40+FAB Blog

Create your own mood

I like the offers that the pizza outlets give us sometimes. One of my favourite is create your own pizza. You have the base stuff and then you decide your own toppings.

I find that you can do the same thing with your mood as well. Life pretty much gives us all the base stuff and any extra toppings you let it. But I have decided to be a customer that creates my own moods.

Here are a few simple ways I have done this: 
Talking to myself – especially when I feel fearful and discouraged. I talk myself out of that negative feeling. 
Singing – even though I don’t have a great voice, I can sing like a maestro in the shower. A good song moves me into the atmosphere of the lyrics of that song. 
Dancing – this is a great mood lifter. Recently my son started asking for my wife and I to dance with him. We would hold hands and do the ‘ring-a ring-a roses’ dance, LOL! What an awesome feeling. 
Praying – calling on the Almighty One in time of difficulty brings hope in the place of despair. 
Walking – I take a good long walk and it has a way of unwinding the pent up frustrations on my mind. 
Sharing – the act of taking what you have and giving part of it to another in need lifts up the soul to tremendous heights. 
Shouting – find somewhere to go and have a good shout for no reason. E.g. like watching a football game. 
Playing a game – there are all kinds of games to play, but I find that physical games with other people are the best. 

I must however point out that when you try to change from one mood to another, especially from a bad one to a good one, everything in you tends to feel awkward, like you are pretending to bring on something that is not real. Well you have to ignore that thinking because if you don’t give in to it, suddenly your mood will change and you will truly be swinging in a pretty good mood. 

Sports persons know this; they have to maintain a positive attitude even when they are losing a game. They employ psychologists that work with them to train them on managing their moods. Once their moods are under control, then their performance can be optimized. I have decided not to allow foul moods to hold me back from performing at my best. I can manage my moods and sway them rather than letting them sway me.