.

I’m going commit myself to waking up at 5:00 AM for about the 2nd time now, and I’ll report my progress and what make use of the time I have to myself in the morning, within a week.

- Will