Shift Any Mood

Follow the Show

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Everywhere else

If you’re anything like me, you sometimes find yourself feeling grumpy, discontent or dissatisfied. And you’d rather be feeling joy, hope, trust or safety. Today, I’m sharing my step-by-step process for how to shift any mood. 

Whether you’re gearing up for a beach day, a long drive or a visit with your in-laws, I’m going to teach you how to feel the way you want to feel during that experience.

How To Shift Any Mood

First, it’s important to understand that your brain is like a muscle. Whenever you have a thought or an emotion that gets repeated in your brain, a neural pathway is formed and reinforced. 

Maybe you’ve gotten into a pattern of looking for problems or feeling discontent. By using more intentional thinking, we can reroute those pathways. 

As Robin Sharma says, “What you focus on grows, what you think about expands, and what you dwell upon determines your destiny.”

Decide what mood you want to be in. Ask yourself, “How do I want to feel during this experience?” 

Define the feeling. Go a little deeper into what the feeling that you’re chasing really means. For example, if you want to be present, what does being present look like? If you want to feel joyful, calm, grateful or trusting, what does that mean to you?

By focusing on the feeling and defining what it actually looks like and feels like in your body, you’ll be more able to experience it. 

Identify obstacles. What might come up that would prevent you from feeling the way you want to feel? Your brain will probably come up with these pretty naturally. It will tell you that you can’t feel joy, belonging or ease for all kinds of reasons.

Now, challenge those obstacles by soothing and reassuring yourself against that fear. If you want to be present, but you’re worried about the future, remind yourself that you don’t need to worry because you’ve overcome a lot of obstacles in the past. 

Be intentional with your thoughts. Ask, “What thoughts help me feel the feeling I want?” List them out and choose a couple that feel good to you. You’ll use them a bit like a mantra. This is intentional thinking, and it’s how you stay in the feeling that you want and shift back into it. 

Reinforce the new thoughts. Chasing a feeling often feels like exactly that - it's not easy to catch. It's right in front of you, and when you grab it, it pulls away again. Your brain is resisting this new neural pathway, so it takes work to keep getting back to the feeling you want.

When you notice yourself slipping into more negative feelings (getting grumpy, short-tempered, etc.), use your intentional thoughts to bring yourself back. 

You can use this process at any time (I love it as a daily practice), but there are a few situations when I find it especially helpful:

• Before a vacation
• Before visiting family or in-laws
• Before holidays
• When you’re struggling with how you feel in your body

I invite you to do this practice and decide, on purpose, how you want to feel this summer. Chase the feeling, be intentional with your thoughts and shift any mood. 

You’ll Learn:

• My step-by-step process to shift any mood
• Why we tend to slip into negative moods
• How your thoughts help create the feelings you want
• When to use this mood shifting practice

Resources:

• Get the free Summer Toolkit
• Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown