I hate feeling stuck.
I hate feeling worried.
I hate feeling frustrated.
I hate feeling anxious.
I’ll do anything to stop these feelings from making me have a bad day.
There are some great long term ways to change our thoughts and feelings. Meditation is one way. But in the moment, I want something – FAST!
I’ve learned the quickest ways to feel better involve using my creative imagination.
These are fast and fun to use if I’m stuck at a desk or at home in the evening.
Since 2001 I’ve been on a mission to find easy and effective ways to stop my negative thoughts and feel better fast.
Below are my favorite ways.
They are also the ones most of my clients use when they want to feel better too 🙂
Try one out the next time you want to change how you feel and notice what
happens.
1. FLOAT YOUR NEGATIVE THOUGHT AWAY
Personally, I use this one a lot because it’s simple and easy.
As soon as you notice a negative thought, in your mind tell it “I notice you are here and I’m now going to release you.”
Then, imagine that thought floating up, up, up into the atmosphere and neutralizing as it drifts away.
(By-the-way, if you don’t feel you have a good imagination, it’s OK to just pretend to imagine that.)
As you imagine that thought rising you can make it really fun by using your creative mind.
For example you can:
- Put wings on the thought and watch it fly away.
- Imagine the color of the thought changing as it gets further away.
- Pretend the thought is shouting “Thank you!” and notice as the sound gets fainter and fainter the further it is…
You get the idea, yes?
Keep on using your imagination and practicing different ways. The more you do this, the more you send a message to your subconscious mind that this is NOT the kind of thought you want to have.
Your inner subconscious mind will get the message and in a short time you’ll notice that you won’t even get these old messages as often…
2. FINISH A TASK
Did you know that one of the biggest causes of stress is unfinished tasks?
This is because when something is unfinished, the thought will stay stuck in your mind.
For example, if I don’t do my taxes immediately I’ll have a lot of these thoughts during the day; “I have to do my taxes, I have to do my taxes…”
I don’t know about you, but since it’s not something I look forward to doing, hearing about it in my mind sure doesn’t feel good either.
And the more I think about it, the more stress I feel.
Completing a task is a great way to feel better.
First, because you will be distracting yourself from your negative thoughts.
Second, because you are accomplishing something it is GUARANTEED to feel good!
Use your time wisely to do something you’ve put off and I guarantee you’ll never regret it.
3. ONE HAND GRATITUDE ROUND
Gratitude is a HUGE game changer.
No need for me to get into the research about the scientifically proven ways gratitude can increase your happiness, but…
know that it’s one of the easiest ways to feel better because you can only hold one thought at a time. (I’ll explain that concept in another post.)
When you practice gratitude, you are essentially replacing one thought with a BETTER FEELING thought.
That new replacement gratitude thought can only result in a feeling of appreciation.
Since appreciation ALWAYS feels better than fear or worry or anxiety, you get to feel better fast.
Using your fingers you can tell yourself five different things you are grateful for.
Think of the things you are grateful for.
Like being grateful you like the color of your bedroom.
Or grateful the weather is nice today.
Even grateful that you get to watch your favorite show tonight.
You can easily find lots of things to be grateful for.
3 1/2. EAT CHOCOLATE
Did you know that when you eat chocolate you actually trigger some powerful feel-good chemicals in your body?
Yes, consuming chocolate causes the brain to release endorphins which are the chemicals that make us feel good.
Eating 1/4 ounce of chocolate is a great way to feel good – but only when it’s a good quality dark chocolate – and a small amount.
If you have a dark chocolate bar on hand you might want to eat the whole thing, so I recommend that you cut the half in 1/2 and enjoy the smaller piece.
WARNING: If you are an emotional eater – DO NOT EAT THE CHOCOLATE.
Use number 1, 2 or 3 instead!
Enjoy practicing the 3 1/2 Super Simple Ways To Feel Better Fast and let me know your favorite!
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