Lately, getting stuck in a bad mood is pretty easy. Just tune into the dreary news, or pick up a magazine telling you how bad it’s going to get. Your senses are assaulted with a relentless anxiety-laden negativity based on “objective” reporting of the sorry state of the economy, but also laced with toxic speculation – a crystal ball of negativity. Sometimes there is a biological component to your bad mood, hormonally driven, lack of sleep, or poor eating habits. Some moods emanate from home, an angry argument. And others seem to have no specific trigger, out of nowhere a darker veil descends. Research from the University of Pennsylvania by Professor Sigal Barsade may explain: Bad moods are contagious.
Let’s lift the veil and demystify the process to liberate your mind.
Barsade clarifies that you unconsciously mimic the people around you. If someone in your midst is negative, speaks loudly with an edge, or is tapping his foot impatiently, you will absorb that mood. As a result you will feel more irritable, less compromising and more likely to yell at someone or send that hostile email you wished you had never sent.
However, if you are infected by someone else’s bad mood and don’t even know it, what can you do to get over it?
* Start cultivating an awareness of other people’s body language, tone of voice and word choice. When you are near someone who is frowning, how do you feel? Practice developing radar for people’s energy. Self-awareness will break it.
* Don’t be afraid to shed other people’s toxicity by distancing yourself which includes the media like TV, especially if you are in eye contact which can become hypnotic. After all, you are careful about eating foods with pesticides and artificial ingredients, why should toxic people and toxic news be different? Change the channel.
* Exercise it away! While you move away from negativity, keep on walking to ease on down the road. Exercise will rebalance your neural circuitry and change your mood. Meditation, watching a comedy or calling up a positive friend will also positively change brain activity.
All bad moods are not created equal.
If your bad mood is in response to someone else’s, that’s easier to shake off. However, if you are in a negative loop, then you have to seriously de-activate the bad thought by logically exposing the distortion. Fill yourself up on good stories which inspire. Put up an affirmation on your screensaver or a photo of your last vacation, a loving family member or pet. Change them regularly based on the message you need to give yourself.
The next time you are in a bad mood, ask yourself: Is it you or them?
Whatever happened to "Hope?" All I hear from our president are words and phrases such as "catastrophic, desperate times, challenging times, worse economy since the Great Depression, bankrupt, forclosures, failed banks, gov. take-overs, bailouts, salvage, bad loans," and those are just the words from our president. So, from the top down it goes on and on and on. All this from the man who campaigned on …Change, Hope, new visions, transperancy, etc.,etc.,etc. it all gets a little overwhelming…especially when it comes from the leader of the free world.
In any case your blog Debbie, in my opinion, is right on.
We the people need to get us back in the game. We cannot count/depend on big brother to keep us smiling. Nor shouold we. We are responsible for our happines and success…not the govt.
We must have a vision and create our own success. Focus on us and what we can do to make our own way. For some of us it is an easy task. I know for some it is not that easy, but it still is in our hands…it is our future that we ourselves must secure, and the peace in just knowing that we actually do have control over it, is enough to secure many smiles and happiness.
I would hate to think that someone else…any one else, especially the govt., controlled my future….or my everyday happiness. Not even the person standing next to us on line at the local grocery store…and their negative attitude.
Thanks for the blog,
Razz
This is actually something I discovered recently, and I thought maybe it was only true in my own mind, but it is so refreshing for someone else to say it so eloquently!
I love my best friend, whom I see every day, but he also has a tendency to emit 'bad-mood' vibes, and I used to always get stuck in it, many times believing that I was the source for his bad moods. Recently, I finally realized that his bad moods had nothing to do with me, and that I had no reason to fall into this pit with him. Ever since that realization, I've had very little negative interactions with him and my bad moods have lessened significantly. It's a beautiful realization that I wish I had encountered sooner.
That was a wonderful post and your suggestions are spot on! Thank you!
A very interesting article and I followed up the reference to Professor Sigal Barsade, who was new to me, so thank you! Helping ourselves and others to cope with toxic emotional environments is going to become an important aspect of what many of us do. For me this renews my appreciation of meditation and the concept of 'sangha', a community of like minded spiritual seekers.
best wishes,
Richard Ingate
http://www.lifechoicemeditation.com
I like this blog post. As an eternal optimist, I love it when good news like this is shared instead of so much negativity. We each have the power to be vessels of good news and moods when we consciously choose to be. Thanks for this reminder!
Lovingly,
Cynthia
This is a great article, thank you for posting it. The only thing i would add is that excercise doesn't have to be strenuous or even last longer than a few minutes. Sometimes a simple stretching exercise can do the trick– even at your desk.
I totally agree. It's amazing what a difference even a few simple stretches can make in how we feel. Good point, A.
This is a valuable post. It's often the simplest solutions that are the most obvious yet overlooked. I would add to the list: Take a bubblebath, walk a dog, get some sunshine for 10 or 15 minutes. The Calming Heart Sutra is my favorite meditation for getting centered and out of a funk or overcoming the jitters.
Namaste,
Katy
Feng Shui By Fishgirl
It was only yesterday that I read the book by Enthony Robbins Awaken the Giant Within. It is possible to download it at shared files SE http://filecraft.com . He gave such example: if you were put a gun to your head and were told to lift up your spirits in a second or else you would die, everybody would do it.
What I use, is smiling. Even when I'm very sad but I do not want to be in such condition I make an effort to smile and keep it for 5 minutes. All bad emotions disappear with it.
good strategies for shake this bad mood … ..I use the tricks mostly here is Get moving. Go to the gym and the exercise of his bad mood away. Increase your energy and get your heart pumping with aerobic activity great book about it http://paraorkut9.org/ . Vigorous exercise causes the body to release endorphins that make you feel better. Research shows that endorphins block feelings of pain, reduce anxiety and create feelings of euphoria.
Get a alter of scene. Right now. Bad moods can be triggered by all kinds of things & often it’s something around you that ticked you off, & if you stay in the same surroundings it’ll continue to nag at you & play on your mindhttp. Go to a new surroundings, surround yourself with different things, different people & different sensations & it’s simpler for you to leave your bad mood behind you.Mensagens Para Orkut
This post is really great because I always search for various advices on how to shake off a bad mood. These your advices are very similar like Ashlynn Brooke said it in one interview. Anyway I will definitely follow all your recommendations in the future. Thanks a lot!
Get a alter of scene. Right now. Bad moods can be triggered by all kinds of things & often it’s something around you that ticked you off, & if you stay in the same surroundings it’ll continue to nag at you & play on your mindhttp. Go to a new surroundings, surround yourself with different things, different people & different sensations & it’s simpler for you to leave your bad mood behind you.logo design
Get a alter of scene. Right now. Bad moods can be triggered by all kinds of things & often it’s something around you that ticked you off, & if you stay in the same surroundings Articles
it’ll continue to nag at you & play on your mindhttp. Go to a new surroundings, surround yourself with different things, different people & different sensations & it’s simpler for you to leave your bad mood behind you
The first thing is to STOP whatever you are doing and then ISOLATE yourself. Accept your feelings as natural and see if you can find the source of your bad mood. When you are in a bad mood and you continue certain tasks such as eating for example, your action may escalate to chocking or indigestion. Stopping and acceptance to calm the mind down is the way to go. Walking away from the situation definitely helps, even if it’s only for a couple of minutes.