Improve Your Mood

See Yourself, Teach Yourself, Improve Yourself

All of us have had times were we felt a little down. Maybe you had a disagreement with a friend or your parents. Maybe you got a bad grade on a test or you weren’t invited to a party that you wanted to go to. These situations can put you in a bad mood.

What you should realize though is that you have the ability to immediately feel better and improve your mood if you learn the proper technique. The ability improve your mood is a powerful tool, once you master it.

The emotions that you feel when you are “Down” are not from the situations themselves, but from the “Inner Voice” within you telling you how to feel. We all know that “Inner Voice”. We think to ourselves all day long about how we feel. We have conversations with ourselves, this is perfectly normal. For example, if someone is mean to you, it is not the actual act of that person being mean to you that gets you upset. It is your “Inner Voice” telling you that you should be upset. Learn how to control your “Inner Voice” in a situation like this by thinking in positive terms and you will be better equipped improve your mood. Research done by Martin Seligman, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, has proven that you can train your “Inner Voice” to think in more positive terms. Learning to keep your “Inner Voice” positive is the tool by which you can help yourself feel better and improve your mood quickly.
Sometimes that “Inner Voice” can become “Negative” when something difficult happens.
This “Negative Voice” can begin to think things such as:

The problem I have is because I am not good enough
The problem I have will last forever
The problem I have will effect many other issues

The “Inner Voice” also has a “Positive” side to it. The “Positive Voice” approaches difficult times differently and thinks in terms such as:

I have the ability to overcome the problem
The problem will not last forever
The problem will not effect many other issues

When difficulties arise learn to make the “Positive Voice” stronger then the “Negative Voice”. When you can manage this process you will begin to feel much better during the tough situations in your life. This process does not mean you are not realistically looking at each situation and recognizing what you could have done differently or better, but rather showing you understand the problem can be overcome. Successful people learn how to make the “Positive Voice” the stronger voice within their thoughts.

Example
Michael and Zach are not invited to a party that Julie is having in a few weeks. Both are extremely upset and feel bad because many of their friends are invited. However, how they handle this disappointment varies between the two. Michael is extremely upset and doesn’t talk to anyone in his family that night at home. He begins to feel as if no one likes him and he will never have good friends. He constantly thinks about not being invited to the party and this continues to make him feel down. Zach, on the other hand, although being disappointed at not getting invited to the party, instead calls on his “Positive Voice” to counteract his “Negative Voice”. He begins to realize that he is not the only one not invited. He also remembers being invited to another party at his friend Sarah’s few weeks back. He then starts playing ball with his younger brother to get his mind off of the party. Zach has learned to use his “Positive Voice” when there is a difficult situation in his life while Michael allows his “Negative Voice” to control his thoughts.

Learning to improve your mood is extremely important and you have control over it. When difficult events happen in your life, find the “Positive Voice” and make sure it speaks louder then the “Negative Voice”. Once you learn how to do this you will be able to overcome obstacles and improve your mood.

Remember! Use your “Positive Voice” and improve your mood.