Ten ways to enhance your mood

1. Practice gratitude

Often, we focus on the glass half full scenario: zero in on why it is so, and who could have taken the missing half and why.

This leads to feelings of lack, which automatically dampens someone’s mood and outlook on life.

Recentre your focus on what is going right and what you can do to make the glass full again.

Actively taking back control of your emotion by intentionally being grateful for all the positives in your life chases the blues away.

2. Sleep

Ever seen how babies cry incessantly and cranky when they are sleepy and tired?

That is everyone deep inside when they go long enough without sleep. The brain gets tired and overwhelmed and any tiny emotion can cause a disproportionate change in mood. Get some shut-eye and your mood will thank you for it.

3. Exercise

Exercise is a natural mood enhancer. It gets the endorphins roaring and no mood is a match for those happy hormones.

So anytime you feel like screaming at the world and banging your head in at the nearest wall, go for a quick jog round the neighbourhood. Take up boxing or lifting weights.

Just make sure you get in at least seven minutes of work. Anything less and you might not be reaping the full benefits of exercising as a mood enhancer.

4. Go outside

Take a walk from your desk and do a few rounds at the office corridor. Go to the rooftop if there is one and look at the sky or the gridlocked traffic underneath.

Taking a breather reconfigures your energy and puts to scale whatever thing you might have thought to be a disaster.

Do not allow a ‘as earlier stated’ email to work you up, take a breather, then come back when your mood is more settled.

5. Meditate

Emotions and mood are just thoughts that we assign to experiences based on our past.

This is why someone will visit a theme park and feel elated as they frequented it on weekends with their parents while another will feel angry because they got lost in one as a child.

This means moods can be altered by altering the lenses through which we look at life.

Meditation allows for more self-awareness and if practiced consistently can help rewrite negative thought patterns thereby contributing to a healthier and happier outlook on life.

6. Smile

It might just be right before an interview or right after one. Your feelings are zig zagging all over the place.

Breathe in and out slowly then put on the widest smile you can. Keep at it. The brain will slowly follow the physical posture of your body and you will feel happier and lighter.

There is a reason why people frown and breathe comes in quick and shallow when we are angry.

Reverse that and you will slowly and consciously wrestle control back from your errant emotions.

7. Help others

There is always someone who could do with a helping hand either at your office, in your neighbourhood or on your commute.

Help the intern edit their story, reverse pack for the co-worker who takes ninety-six minutes at the parking lot, buy the office janitor or tea lady lunch.

Just the act of doing a good deed without expectation of reward is an instant mood enhancer.

If you spend enough time out of your head and help out others, you will realize that nothing is as bad as it seems.

8. Spend time with loved ones

There is a reason Abraham Maslow classified the need for belonging as one of the integral human needs.

Meeting up with people who you love and love you back can recentre your internal campus and remind you how great you are.

Spend time with people who are positive and upbeat about life. It will invariably rub off on you. Avoid the negative magnets.

9. Self-affirm

Feelings of inadequacy and lack of confidence are common even amongst the best of us.

Change and uncertainty such as the one brought about by the pandemic tends to bring all these feelings to the fore.

When all these feelings bombard you, show them whose boss. Affirm yourself.

Talk yourself in the mirror and explain to yourself just how awesome you are. If you say it often enough, you will soon believe it.

10. Do something for yourself

We often lose ourselves in the rush between work and home, leading households and trying to be there for both family and friends.

This often leaves very little time for self which can overtime lead to stress and burnout.

Just as you schedule time to take the baby for playdates, listen to your mate complain about work and his girlfriend, make time for yourself.

Listen to your favourite song, watch that romantic comedy you have been meaning to watch or just take a nap. You matter too, prioritise yourself.