Change your Mood

“I have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad.

Or I can go mad by ricocheting in between.” 

― Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

When in sessions with clients, it is common they share memories and situations from the past. Memories from five, ten, twenty years ago surface as if they were happening right now. As they tell their story and express their feelings I can see the anger, fear, or sadness take over.

Healing the feelings from the past is important, but often there is the tendency to re-play the past and then the feelings don’t heal. The feelings deepen like water that flows to form a crevice in the earth.

What is great is you have control over what you think and this affects your feelings! It takes practice, but you can change this habit.

When you begin to re-play something from the past that is painful or negative. STOP. Think about what was positive about the person or experience.  Write it down. This does not undo what you feel they did to you, but it does help free YOU from the past. You are in control!

Try writing about the situation from the outside looking in. Then write it again from the other person’s perspective. This can be amazing!

You can also replace the negative memory with another experience that was positive. For instance I image playful times with my friends or my experience swimming with spinner dolphins.

You have more direct control over changing your thinking than your feelings so think yourself into feeling happy, joyful and alive!