What is a mental trick you use personally to snap out of a bad mood or negative thought pattern?
Mindfulness meditation practice has enabled me to take control over bad mood and thoughts. As soon as I recognize what is happening I snap out of it.
Hit an adrenaline fueled flow state. For me this means either hit the gym and swim a mile or go work a pedicab shift. Incapable of returning in a bad mood from either activity
Go on a walk outside without my phone. It’s stupid and annoying that it works as consistently as it does. Truly the hardest part of this one is getting yourself out the door.
Super heavy workout -> sauna -> cold plunge works 100% of the time
Depends on the scenario “What might I learn, or how might I grow from this experience? It’s difficult now but I’ll be a better person for getting through it” is my go to If it’s just a bad mood, I often allow myself to be there. It’s often faster to let negative emotions pass thru than to block them.
When I need an instant shift, I create a new perspective/story around it. For example, if I'm in a bad mood from something like "woke up and my neck is tweaked ugh", imagining that the usual is neck tweaked means "it's not worse than usual". plus makes easier to appreciate a "good" day when waking up and no pain
Move or breathe is my fix. https://swellandcut.com/antidotes-to-depression/
In cases where you can identify (or maybe sort of identify) the conditions that are causing the bad mood/thoughts, creatively visualize a worse version of the scenario. Kind of a play on the framing effect. 🧠 happy relative to the worse (but not real) scenario. Dali Lama put it: "look down, not up"
Another one is get really curious about the physical sensations in the body, related to the mood. No narrative, or story around the feelings, just the raw physical sensation. "Hmm, there a slight contraction in my upper chest...I can feel a subtle tingle in my arm" it's the story that hurts usually, not the feeling.
I just tell myself it’s over, and move on to clean slate like etch-a-sketch
I ask myself if what I'm going through is honestly worse than becoming a blind quadriplegic. Sobers me up faster than smelling salts. YMMV!
One woman dance parties to music I can sing along to 😏
