Feeling Down? What to Do to Control your Mood. Part 1 in the Bad Mood series

Do you have complete control over your mood?

You like to think you're a positive person, yet some days do you find that you're just in a bad mood? My mother used to call this getting out of bed on the wrong side. Now I don't know that the side of the bed has anything to do with it, but bad moods do happen. If this can apply to you, then this series of articles will overcome your self sabotage.

For such bad mood days, it helps to create, in advance, strategies which will improve your state. The more options you have to choose from, the more likely one of them will enable you to overcome your mood. The secret of success here is the more the merrier.

Create your bad mood strategies
Everyone benefits when you know what to do to improve your state when in a foul mood. They will be very glad you've created these bad mood strategies.

Do this today, or at least put this high on the to-do list. Don't wait until you're in a bad mood, you won't be remotely motivated to come up with any worth-while strategies. The time to do this is when you're feeling good about yourself. If you're feeling good now, then do it right now. Or schedule it for a time when you expect to be in a good mood. Change your life by choosing a time when you're not in a rush, perhaps some time over the weekend.

So, when you're feeling good about yourself, put some effort into coming up with a dozen or more activities which usually make you feel better about yourself.

Choose uncomplicated tactics
You need some small things, not time-consuming, that you can do when you're unhappy at your mood. Ones you can do by yourself. Choose activities which enable you to regain control of your internal state rather than be buffeted by external factors.

The secret of success is NOT to choose strategies which require the presence of another person, that's self sabotage. Another person, that someone special may not be around!

Don't react in the first place
Overcome your self sabotage by discovering how to stop reacting emotionally to what's happening. If you react to what's happening when it's negative, it puts you in a bad mood. If it's favorable, then you're in a good mood. But either way, you've given other people the power to control your mood and hence manipulate you.

A few people may be on your side, and aim to do what's best for you. But others will have their own agenda, and choose what's best for them. The secret of success is to see that even when they are on your side, they'll still put themselves first. Despite their disingenuous words, many simply don't care about you at all.

Politicians who pretend that it's unfair for some to have more than others ignore the fact that they produce more. Those who ignore the importance of freedom and advocate enslaving the rich so the poor can live at someone else's expense are an example. And vice versa! As economist Dr. Dan Mitchell sagely notes in his Wall Street Journal article explaining how Switzerland avoided the severe financial problems currently affecting both USA and Europe: Politicians don’t want any type of constraint on their ability to buy votes with other people’s money.

But I digress. Whenever you anticipate challenging circumstances, determine in advance how you'll react will help you control your mood. This helps you avoid a bad mood in the first place.

Unforeseen Circumstances
But what to do when unforeseen circumstances put you in a foul mood? To ascertain the reason you're in a bad mood can help break it, so effort into discovering its genesis can be very fruitful.

The next article explores effective strategies to get you out of a black mood. Essential planning for when you need to improve your state!

© Copyright worldwide Cris Baker, www.LifeStrategies.net All rights reserved. Republishing welcomed under Creative Commons noncommercial no derivatives license preserving all links intact, so please +1 and share this widely!

Food for Thought
"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves."

- Viktor Frankl, 1905-1997, MD. PhD, psychiatrist, Nazi concentration camp survivor.