Ridiculously Simple Ways to Shake Off a Bad Mood

For the longest time, almost whenever I found myself in an unpleasant mood for a prolonged period, I’d believe something extraordinary needed to happen, or I required a radical shift in my life to feel happy again.

But over the past few years, it’s dawned on me that sometimes doing the simplest of things can shift your mental state when you are feeling low.

In this post, I’d like to share with you a list of things that helps me to shift my mood when I’m feeling down. I usually end up doing a few of these activities, and I find it does wonders and makes a big difference to my mental state.

1. Take a cold shower for 5-10 mins.

2. Listen to music / singing

3. Journal your thoughts

4. Meditate

5. Do Pranayama/deep-breathing exercises

6. Read

7. Spend time in solitude (if you are an introvert this may be necessary to feel recharged)

8. Pray

9. Go for long walks

10. Meet up with friends / Have long phone conversations with old friends

11. Exercise

12. Gratitude journaling (write down what you appreciate in your life)

13. Spend time in in nature

14. Visualise (Imagine the things you would like to happen in the future)

Final thoughts

Don’t let the simplicity of some of these activities underestimate how effective they can be. Our mind is usually drawn towards complex solutions and, in the process, ignores doing simple things that can make a difference.

When you are under the spell of a bad mood, especially for a prolonged period, it can become hard to think clearly regarding what you should do to feel better because your perspective goes out of the window.

If you operate on autopilot, you might try to make yourself better by over indulging in food, intoxicants, shopping or bingeing on tv shows and movies. But dealing with bad moods this way over the long-term is of course not an effective strategy.

Therefore, I’d encourage you to make your own list of activities that make you feel good and do them when you are feeling low.

The important part is to have the presence of mind to remember to do these things when you are in the clutches of a bad mood despite any internal resistance that may arise.

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