The Mood Gym

Create a happier and more stable mood
Here are some of our thoughts behind a good mood gym workout. Where we can we keep our moods happy, real and motivated? After all, we all want to be happier, not just sometimes, but always, right?  This means we’re free from reacting to things around us because we’re more mellow and stable, but not boring or staid!  Read on to find out how.

Get Clear
First of all get clear with motivation, determination and commitment. As with taking up any new exercise routine, it helps us over the hurdles when we are clear about what we are aiming for and why. Begin by checking in: Why do you want to experience a prevailing happy mood? How determined are you? Is there any resistance? Are you ready to change your experience from unhappy to happy? Are you ready to invest the time needed to bring about the change you want to see?

Anatomy of Moods
Understanding how moods are created, gives us more ammunition. Most of us have been taught that circumstances create our mood. Only it isn’t that the circumstances themselves create our mood, rather it is what we do with them in our mind that does. Moods are the result of habitual patterns of thoughts. These create a state of mind, an attitude and a feeling about ourselves, others and our roles.

Are you ready to learn how easy it is to shift your mood?  Here are 3 mood exercises that empower you:

Exercise 1) Awareness: Notice your Mood. Shift your awareness from what is going on outside to observing your thoughts and feelings by asking, ‘how am I really feeling?’ Begin to spot the patterns of thinking behind your moods. It is important to be non-judgmental and compassionate towards yourself. It maybe that we don’t like what we see, however, by seeing and accepting it with compassion, we free ourselves of unwanted moods.

Exercise 2) Shift your Mood with enquiry. Ask yourself mood shifting questions, such as, Is this how I want to think and feel? Is there another way? What can I learn here? Don’t ask dis-empowering questions that leave your mood in a rut, such as, Why me? Why is this happening? How can they behave like that?

Take a boring meeting. Your mood is of boredom. What are you thinking? ‘This is a waste of time or it’s pointless or it’s nothing to do with me?’… Now ask yourself: ‘Do I want to feel this way?’ ‘How do I want to feel?’ ‘What can I do to shift my mood?’ Then you can start asking questions like: ‘What can I learn here?’ ‘What can I practice here? What’s needed, tolerance, patience, compassion?’ ‘What can I contribute here?’ Experiment with these and see how easy it is to shift your mood.

Exercise 3) Attention Please! Choose your Mood. Are you aware that, what we put our attention on grows? Strengthen your attention muscle by practicing shifting it from outside to inside and back again. Such as, from what you are seeing to who is looking though these eyes; go from ‘they’re annoying’, to the presence behind your thoughts; or from I feel fed-up, to who is it that feels fed-up, to how does that one want to feel?