Rituals: Mood-Boosting Rituals
11/02/23 19:27 Filed in:
RitualsWhen people think of their mood, they often think of just being in a good mood or a bad mood. But the truth is, there is a lot in between these two extremes. Things like stress, daily habits, physical pain, and so many other factors go into how we feel.
Our mood is not just good or bad, it can include feeling stressed, anxious, fearful, relaxed and calm, tense and agitated.
If we feel like we don’t have balanced moods, or we are constantly at one extreme or another, it might be time to take a look at our habits, daily routines, and how we spend our time. Our behaviours have such a large impact on our moods and how we feel.
What Causes Shifts in Our Mood?
One of the most surprising things about mood fluctuations is how many things in our everyday life, many of which we don’t have control of, can change our mood. The more we understand about mood changes, the more we can decide what lifestyle changes will help the best with our mood-boosting rituals.
Some causes of shifts to our mood include:
Stress – Probably one of the most common causes is stress. This may be severe stress where we expect our mood to change, it also includes very mild forms of emotional stress that we didn’t realize had such a big impact on how we feel and behave overall.
Mental health – Many mental health disorders can lead to changes in our mood, including anxiety and depression. If we struggle with our mental health, we might already be aware of how drastically our mood can shift.
Sleep habits – Yes, how much and how well we sleep is going to affect our mood! We aren’t just talking about having a crappy night’s sleep and not feeling our best the next morning. This includes just poor sleep hygiene habits that affect our mood the next day.
Diet – What we will see throughout this content is that what we eat greatly impacts how we feel. What we choose to eat the majority of the time does make a big difference in our mood.
Medical causes – Not only can hormone fluctuations affect your mood, but other medical causes like thyroid disorders, stroke, vitamin deficiency, and Parkinson’s might all be the cause of your mood changes.
1. Morning Journaling Routine
Let’s talk a little bit about morning routines. This is one of those trending topics that people think are just popular right now and will be gone before we know it, but that isn’t true at all.
We have a morning routine now, whether we consciously realize it or not. We have certain tasks we like to get done shortly after waking up, such as brushing our teeth, taking a shower, walking our dogs, making our kids breakfast, or stumbling out of bed and rushing out the door to get to work.
We are not trying to reinvent the wheel with our morning routine, but instead just add a few activities in our morning that will improve our day and your mood.
One of the best activities we may do during our morning routine is to write in a journal. There are many ways this can help, and one of our personal favourites is with a brain dump.
What is a brain dump?
This simply means we write whatever is on our mind, and keep writing until we feel like we have gotten through all those nagging thoughts. Our mood fluctuations might be from stress or just feeling overwhelmed. Our thoughts can do this without us even realizing it.
By doing this type of brain dump in the morning, we get those thoughts out on paper to help release some of the tension, and also gain a little more clarity.
2. Improve Our Sleep Hygiene
The next most important thing we can do each day when we want to boost our mood naturally is to get better sleep. And we aren’t just talking about how many hours we sleep, though that is definitely important.
We will want to focus on proper sleep hygiene, which is simply the nighttime routine we have before we go to sleep.
Here are some things we can add to our sleep routine that will help us get more restful sleep, and balance our mood at the same time:
-Start getting ready for bed 1-2 hours before we intend to fall asleep.
-Don’t use any electronics or keep the TV on when we are getting ready for sleep.
-Try to avoid stimulants like caffeine or alcohol shortly before sleep.
-Set up our bedroom to provide a restful night’s sleep, including a cool and quiet environment.
-Get blackout curtains to keep it as dark as possible in our bedroom.
-Participate in quiet and calm activities before bed, such as reading or writing in our journal.
With these few changes, we will soon notice that we tend to fall asleep a little easier, and we don’t wake up exhausted and cranky.
3. Pay Attention to What We Eat
This might not be what we want to hear, yet what we eat does make a difference in how we feel, including mentally. Some foods, like high amounts of sugar and refined carbohydrates, give us energy and make us feel better in the short-term, and cause an energy crash, after which we might notice a worsening mood.
When it comes to eating right, we want to focus on balance and proper nutrients. Not being on a restrictive diet, just trying to get in more complex carbs, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and lean protein.
4. Move Our Body Every Day
In addition to eating right, try to also get some regular exercise in. Again, we aren’t talking about completing a difficult fitness challenge or pushing to do some extreme form of activity we don’t enjoy.
Instead, find a workout that gets us moving, motivates and excites us, and that we actually enjoy. These can help us become mentally healthier and improve our mood exponentially, with the added benefit of being good for our physical health as well.
Some exercises we might want to try include are:
-Walking or going on a hike
-Dancing
-Taking a local fitness class
-Yoga or Pilates
-Weight lifting
-Family workouts with our kids
5. Practice Gratitude
When we appreciate the blessings in our life, instead of focusing on what we don’t have, our mood will change practically overnight. No matter how difficult or challenging things might feel right now, there are always things to be grateful for. It might be people in our life who are always loving and supportive, a decent job, a roof over our head, our pets or family, or just our cup of coffee every morning when we have 5 minutes of peace and quiet.
To improve your mood every day, start writing 5-10 things we are grateful for in our journal. Turn this into a daily ritual that we do every morning or evening, and we will notice the changes very quickly.
6. Make Self-Care a Priority
Self-care is so much more than people realize, and often misunderstood. To put it simply, our self-care routine should be something we do only for ourselves. At least once a day, we choose some type of activity that we enjoy, relaxes us, and makes us happy.
While it can be absolutely anything, here are a few ideas if we’re not sure where to start:
-Get a manicure and pedicure
-Do a facial mask
-Watch your favourite show
-Read a book
-Work on an art project
-Take an afternoon nap
-Soak in a bubble or salt bath
-Meet a friend for coffee
It may be something we do alone or with friends. There are no rules about self-care, as long as it makes we feel better and is something we truly enjoy.
7. Declutter and Organize Our Space
Yes, working on our space and getting it organized helps with mood stabilization! Have we ever woken up in a clean and orderly room, and just felt better? Just having a decluttered and clean home makes all the difference. We feel happier, healthier, and more productive.
Spend just a few minutes a day picking up our home and tidying it as much as we can, even if we have a busy schedule.
8. Unplug at Least Once a Day
Give ourself at least one time of the day when we are completely unplugged. This means no computer or laptop, no tablet, and no cell phone. It is up to us if we choose to include television in unplugging, but definitely no phones! We need some time to relax without social media, phone updates, and text messages. This allows us to sit in the quiet and just enjoy our home and family, without all that extra noise.
9. Set Healthy Boundaries
This is probably one of the more surprising ways we can boost our mood naturally. Sometimes, we have so many expectations and so many people needing things from us, that we don’t realize our responsibilities are what is negatively affecting our mood.
It is okay to say no. It is okay to turn down an invitation. It is okay to not always be the one person people can count on for whatever they need. Set some healthy boundaries and let people know when and if we are available to them. If they love us, they will understand our need for boundaries, just like we respect their boundaries.
10. Get Outside for Fresh Air
Lastly, try to spend more time outside if we can. Fresh air and vitamin D will both greatly benefit our mood and energy levels. Many people don’t get enough vitamin D in their diet, and aren’t outside enough during the day to get it naturally from the sun’s UV rays. The simplest thing is to figure out how we can spend a little more time outside.
