Creating a positive mood when all seems lost is about defying the odds of a bad environment or series of experiences for us, actively seeking the polar opposite of the feeling they induce.
Earlier in the month we discussed the importance of motivation, especially it’s significance on a long-term scale to achieving specific goals. But just because you are motivated to do something doesn’t mean that you will be currently in the mood, especially when it comes to your behaviours in the short-term. You may be thinking: “What? Another workout now?” even if you are the most devout of fitness enthusiast.
The causes of such moods are normally pretty obvious:
- Lack of sleep
- Low blood sugar levels
- Increased stress levels due to a pressure filled day
- An annoying event such as getting soaked through on the walk home from work
and so on.
But sometimes this whirlwind of all-things terrible can then consume our thoughts and we fail to see them as reversible. When we are in a bad mood, at a primitive level, our brains cannot see the world as a bright and wonderful place in the future, so it perceives it in the current state of mind that it is in. So in terms of exercise we may have thoughts such as “I’ve not seen results from my workouts in a while, so what’s the point?” And you will fail to turn that perception around unless you engage in more logical thinking.
You need to realise at the time that there are plenty of reasons for you not too work out in terms of your current mood, but you can drastically change your mood and do so at an astonishing rate if you are open to a few simple techniques.
The simplest of these techniques is simply doing the opposite actions you would than when you are in a bad mood. Now this might seem like a patronisingly obvious statement, or even go against your natural behaviours that will inevitably put up a fight. But you can consciously make an effort to change how you are feeling deep down if you acknowledge the mood and take these actions to subduing it:
- Relax and don’t tense your muscles
- Expand out, taking up more space with your body (power poses)
- Take deep breaths rather than short sharp ones
- Close your eyes and imagine what it would be like to achieve your fitness goal, as if it is happening to you now.
This works because our mood changes to the world around us, even that of which we imagine or create for ourselves. This can have an effect on your mood whether the thoughts are positive or negative. For example if you seriously thought about getting fired from your job and that it was a likely possibility, the likelihood is that you would develop feelings of anxiety and fear – even if there was never any external source mentioning the chances of this event.
Such statements may seem simplistic but we need to realise that we do have influence over even the most primitive of our behaviours. Another way that we could improve our mood is to be social. Again this may seem obvious that another person could lift out spirits but we must remember to consciously interact with them with a more open or positive outlook than our feelings are currently desiring at a primitive level. This may mean ‘faking’ a positive mood for the first portion of the interaction but this will soon change into your real mood if they are upbeat. This is of course because moods are contagious, so be cautious to gain their positivity rather than passing on your bad vibes.
So who you gonna call? Well I’m sure many of you fitness enthusiasts have a friend that take the same pass-time to a whole new level, perhaps even a bit too far - to the point of obsession. We may even be a little jealous of their discipline, motivation and ability to perform better in many aspects of fitness (and if you don’t have a friend like this, then it’s probably you … or you may need a more diverse set of buddies). This may make them a bit one dimensional when thinking of subjects to bring up in the pub, you may even avoid the subject completely on the chance that they will whip out bar charts and slide-shows on the benefits of a proper cool-down. But these are exactly the types of people you want to be talking to right before a workout, to gain their positive outlook on fitness and upbeat attitude.
So get them on the phone or even partner up with them to warm up before a session. Just make sure that you leave them to do their own thing when they insist on that ‘fifteenth set of leg raises’ or ‘just one more hour of biceps then we can move onto triceps’ because you want to get on with your life when your done and keep your newly aquired good mood.
Although people rarely have the exact same goals in life being social is an important part to achieving your own personal goals. This is a subject we will look at more closely another time but you should especially seek out those with a positive attitude and have similar values and beliefs to your own when it comes to health and fitness. So next time you have a bad mood and don’t feel like working out even though you are being nagged by the booming voice of motivation then try some of the techniques above. Also begin to think about ways that you can summersault your bad mood to make your outlook more positive for the exercises ahead.
