The mood it is understood as an attitude or emotional disposition towards life. As the clinical psychologist Ana María Blasco explains, it is a prolonged, not transitory attitude that largely determines the quality of our days.
So when the mood suffers, it is important to resort to techniques or dynamics that can help us bring our life to fulfillment.
We present from the hand of three experts how to promote a series of very simple exercises to be well and present ourselves to life with a good state of mind from the adult part, from our capacity:
The glass half full
Blasco Troyano works in therapy with the metaphor of the glass half full or half empty. “The mood has a lot to do with this example. In the end, we find ourselves every day with the glass in the middle and it is our decision to choose if we want to see it half full or half empty“.
The psycho-oncologist and psychotherapist, founder of Terapia Viva, tells us that in her sessions she works on this situation through the existential positions of Eric Berne, a Canadian psychiatrist who was the originator of the theory of Transactional Analysis as a way to explain human behavior. Berne argued that within the four positions that exist, the healthy one is the one that has to do with the positive mood.
That is, a healthy self-esteem occurs when, from your responsible and adult part (without victimisms, dependencies and blackmail), you feel good and you feel like the world is working properly too:
1. Disconnect from networks and reconnect with yourself
“I have the feeling that we are becoming more and more disconnected from ourselves. something that I see a lot in consultation. That is why I encourage my patients to disconnect from technologies: spend time shutting down systems and put on the brake, either an hour “, recommends on the other hand Alejandro Vera, psychologist and founder of Grulla psychology and nutrition.
2. Get rid of that pending task
Understanding yourself is essential for a good mood. Explains us Blasco Trojan that when we understand ourselves and accept ourselves, we understand where we want to be: “Understanding is always towards oneself and from there it radiates to others.” And mention a phrase from the psychiatrist Carl Jung: “What resists persists and what is accepted is transformed”.
In this sense, getting rid of pending tasks, with moderate challenges is a good example. For example, face that pending conversation, take out the winter clothes that have been on the sofa for a week, do that task that has made me ball … “In the end, that little challenge ensures a good execution and qIf it is a moderate challenge, it gives us satisfaction, hooks us and raises our spirits. Once achieved, I achieve it and I celebrate it explicitly, even if it is speaking alone, “he explains.
3. Take a daily walk with mindfulness
Blasco Troyano proposes another small challenge to apply in our day to day, such as going out for a walk: “You can choose to get off one stop before the subway so that I give you the air, the sun in your face, you can observe the city calmly … In essence, the idea is to enjoy that walk with full conscience “.
He warns that it may seem something very simple, but it is a way of working with oneself from love and compassion, gaining confidence to raise the mood.
4. Sing and dance in style
The aforementioned expert maintains that there is a connection between emotion and very fast music. “It also happens with smells. songs, somehow, they transport you to a special memory“. That is why he proposes to find a song that makes our hair stand on end, that encourages us and gives us energy for action. He invites us to try a dance at home with very loud music or sing in the car (now that nobody sees or hears us).
5. Practice mindfulness
“One of the best ways to caring for oneself it is through mindfulness “, Blasco Troyano collects. In this sense, the expert proposes The Raisin Exercise by Jon Kabat-Zinn: “I propose it to my patients with a piece of food that they really like a lot. It does not have to be raisins, the purpose is to eat it With awareness, in silence, with time. The idea of eating something slowly is an act of affection to the body, to oneself “.
6. Writing is therapeutic
Alejandro Vera is also committed to writing. “It is a practice that is being lost and it is a very therapeutic daily exercise. People come to consultation without knowing very well what is happening to them. They are agitated, very anxious, very disconnected from what happens to them, from his body…”
Therefore, the psychologist considers that spend a little while writing what happened to you in your day, to be able to tell it to yourself and somehow make a kind of stamp can be a very good exercise to locate yourself and see how you feel.
7. Hydrate our body
Blasco Troyano emphasizes that any act done with full awareness to our body is an act of affection and self-love (which therefore affects our state of mind).
In this sense, he proposes practices such as hydrating our body … “There are many people who cannot bear to look at their own body, that is why massaging and hydrating it, taking care of it, is a way of accepting and loving it”.
8. Be grateful
The gratitude It is another factor that raises the mood because it is a way of raising awareness about the wonderful things that happen to us. “Before going to sleep, at the end of your day, think of three different people or things that you have to be thankful for that day,” Blasco proposes. “From: that person who helped me do such a thing, it started to rain a lot but I was able to get home and dry off on my couch while it warmed me up.” If we think about it calmly, more than three come out…
“I also propose to patients, either in couples therapy or individually, the next exercise: when people say nice things about them, they can write them to remember“.
9. Give yourself a smile in the mirror every morning
Just as habits generate positive emotions, positive emotions can also generate and motivate us towards change. “Although it seems complicated, settling into joy can cause us to face life in a different way and see things differently”, explains Eva Fontcuberta, psychologist and psychotherapist.
“Dedicating yourself a smile in the mirror generates a movement in your face and the muscles of your face give signals to the brain that everything is okay. It is a bidirectional mechanism. In the end, have the purpose of installing in joy it can generate motivation for change “, adds the expert.
10. Write your purpose on a piece of paper and remind yourself of it daily
This may be another of the tips and a habit is to try to be installed in joy, in good humor. “Ask yourself What can you do although there are problems next to you, emotional bad vibes … seek resources even though others are having a bad day“continues Fontcuberta.
One of them is to separate and distance yourself from that person or that environment that generates that discomfort. He further explains that buddhism proposes to place us in the observer positionIt’s like taking an imaginary step back, breathing and wondering if this really has something to do with yourself: “Position yourself with full attention and think that you don’t have to follow these people.”
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