10 Simple Ways to Lift Your Low Moods

Don’t let life get you down!

Laughter really is good medicine. “I come from a long line of funny women” says Becky. “Even as a young teen, when something embarrassing would happen, I’d think, ‘Ah! Material for the family reunion!’ Humor always greased life’s skids for me. Diagnosed with a painful disease from which he was not expected to survive, Norm Cousins discovered that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter would give him at least two hours of pain-free sleep. (He went on to live another 36 healthy years, teaching others about the healing power of laughter.) A recent study showed that laughter therapy was as effective in lessening agitation in elderly patients with dementia as the best medications, with nothing but good side effects.

Don’t let life get you down!

Cook comforting food and share it with people you love. When Paula Butturini’s husband was nearly fatally shot by a sniper’s bullet, she and her husband retreated to Italy to recover. The simple rituals of going to market, cooking and sharing meals with close friends, night after night, gave relief and comfort from lingering trauma. She wrote in her book, Keeping the Feast, “I may write about the smell of asparagus, the color of polenta, or the taste of figs still warm from the sun, but all of it is a personal shorthand for weighing love and hunger, health and nourishment, secrets and revelations, illness and survival, comfort and celebration, and perhaps most of all, the joy and gift of being alive.” She recently noted in a blog post: “Like tears – cooking, serving, and eating together is a language without words that hearts understand. Food with love is a powerful healing force in a hurting world.”

Don’t let life get you down!

Soak up some sun rays. The ancient wisdom writer, King Solomon, observed, “Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.” And this was long before scientists discovered that depression is linked to lack of Vitamin D from not getting enough sun. With society living increasingly indoors, along with the heavy use of sunscreen (that blocks 95% of Vitamin D absorption), it is estimated that one-quarter of us are low in natural Vitamin D, which lowers our moods. Sunlight also activates the pineal gland that regulates hormones related to healthy sleep cycles and positive moods. Sitting or exercising outside a few minutes every day can lift your spirits.

Don’t let life get you down!

Surround yourself with beauty. Pierro Ferucci is an Italian psychologist who writes about the healing power of beauty in his work with emotionally wounded people. In his book, Beauty And The Soul, he writes, “The more we can perceive beauty in our surroundings, and also inside us, the more we will feel at home and glad to exist.” He points to a Swedish study of 12,000 people which indicated that “those who go more often to the theater, movies, to concerts and exhibitions, have a greater chance of longevity.” Patients who have access to beautiful scenery outside their hospital windows heal faster. When the beauty of nature is brought into urban environments stress and agitation decreases. Beauty not only increases the will to live, but the joy in living.