If You Want To Stop Your Mood Swings From Ruling Your Life, Here’s What To Do
Make bad moods a thing of the past!
unsplash Your perception is important; it plays a big role on your mood and your mindset. But to put yourself "in the mood" of a positive mindset, you don't need good things to happen to you.
By being perceptive of your own state of mind and changing your thinking to a more positive mindset, you can make mood swings a thing of the past. It's all about how you think.
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It might seem normal to feel good when something good happens to you — like someone paying you a compliment — or to feel bad when not-so-great things happen — like someone criticizing you, but that's a "fixed mindset" way of thinking.
Instead of letting your environment control your current mood, you can harmonize your mood and mind to work together so that you can feel good about your circumstances even if things around you aren't going the way you planned.
If someone pays you a compliment, must you automatically feel flattered? And if someone criticizes you, do you have to become insulted? How about if you work with people who are gossipy and combative … Do they innately have the power to ruin your mood or bring your productivity to a grinding halt?
The answer to these questions is an emphatic "no."
Not only is it possible, but it's well within your power to enjoy life even when it’s not ideal. How? By understanding that your enjoyment is not determined by circumstances; it’s a reflection of your state of mind.
You've likely been conditioned to believe that what’s going on around you is responsible for how you feel. When things are turning out well and life is going your way, you feel good; you're in a good mood. But when you encounter uncooperative people or persistent problems, you view these circumstances as justified reasons to feel bad.
There is another, far more empowering, possibility. And if you want to become the masterful, intentional creator of your life experience, it’s vital that you embrace this.
You can change your state of mind so you can enjoy life and control your mood — even when things around you aren't as great as they could be. It all starts with you.
The events of your life do not have the power to affect your happiness. Only your interpretation of those events holds that power.
Here are 3 ways you can change your perception so that your mindset is in control of your mood; not your circumstances:
1. The thoughts you think give rise to how you feel
Positive, uplifting, eager thoughts generate positive, uplifting, eager feelings.
Consider the difference between the thought, “This is going to be impossible,” and the thought, “I always seem to find a way.”
The first sends your emotions plummeting, while the second evokes a lighter, more hopeful feeling.
By changing the conditioning you're putting yourself through, you can change the way you perceive a given situation, and therefore, your response — or mood — to it.
2. The emotions you’re feeling in any given moment of time give rise to your mood
This means your moods can easily become chronic. It’s highly likely that you associate a particular mood with certain people, places, or things.
In fact, even something as insignificant as the day of the week can alter your mood. What mood are you generally in when you think of the word, “Monday?”
How does that compare to the word, “Friday?”
When you reside in a particular frequency of emotions for any substantial length of time, that frequency becomes your chronic, or "dominant," mood, and it's your go-to for how you perceive that situation.
Try recognizing if you've got a negative perception about something and changing the way you approach thinking about it.
3. Your mood has a profound effect on your perception
Your mood is the composite of the thoughts and feelings you’re experiencing in any given moment. Imagine, for example, that you’re running late and you’ve allowed that condition to produce within you a mood of frustration and overwhelm.
Have you ever been in that kind of state of mind and tried to find something you’ve misplaced, only to discover later that it was right in front of you? Your bad mood colored your perception, literally making it invisible to you at that moment.
Your mood can obscure things that are in plain sight, and they can also cause you to perceive things that aren’t even there.
For example, if you’ve just watched a scary movie and your mood is unsettled and anxious, you might easily perceive the sound of the refrigerator clicking on as a potential threat. If you’d been relaxed and reading a book when you heard that sound, you may not have noticed it at all.
Your perception determines your experience of reality … period!
So what is the difference between taking a risk and embarking on an adventure? Absolutely nothing — except your perception of what you’re about to do.
What’s the difference between something coming to an end and standing on the brink of a new beginning? There is no difference whatsoever. Your experience will be radically different depending on which part of that story you focus your attention.
In the prophetic words of Albert Einstein, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
In every moment in time, you can always find something to criticize, and in every moment in time, you can always find something to appreciate. Become more practiced in looking for everything that is going right; for thinking thoughts that uplift and inspire you, or at least bring you a feeling of relief.
Your state of mind determines how much or how little you can enjoy life. And you and you alone have the power to change it.
Christy Whitman is an energy healer, celebrity coach, and the New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Having It All: A Woman’s Guide to Unlimited Abundance. To understand how to more deliberately co-create the life you desire, visit her website and gain access to free 30-day training.