Your emergency mood kit
By Martha Beck
March 21, 2008
OPRAH.com
CNN.com/Living
Think of 20 things for which you are grateful, and name them out loud
Everyone experiences mood variations — while you may feel cheerful and optimistic most of the time, you might occasionally feel grumpy, anxious, or dejected.
Such fluctuating mood states are both inevitable and, to some degree, controllable*.
One thing that won’t rescue your mood is simply putting on a happy face, trying to will yourself into constant cheerfulness. In fact, you may drive your darker feelings underground, reemerging later as temper tantrums, depression, or stress-related illness.
Changing your own mood requires methods that gently refocus your attention in ways that genuinely improve your inner life, not just slap behavioral Band-Aids over your pain or frustration. Try being fully present in every moment of experience. Look around you right now at all the things that are supporting your well-being: the chair you’re sitting in, the sunlight, the electric lines that help make your life more manageable, the clothes you’re wearing.
Once you’ve anchored yourself in the present, try one or more of the following practices to nudge your brain activity into the zone where your mood is cheerful, calm, and appreciative.
Lift your spirits with these 10 mood menders!
Visualize the inside of your head as a round room lined with many large toy chests. In each box, you store memories of different things. Imagine a shiny new empty box, and picture yourself writing the word “Favorites” on it. Now, search your memory for the most beautiful memories you possess — a celebration with friends, your daughter’s birth, falling in love. Picture each situation vividly, and then imagine yourself putting it in the “Favorites” box. Go to a new memory and repeat the process.
Spend time each day going to the box, “opening” it, recalling the times you’ve stored there, and adding new favorites.
List five things you love with each of your senses. Start by writing five endings to the sentence, “I love the smell of_” Then go on to “I love the sound of__. ” “I love the sight of__. ” “I love the feel of __. ” “I love the taste of __ ” and “I love the sight of__.” See how your mood improves as you simply list these 25 things.
To continue reading:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/03/18/o.emergency.mood/index.html
*If you experience severe or bad moods, you may have a biochemical imbalance that can and should be treated medically. Since mood disorders are both serious and very treatable, you should do whatever it takes to get good medical care.
hey,
My name is addie im forty and im starting from the begining i feel twenty as far as energy i have pcod and i know i must have had it a long time because ive not had this energy in twenty years i gave birth to twins at nineteen almost twenty and then i had no more children so as the story goes on, so ive had pms since i was fifteen and i think my disease started when i was very young but as it goes on i know when all the changes happened now that i look back but oh well let me tell u about how my wonderful doctor saw what i had i had a few facial hairs pop up and i said is there any cream i can use and he said very fast he was busy yes but its expensive and so i ignored this 4 several years i never had energy , or wanted to cook, or have sex or do anything and i said to momma i cant lose weight,so in sept2007 my doctor checked me for diabetes and i had been hypoglycemic for ten years so he put me on Metformin omg i cannot begin to tell u what that wonderful medicine has done 4 me ok my skin is like a babys but, my haie is awesome, my sex life is awesome, my breast have grown, i lost forty pounds, i have more energy than the energizer bunny, i feel like a woman, i cook all the time , i used to tan so good and then i coudnt and now i do no tanning bed 4 me, my teeth feel good, my husband says the inside of ur arm is so soft and he cant believe the changes and yes he likes them!LOL especially the sex! And my soft skin! My pms is better and on and on i dont know who invented this drug but they are a genius 4 me i love it and i dont want to go a day without it! Im disappointed that ive had this so long and felt so bad so long but i cannot look back i say thanku to my doctor 4 diagnosing me u saved my life 4 it was gonna end soon i know . I cannot tell u how much better iam and im a registered nurse but knew nothing about pcod but omg i do now i could write a book! I think i will!Please someone tell me where Metformin came from was it a foreign country i gotta know cause i feel like a woman and thats sooooooooooo important to me and my family i think my gorgeous dtr has it she has my facial hair and all the symptoms i feel bad that i probably gave it to her but i cant help it i can tell her what to do for it ! One more thing my memory is so much better omg i love Metformin over n over but not as much as i Love Jesus! Have a great day! Just call me metwoman cause thats what iam Tuse!