Boost your Mood, without leaving your couch!

It sounds like a joke, doesn’t it? You rarely hear the words ‘mood boosting’ and ‘sofa’ together, but after a long hard day, too many of us collapse onto our sofas, exhausted or in a bad mood from whatever stresses our busy day has handed us.
If you’re like me, once you’re down, the chances of you getting up are slim. So let’s take a look at some easy and quick things we can do to revive ourselves.

1. Put on some upbeat music. Nothing lifts a bad mood as fast as hearing Pharrell’s ‘Happy” blasting through your speakers. Whatever kind of music that lifts you up will do!
2. Get in touch with your inner flexible child and try out some couch friendly yoga like a good arm stretch. Moving your body is proven to improve your mood.
3. Laugh and smile. It sounds cliché, but a good chuckle can really lift your spirits. Find your funny bone and expose it to as many YouTube videos about cats, babies, cats and babies, babies with cats and dogs and anything else that will leave you clutching your sides and gasping for air. Try this one: Baby Gives the Evil Eye
4. Let it out. Sometimes it’s as simple as recapping your frustrations to a loved one. Talk it out and then, let it go! Or, write it down in your private diary.  Once it's out there, you don't have to hold onto it anymore. (And you can look back at what used to drag you down and see how insignificant it is now.)
   
5. Open up your curtains and windows, let the sun in and count your blessings. Often we are focused on the negatives in our lives. Retrain your mind to look for the positives and contemplate about all the things in your life that you are blessed with.

So just remember the next time you’re slumped on your sofa, cursing the TV for flooding your screen with reality shows; there are so many other options that you can choose from that will leave you feeling great!
Don't forget the power of touch. We all innately need touch to thrive.  Hopefully you can take a few minutes to sit down next to a loved one and just hold hands, lean on each other, and be close.  The power of connection can help to heal everything within.