Four Quick Wins to Lift Your Mood.
In this blog post I offer four ways to lift mood when you’re feeling low. If your mood has been low for more than two weeks, you might want to consider reaching out for some support, either via your GP and/or seeing a therapist. In the meantime here are some things that might also help.
1.Move Your Body (if you can.)
Move out of your head and into your body. Any activity that stretches the body or moves it in an active way will kick start endorphins to lift mood and also activate your muscle memory. Yoga, dancing (or singing along) to good music, walking barefoot on the grass, paddling in water or more active things such as weight training, skipping, punching a punchbag or going for a run will also get the blood pumping and the body remembering that there are other ways to be.
Somatic therapies show us how the body, brain and nervous system all influence each other regardless of the type of body we are in. If your brain is having a bad day then do something with the body instead.
Be wise with your body though, especially if you have a disability, as being asked to “simply move” may stir up difficult feelings or feel oppressive. Remember visualising doing an activity lights up the same areas of the brain and it can’t tell the difference. The work of Rae Johnson on Embodied Somatics may help you to navigate the best way to accept the invitation to move the body.
2. Journal it.
Write it down or draw it out. Research has shown that for most of us, externalising our thoughts can help with reducing rumination (going over things again and again) and worrying (future oriented predictions of disaster). If you want to be really creative you can embellish your entries with collages, pictures, illustrations and/or creating a ritual to let go of whatever’s on your mind - perhaps by burning the pages or ripping them into tiny pieces. Experiment with what works best for you.
3. Do Nothing at All.
“Rest is resistance” writes Tricia Hersey the Nap Bishop at The Nap Ministry. Beneath this slogan is a nuanced and essential critique of capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy and the ways it exhausts and destroys us. Hersey zeroes in on “Grind Culture” - the 24/7 societal drive for productivity and profit at the expense of our own physical and psychological wellbeing. She writes:
Rest pushes back and disrupts a system that views human bodies as a tool for production and labor. It is a counter narrative. We know that we are not machines. We are divine.
Go slow. Stop. Rest. Be Divine. And if you are Black, Brown, or a person of colour do this doubly so.
4. Connect with others.
If you can, connect with another body’s nervous system in some way - a friend, partner, companion animal, videos from r/aww r/superaww or r/tuckedinkitties to fire up those mirror neurons (if that works for you - those of us who are neurodivergent may need to tweak this a bit.) Nervous systems co-regulate with each other so if you’re doing something nice for someone else, you get it right back.
If this doesn’t work for you try some vagal toning exercises or self hugging to activate the soothing systems of the brain which flood us with oxytocin (the hug drug neurotransmitter) and dopamine (the pleasure/reward chemical).
I hope these four ways of lifting mood have helped, they are just a small selection of tools that are quick, relatively easy to do, and might just stop the day/night from going completely downhill. Good luck!
If you are interested in exploring more ways of training the brain and body to be kinder to you, why not reach out to us here at Rhizome Practice - we have a range of ideas from mindfulness, somatics and compassion focused therapy which might just be the way forwards for you.
