Last update: June 28, 2018
There are days when we wake up in a good mood, when we have more energy to face the day, more desire to laugh and to give our best. We can think that this happens because it is just like that, nothing more; but the truth is that our thoughts and neurotransmitters play a vital role. How can we easily recover energy when we lose it?
Gray days, when we barely have energy and just want to isolate ourselves from the world or even disappear, don't happen by accident. A negative mood and malaise often have a reason, a reason why they break into our lives. Only by knowing this reason will we be able to adequately face the gray cloak that surrounds us.
Regularizing, accepting and learning from the most discouraging and dark days is essential, as all feelings and emotions are important. Always being in a bad mood is a lot as negative as falling into an excess of euphoria.
"The state of mind counts more than the place where you arrive, so the soul must not be enslaved to any place."
-Seneca-
Why is it important to have a positive mood?
Starting from the idea that not every day can be positive, that all emotions are adaptive and that the mood fluctuates within certain parameters, we come to the conclusion that it is impossible to always be happy and enthusiastic. However, learn how to maintaining a good state of mind is essential for achieving our goals and for:
- Persevere toward the achievement of goals.
- Maintain good health.
- Avoid anxiety, stress or depression.
- Foster personal relationships.
- Feel happy and foment our well-being.
Marcus Aurelius already said it "the happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts”And despite the fact that he overlooked the neurobiological aspect of this statement, centuries later neuroscience proved him right. Whenever we have a thought, a biochemical reaction occurs in the brain and certain chemicals are secreted that send messages to the rest of the body. When this receives them, a series of physical reactions are produced to align the state of the body with the original thought.
Consequently, one way to change our mood is to change our thoughts. However, this is much simpler in theory than in practice, as most of our thoughts are controlled by our unconscious. In fact, sometimes trying to avoid negative thoughts can have the opposite effect: increase them. We don't have to boycott ourselves or feel guilty if we sometimes get trapped in these kinds of thoughts, in fact changing them takes a lot of practice.
"I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains."
-Anna Frank-
How to recover your energy?
To set in motion certain habits that help us recover our energy, first of all we must make sure that we are prepared and ask ourselves if it is appropriate to abandon the state of mind in which we find ourselves. Once the situation has been analyzed and after carrying out the necessary checks, we can implement the following steps:
- Increase our level of physical activity. Doing physical activity, playing a sport or following an activity that interests us increases our well-being.
- Take a walk. Some research reveals that walking stimulates areas of the brain that improve mood.
- Reconnect with friends. Having close relationships with other people is one of the most important elements of happiness.
- Listening to music. Music is capable of awakening emotions such as happiness, motivation and good humor in us.
- Get rid of some tasks. Classifying the tasks left open and getting rid of the less important or unnecessary ones will facilitate a better mood.
- Organize ourselves in short periods of time. Good planning is the key to focusing on the most important tasks and giving ourselves moments of rest.
On the other hand, the cognitive restructuring technique used in cognitive-behavioral therapies is a good strategy to modify the interpretation of our beliefs through some questions. By questioning what we think, we can change our patterns and, consequently, recover our energies. The best thing is therefore to contact a specialized professional.
"The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can change their lives by changing their mental habits."
-William James-
