Need a Quick Mood Enhancer?
Not the pharmaceutical kind
If you are following the news or social media, you know that violence, upheaval, and oppression are rampant. I live in the United States, and we’re being overrun by hypocritical, right-wing, evangelical Christians who care more about a 4-week old fetus than schoolchildren massacred by gun-toting monsters. (End rant.)
Here are 5 ways I have found helpful to raise my mood and find a bit of light in the darkness when the monsters seem to have taken over the world. I hope they bring some peace to you, too.
1. Rely on your memories
Close your eyes and visualize a place that made you extremely happy or joyful. Here’s one of my go-tos: I was visiting Boston and was on my way back to my hotel in Cambridge after a day at the Massachusetts Fine Arts Museum when I passed by Cambridge Commons. It was early fall; the leaves were turning gold and drifting down. I sat on a bench near an elderly man with a cane, and we exchanged nods the way strangers do on park benches. I sat there as the setting sun turned the falling leaves into golden coins. It was so quiet, I could hear them strike the ground and the swishing sound as a light breeze stirred them. It was magical. I felt joyful, free, and alive. When the madness of the world threatens to swamp me, I close my eyes, and I’m back on that bench.
2. Find something to laugh about
What do you do when you hear someone laugh uncontrollably? You can’t keep yourself from laughing with them. Laughter is contagious, and it floods your system with feel-good chemicals like dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins. Not only do you feel good while laughing, but those happy feelings also stay with you long after the laughter ends. Need a good laugh right now? Check out the laughing baby with 11+ million views on Youtube.
“By activating the neural pathways of emotions like joy and mirth, laughter can improve your mood and make your physical and emotional response to stress less intense.” — Neuroscience News
3. Use your nose
Scents are major factors in helping improve your mood and sense of wellbeing.
“Odors do affect people's mood, work performance, and behavior in a variety of ways but it isn't because odors work on us like a drug, instead we work on them through our experiences with them. That is, in order for an odor to elicit any sort of response in you, you have to first learn to associate it with some event.” — Rachel S. Herz, assistant professor of psychology, Brown University, Scientific American
Some people find comfort in the smell of baby powder because it reminds them of their children when they were infants. One day when I was taking a walk to stomp out my bad mood, I passed a storefront that was being remodeled. I caught a whiff of fresh paint. I stopped dead and was immediately transported to the porch of my childhood home. My dad was dropping intensely colored liquids into a huge bucket of pure, white paint. As he stirred it, the white slowly changed color; it was magic. Whenever I smell fresh paint, I flashback to that moment with my dad and feel wonder and joy all over again.
What scents trigger happiness and joy for you? Keep them handy.
4. Just listen
Music can instantly lift your mood and bring a smile to your lips. This isn’t surprising since it’s in our genes — making music is one of the oldest forms of communication. A piece of music can turn you into a time traveler and transport you to your first kiss, senior prom, college graduation, first promotion, wedding day, and more.
“Putting on our favorite song or playlist can take our minds out of the vicious cycle of regret, worry, or fear, and help us to refocus our attention on the sound and rhythm of the song, even if just for a short while. Almost instantaneously, we have the ability to bring our minds away from the trap of its constant mental chatter, and into states of present moment awareness and enlivened being.” — Psychotherapist Julia Lehrman, LCSW, RYT, PsychCentral
Put together a mood-lifting playlist of tunes that get you up, dancing, and singing. Try a playlist of soothing melodies that bring you peace and comfort. Need a boost of energy? Go for heavy bass and hard beats. Whatever your mood, you can build a playlist to pick you up and keep you going.
5. Pray, meditate, read, and release
So much of life is out of your control, yet directly affects your peace of mind and outlook. Wars, pandemics, cruelty, discrimination, repression — the list is endless and most of it is beyond your ability to remedy. All anyone has is their little patch of earth — the only place where you can make a difference in your life and others around you.
Some people find comfort in prayer; others prefer more secular options like reading or meditating. Regardless of your preference, when things threaten to overwhelm you, this is the time to pull into yourself and release the desire to control what is happening. Prayer, meditation, or reading uplifting writers can give you the strength to carry on instead of caving in.
“I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.” — Nelson Mandela
