How to Feel Happier, Ten Easy Ways to Boost Your Mood

I am a volatile person.  By that I don’t mean particularly argumentative, although my better half might tell you differently.  I mean I am changeable; one moment I’m ebullient and bouncing off the walls with a silly grin on my face and the next, subdued and plagued with self-doubt.  I don’t think this necessarily means I have a condition or anything you could improve by medication, I think it’s just my natural state and one that is probably helped along by the extremes of female hormones charting their monthly paths.  After a particularly painful time I did visit my doctor who helped me through it, but other than that I self-medicate the down-turns by trying to stick to the steps below: (and even after recent business failures and redundancy these have helped)

Exercise

This doesn’t have to mean humming let’s get physical alongside doing some Olivia Newton John type prancing around a la that 80s video!  No, there’s no need for garish Lycra.  Depending upon your level of fitness, just get your heart pumping a bit more.  So for some people that might mean walking around their road, for others, a jog or going swimming.  Whatever your level of fitness and whatever exercise you choose, the rule is simple, do something that you HAVE to concentrate on.  So if you’re just walking gently, walk in rhythm and count your steps, perhaps trying to swing your arms in motion with your feet.  And set yourself a challenge, so that next time you walk it quicker or take more arm swings.  For this to work, it is essential that you do something DAILY.  So for this, remember less is more – don’t over-do it.  I’m currently wearing a leg support on my right calf from over-doing it and that’s, rather ironically, getting me down!

No need to be Olivia Newton John!  Image courtesy of Google Image

Nature

I love the natural world, so this one comes very easily to me, but you cannot over-look the wonder in the natural world.  Standing on top of mountain or ridge, feeling the wind in your face, perhaps watching a predatory bird hover skilfully over or a swallow swooping down over pastel flower buds that sway in the breeze.  It all has a poetic beauty.  It has provided inspiration for many, William Wordsworth amongst them.  If you don’t live near Yosemite or another equally amazing national park, just go to your nearest park and walk away from the crowds to the quietest spots.  Look up at the trees and notice the intricacy of the leaves, really sit and observe the birds busily building their tree homes, or a squirrel carefully holding his acorn stash.  You won’t fail to see how incredible it all is.  For me, it serves to remind me that I’m just a small part in this wonderful creation.  For me, breathing in the natural world is quite a spiritual experience.  Going out and really appreciating the beauty and majesty of the natural world, letting all your senses drink it up is really incredibly cathartic and can help you to regain a sense of perspective on many problems.   And I’d have to say, standing on top of the Empire State Building or the Eiffel Tower in Paris, whilst not a natural creations, still give you that same sense of wonder.  So I suppose the edict should be, go somewhere that will wow you!