Moods…

Act happy. Stand in front of your mirror and just smile for a few minutes. Wave at people you pass on the street. Trust me: if you’re smiling and waving, you absolutely cannot continue to entertain a morose mood.

Exercise. You’ve had that treadmill holding up the clothes in your bedroom for months now or it’s become a bed for your cats. Move the critters and the clothes off, and hop on for a nice, refreshing walk. Move your arms as well as your legs. You will pump up your energy and improve your outlook.

Read Something Uplifting. You might find this in a self-help book, or in a religious tome. Even better would be to watch something inspirational from a TV show or a DVD from a favorite author. I suspect you’ll watch it until you find something useful for your day….and that would be enough.

Gratitude. Make lists of things you have to be grateful for. You might become know as the goody goody, but heck, you’d be grateful and happy versus whatever sad mood you had in there before. And sometimes, you just have to let them think you’re a goody goody. Why not? It’s something to be grateful for.

Force Yourself Into Happiness. If your negative mood is deeply entrenched – been there a long time and goes deeply inside you – you might have to light a stick of dynamite inside you and get really firm about wanting to be happy. “No, by golly, I will NOT stay down today. I am going to be happy starting right now.” Just make yourself do it. Remember, moods have no ability to govern. Only you can do that. So just do it.

Use Logic to Succeed. If you are not a logical person (and many negatively moody people lean more toward the feeling side than the logical) you can use logic or reason to move yourself slowly from sad to happy. Make a numbered list for yourself. Begin with “I’m feeling down” and end with “I’m feeling uplifted.” Now, fill in the gap. Take as many steps as you need in between the beginning and the end steps.

But what if you are in a happy, successful, moving-forward, joyful mood? Well, why change?