Shortcut: 4 Ways to Shake a Bad Mood

Have you ever felt stuck in a depressed or anxious mood? Has a negative thought ever taken up residence in your brain, so that you can’t think about anything else? You’re not alone, and it can be hard to break free from a bad mood once it has a grip on you. While experts agree that true depression may require professional or medical help, sadness and anxiety at a lower, more typical level is often surmountable with the right mental tools. In this article, we’ll explore some techniques experts say can boost your mood.

1: Distract Your Mind

In Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman writes that our brains are designed to automatically respond to threats with emotions. This instinct is meant to spur us into action, and it helped us survive when threats meant instant death. However, in today’s world, when we’re faced with psychological and social threats more than physical dangers, this same automatic response just creates anxiety and depression. Fortunately, though, while we may not be able to stop such emotions from automatically popping up, we can limit how long they last.

Goleman says the key is breaking your tendency to ruminate—to endlessly think about what caused your funk and how your depression feels. Once it starts, rumination is hard to escape and can trap you in negativity. He recommends using distractions to break the chain of thoughts that negative emotions often lead to. Immerse yourself in an activity to give your mind something else to focus on—for example, read a book, watch an exciting game, or play tennis with a friend. Importantly, choose happy distractions—watching a tear-jerking movie won’t do much for your mood.

Goleman also recommends engineering a small triumph; for example, finish up a chore you’ve been putting off, or dress up to look nice. This can provide you with a small sense of happiness that can break a negative pattern.

2. Create a Mental Refuge

In The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin also discusses the trap of rumination. She writes that people tend to ruminate because we’re prone to a “negativity bias,” where we react to bad things more intensely than to good things—this is why losing money brings more pain than winning money brings happiness.

She also notes that unless people’s minds are occupied, they tend to drift to negative, anxious, or angry thoughts. She agrees with Goleman that distraction works, maintaining that purposefully giving your mind something else to think about can be the most effective way to stave off bad moods.

To do this, Rubin recommends creating a mental “refuge” where you can psychologically retreat when you need a pick-me-up. In this refuge, think of things that bring you joy, such as jokes your kids have told you, beautiful places you’ve visited, famous figures you find inspirational, or childhood memories.

3: Feel Your Feelings, Then Let Them Go

In The Secret, Rhona Byrne views bad moods through a more abstract lens, writing that emotions are the universe’s way of sending you feedback about your thoughts—if you’re thinking positive things, the universe will send you positive feelings to encourage more of the same, and when you’re thinking negative thoughts, the universe sends you negative emotions to prompt you to change your “frequency.” This aligns with the Law of Attraction, which holds that what we put out into the world is what we attract.

Byrne encourages you to recognize that you have the power to choose your thoughts and feelings. She writes that if you put your mind to it, it only takes a minute or two to change your emotions. To do so, focus on them intently, feel them fully, and consciously resolve to change them. It can help to close your eyes and smile—this physical change will shut out distractions and help you force your emotions to change.

Like Goleman and Rubin, Byrne also advises keeping a supply of positive thoughts at the ready that you can refer to when you need to shift your mood. These can be memories, plans for future events, favorite songs, thoughts of people you love, and so on.

4. Notice Your Physical Cues

In The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle writes that you can take control of your moods by becoming consciously aware of your emotions—as soon as you begin witnessing your emotions instead of taking part in them, you’ve separated yourself from them, which lessens their power over you.

Because your mind and body are so closely connected, you can increase your awareness of your mental state by paying attention to your bodily cues. If you realize your hands are balled up in fists or your jaw is clenched, it can clue you in to the stress or anger you’re feeling. You can then observe your thoughts at the root of those emotions.

The Bottom Line

In general, experts don’t advise ignoring your negative emotions—Byrne and Tolle, for example, specifically recommend feeling them fully and purposefully. But the key to preventing emotions from then sticking around is to focus on something else. Our minds abhor a vacuum as much as nature does, so it’s a lot easier to fill your mind with alternative thoughts than to simply stop thinking.

Read the Full Guides

Shortform note: Read the full Shortform guides mentioned in this article (image: Paola Chaaya):

• Emotional Intelligence
• The Happiness Project
• The Secret
• The Power of Now

Join the Conversation

How do you shake a bad mood? What distractions do you turn to when you need to shift your thinking? Share your comments!