When You Go From a Good Mood to a Bad Mood Into Good Mood Again

Bad Mood: ten Ways to Overcome a Bad Mood

We all accept those times when the basis beneath us seems to shift. Something bubbles up from inside, be it acrimony, annoyance, sadness, frustration, offense, or hurt, and our mood darkens like a storm deject stretching over the sky. A bad mood tin can feel similar a head common cold, overcoming us and forcing united states of america to sludge through its symptoms. While we tin can't choose the emotions that come up in us, what we tin can command is how we react to them. So, how can we take control and manage the storms that stir inside us? How can we become more resilient and adaptive when it comes to our moods?

1. Explore the Deeper Problems

Starting time and foremost, nosotros have to dig deeper. Anytime we're in a bad mood, it's important to not just consider the surface elements of what's going on but to reflect on what's actually driving this shift in our outlook or emotions. The little things that set us off aren't always at the root of our suffering. Often, they're more like triggers for something deeper – the concluding baste in a well that now overflows.

We all take certain events or dynamics that shake us upward that are (sometimes surprisingly) connected to our by. For some, a stressful twenty-four hour period at work can remind them of the chaos of their babyhood household. The tone of a co-worker can trigger panic or rage. The sound of their child complaining can send them into a new level of irritability they'd only always seen in their ain parents. Getting to know our triggers and why we take them is 1 of the best ways to help prevent these events from hijacking our mood.

2. Silence Your Inner Critic

No matter what the circumstances, more than frequently than not, information technology'due south our own thoughts setting our mood into freefall. Ofttimes, it's not merely what's happening but what we're telling ourselves about what'due south happening that makes us feel bad. We all accept an internal enemy or what psychologist Dr. Robert Firestone describes as a "disquisitional inner vocalism" that comments negatively on ourselves and others.

This destructive internal enemy feeds the states an ongoing stream of thoughts that tell us things like: "You lot're nada. Simply give up. People don't similar you. No one respects you. You lot should only avert them. Don't fifty-fifty try. No one could understand y'all. You can't handle this. Y'all're a mess." Well-nigh of the time, if we recollect back to the moment when our mood changed, we tin can identify a slew of critical inner voices that filled our heads simply beforehand.

Information technology's vital to catch on to this "vox" when it seeps in and divide what it's telling us near ourselves and others from how we actually are and how we desire to be.  Once we're in a bad mood, this vocalism may berate u.s.a. with mean attacks like, "You'll never get out of this slump." If nosotros don't challenge this inner critic, it tin showtime to influence our mood and behavior. We may snap at a loved one or become really quiet and withdrawn. We may commencement to complain or feel victimized and depleted, none of which is helpful for getting out of a bad mood.

3. Try Mindfulness

Our critical inner vox can lead usa to ruminate. Because bad moods can ofttimes exist the effect of ruminating on a problem, issue, idea, or emotion, it'due south helpful to find adaptive means to avoid rumination. "The practice ofmindfulness teaches usa a unlike style to chronicle to our thoughts, feelings, and emotions equally they arise," said Dr. Elisha Goldstein, author of Uncovering Happiness: Overcoming Depression with Mindfulness and Self-Pity . Mindfulness practise helps us to acknowledge and accept any nosotros're experiencing without judging information technology or letting it drag us into a panicky procedure of cyclical thinking.

Many mindfulness exercises involve learning to focus on our breath. This process can aid us feel calmer and more centered in the present moment. As we sit down still and bring our attention to our jiff, we can discover our thoughts as they pop up, so let them float past, like bubbling, without being carried away along with them. Equally Dr. Goldstein points out, our minds will likely wander, especially at offset, but we tin can but notice this wandering without judgment and gently bring our attending back to our breathing. Dr. Goldstein describes mindfulness practice as a skill that improves with time, but he encourages u.s.a. to stick with it and remember that "practicing is an act of self-care and helps finish the wheel of rumination and cultivates more patience, compassion, and peace."

Watch Dr. Goldstein guide you through a iii-infinitesimal mood-lifting practice

4. Have Some Self-Compassion

Science has recently revealed seemingly endless benefits of self-compassion. The results from one study by Australian National University suggested that practicing self-compassion can lead to significant improvements and mood and less rumination. Dr. Kristin Neff, a leader in this field, has defined self-compassion as practicing self-kindness over self-evaluation, mindfulness as opposed to over-identifying with thoughts (once again, call back rumination), and mutual humanity rather than isolation. Self-pity involves seeing ourselves through kind, however honest, optics.

Instead of focusing on evaluation or singling ourselves out, information technology allows us to run across ourselves equally worthy and our suffering as office of the common human being condition. We are not alone in our struggle, and we can face challenges. Contrary to some misconceptions, self-pity does non mean feeling deplorable for ourselves or being victimized. On the contrary, information technology involves seeing ourselves as man. Just as we are capable of mistakes, we are capable of facing these mistakes and making efforts to change without hating ourselves. No matter what's causing our bad mood, it'due south good for you and helpful to remember these three principles and to actively embrace more self-compassion.

5. Exist Hardy

After conducting a 12-year longitudinal study, researcher Dr. Salvatore R. Maddi and his colleagues at the University of Chicago described a quality known as "hardiness" every bit "the key to the resiliency for not only surviving, only also thriving, nether stress." Dr. Maddi found three essential traits that make up hardiness: challenge, control, and delivery.

1. Challenge describes a person's ability to view problems or stressors as challenges and opportunities. A hardy person accepts that modify and obstacles are a part of life, and therefore, is more than adaptive to the hardships that arise.

2. Control involves not seeing oneself as a victim who'southward helpless or at the mercy of problems. Information technology involves someone having a sense of their own power and a belief that they can influence the course of their life. Hardy people feel they can take actions that will help them achieve goals. This makes them more optimistic, empowered, and hopeful.

3. Commitment describes having a sense of purpose and significant in one's life. Individuals with "commitment" take direction and thrive, rather than just plugging along and "surviving."

Equally the American Association of Psychology put information technology, people who are hardy "turn arduousness into an advantage." They're able to be resilient in the face of obstacles. They observe adaptive ways to motion through undesirable circumstances and sally on the other side. Finding ways to cultivate more hardiness within ourselves offers a much more adaptive way to handle, ameliorate, and react to our moods.

6. Exercise

Exercise is a natural way to release endorphins, which tin can be described equally our brain'southward hormonal antidote to pain and stress. The release of endorphins in our brain can feel like releasing an ground forces to combat our bad mood. Some people take an easy time using physical exercise to release stress and heave their mood. They may take a daily run or seamlessly tag a yoga class onto a specially stressful day. Then once more, in that location are a whole lot of us who find it hard to get going, especially when we're feeling low. Taking that literal first step to exist active is usually the hardest step we'll take. If we tin can push ourselves, but to become outside, have a walk, go on the cycle, or show upward to a class, our bodies tin autumn into a groove that tin quickly have positive effects on how we experience mentally.

7. Be Generous

A bad mood can directly our focus inward. One time nosotros get stuck in certain thoughts or feelings, exist it frustration, worry, or sadness, it tin experience increasingly hard to escape the bicycle of negativity that perpetuates our bad mood. To emerge from this self-focused spiral, it'southward incredibly helpful to engage in acts of generosity. Whether it'southward volunteering for a cause we believe in or simply helping a friend with a favor, the act of looking outward, offering our fourth dimension, energy, or attending tin can all be acts that ultimately benefit usa and make us feel good.

8. Be Around People

We all take moments when we want a niggling space to collect our thoughts or find a piffling time to ourselves to relax. However, information technology'southward important to distinguish the alone fourth dimension we spend engaging in actions that positively elevator our mood (think exercise, meditation, a good volume, or a rejuvenating nap) from the time nosotros spend taking actions that drag u.s.a. down (similar excessive eating or drinking, rumination, aimless Internet browsing, or a restless afternoon in bed). While, naturally, this list is specific to each private, it's often advised for those experiencing a bad mood to avoid social withdrawal. This is particularly truthful for those experiencing symptoms of low. "In low, social isolation typically serves to worsen the illness and how we feel," said Dr. Stephen Ilardi, writer of The Depression Cure, in an interview with WebMD. "Social withdrawal amplifies the brain's stress response. Social contact helps put the brakes on it." While, of course, low is a serious mental wellness condition and should never be dislocated with only a bad mood, the advice to be social applies to anyone who is feeling down. Meet a friend, telephone call someone who makes you lot express joy, or simply accept a walk in a social space. Once again, this tin can help interrupt negative cycles of thinking.

9. Watch Something Funny

It may sound simple, only this is actually something psychologists like Dr. Lisa Firestone advise people to try when they're experiencing symptoms of depression. The very act of smiling or laughing can improve our mood. One report even showed that forcing a smile can genuinely reduce stress and increment positive feelings. "Play your favorite sitcom, picket a funny motion picture or read a comical writer," said Dr. Firestone. "Don't recall of this exercise as merely a distraction, merely every bit an effective tool in reminding your brain that you can feel good again."

10. Seek Help

Sometimes a bad mood is more than just a bad mood. If we detect ourselves feeling downwards on a regular basis or unable to emerge from these feelings, it'due south of import to seek help. It is always a stiff, brave, and unselfish human action to take our mental health seriously and discover help when we need it. Well-nigh individuals tin do good from therapy, and taking the steps to find someone to talk to is, in many means, easier than e'er. In that location are many resource for finding the right fit when information technology comes to therapy. Here is just one article on "How to Detect a Proficient Therapist." Here are some websites that tin assistance y'all notice a therapist in your area:

• American Psychological Association:
  http://locator.apa.org/
• American Psychiatric Clan:
  http://healthyminds.org/locatepsychiatrist.cfm
• American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy:
  http://www.therapistlocator.net/therapistlocator/index.asp
• Skilful Therapy:
  http://www.goodtherapy.org

Get HELP: IF You lot OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS IN Crisis OR IN Need OF IMMEDIATE Assist, Phone call 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
This is a free hotline available 24 hours a day to anyone in emotional distress or suicidal crisis.
TEXT for help: Text Offset to 741-741 or visit http://www.crisistextline.org/to get help via text bulletin.
International readers can click here for a listing of helplines and crisis centers around the world .

About the Author

Carolyn Joyce Carolyn Joyce joined PsychAlive in 2009, after receiving her M.A. in journalism from the University of Southern California. Her interest in psychology led her to pursue writing in the field of mental wellness didactics and awareness. Carolyn's training in multimedia reporting has helped back up and aggrandize PsychAlive's efforts to provide complimentary articles, videos, podcasts, and Webinars to the public. She now works as an editor for PsychAlive and a communications specialist at The Glendon Association, the non-profit mental health research organization that produced PsychAlive.

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Tags: anxiety, disquisitional inner vocalisation, feelings, mood boosters, mood swings, moodiness, self development, cocky-awareness, stress

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Source: https://www.psychalive.org/bad-mood/

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