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VLog #58 – 7 Ways to Improve Your Mood

David Logan 419 Comments

Video – VLog #58

How do I get a bad mood to go away?

How can I boost my mood fast?

How can I lift my mood naturally?

Script – VLog #58

David Logan: Hello everybody. Welcome to The Techno Dinosaur Meets The I.T. Geek, vlog 58. My name is David Logan one of the dual partners of The Techno Dinosaur Meets The I.T. Geek. I am the I.T. Geek, the guy who takes the jargon out of technology for you the home worker. Based here in Annan, south of Scotland, U.K.

David Logan: With me today is my normal partner, prime suspect, Willie Nicol. So, Willie how are you and where are you?

Willie Nicol: Thank you David, I’m very well thanks. I am Willie Nicol, the Techno Dinosaur, so called because I’m digitally challenged. However, I’m also a personal development life coach based in Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland, U.K.

David Logan: So, you’re digitally challenged, not technically challenged?

Willie Nicol: Both, interchangeable.

David Logan: This week Willie, I want to discover how we can change, how I can change from a bad mood or, in other words, a negative mindset to a positive mindset? Can you explain how we can, the steps, some of the steps we can do for that?

Willie Nicol: I’ll do my best David, right. Being in a bad mood is perfectly normal, right. We often get in a bad mood for a variety of reasons but, when that bad mood perpetuates itself, then we can be in a bit of bother. Essentially what we need to do is change our mindset from the bad/negative to the good/positive. It’s not just a case of changing our thinking from positive to negative. We can’t flick a switch, right. We have to work at it to learn how to do it. So, I have made some notes.

Willie Nicol: It’s relatively easy to be positive when things are going well for us and, when everything’s tickety-boo, we can be positive. It’s much more difficult to remain, how could I put it, “upbeat”, when things aren’t going well for us. And I’m going to talk here very briefly about “primal human needs” which sounds a bit fancy but is actually very simple. One of the basic human needs is for food, shelter, water, oxygen, etc., etc. One level up from there is we like certainty, we like structure, we like framework, we like to know what’s going to happen next, predictability and when we’ve got all that taped off, we’re fine, right.

Willie Nicol: When UNCERTAINTY rears its ugly head, when we fear a lack of control or a lack of choice, that’s when we start getting feelings of our old friends, anxiety and stress. So, believe it or not, scientists have found that humans are kind of hard wired to become anxious and stressed when faced with uncertainty. So, we see uncertainty as a risk or a threat, we’re physiologically hardwired to get stressed about that. It’s a wee bit like the old fight or flight syndrome, our old friend.

Willie Nicol: When we see something that we’re uncomfortable with, or we see as a threat or a danger, we become stressed and we’ve done a lot of work around that previously. So, anxiety we know what that is. Stress we know what that is. It generates hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. And when we’re in that state, it’s very unlikely we’re going to be positive. We’re much more likely to be negative. So, given that’s the case, how do we overcome that? Would you like to know?

David Logan: Yes please.

Willie Nicol: There are, you won’t be surprised to find, quite a number of ways. You can Google it, you can do research on it, but I’m going to hit on some very basic methods of changing from negative to positive.

Willie Nicol: One of these is GRATITUDE, being grateful for what you have already rather than pine for what you don’t have. Some people keep gratitude journals where they write down at the end of the day what they’ve been grateful for that day. So, you could write down, “I’m grateful for having something to eat”. But you want to be a bit more specific than that. “I’m grateful for having something to eat because I know that’s nourishing and will keep me fit and active”, right. Or “I’m grateful for having a hot shower because it keeps me clean and I feel better when I’m clean.” So, gratitude journal.

Willie Nicol: ACCEPTANCE. Accept what’s happening. If you’ve no choice or control over it, there is no point in getting upset about it. So, the uncertainty due to the coronavirus situation, if we’ve no control over it, we just have to accept it. And once we accept that that is the case, it takes a big kind of burden off us.

Willie Nicol: So, be grateful for what we’ve got, accept the situation for what it is.

Willie Nicol: Another thing I would suggest is, a wee bit like the gratitude journal, write down what you have achieved. Coaches often call it “Celebrate small wins or victories”. You might thing you’ve had a really bad day but when you get to the end of the day say, “You know, I did that walk today and I did it under the time I wanted”. Or “I achieved my calendar link”, which I’ve just done which is a great achievement for a digitally challenged person.

David Logan: Congratulations.

Willie Nicol: Thank you. So, write down these small wins, these small victories and then you realise “Actually today wasn’t such a bad day. I did this, this and this”. So, you focus on the positive things and forget about all the things you didn’t get done that you intended to. Does that make sense?

David Logan: Yes

Willie Nicol: Okay. A lot of people keep a journal or a diary of things that have happened during the day, right. And again, you can look at what’s been positive and what’s been negative. If it’s positive, “I’ll do that again”. If it’s negative, “I won’t do that again, I’ll do it differently”.

Willie Nicol: There is another old phrase, “Ink it, don’t think it”. So, write it down because scientist have shown that, when you write something down, it ‘sticks’ as opposed to “I’ll remember that”. And you and I both know that that’s not always the case.

Willie Nicol: We also talked recently about talking therapy. If you’re a wee bit down or not very upbeat, talk to your pals, talk to your friends and family. If necessary, come and talk to an expert like me. Don’t bottle it up, right.

David Logan: What time is your phone open? What time is the phone busy? In the morning?

Willie Nicol: We’ll put all that on the website, right. Other things we’ve talked about and I won’t go over old ground, is things like mindfulness and meditation, exercise, so on and so forth. So, changing from a bad mood or mindset to a positive one is not a case of clicking your fingers and automatically doing it. You have to take some action and I’ve just given you, I’ve given about 7 options if you like which you can use, one or two, or all of them, right. And I can guarantee you that you can change that positive, sorry the negative, into a positive if you don’t dwell on it, accept it is what it is and change things.

Willie Nicol: Does that make sense?

David Logan: Yes. Fantastic.

David Logan: Can you very quickly, before we end this video, can you very quickly, just one liner, what the 7 potential options are?

Willie Nicol: Yeah. Right, so, uncertainty, stress and anxiety, not feeling very good, downbeat, whatever. So, in no particular order, the acceptance. Accept it is what it is, right?

David Logan: Okay.

Willie Nicol: Celebrate small wins and victories.

David Logan: So, is that number two?

Willie Nicol: Number 2, write it down, right. Number 3, again write it down. Have a gratitude journal. Just write down either on a piece of paper or in a notebook, you can actually buy gratitude journals online, what you’ve been grateful for that day because there’s always something to be grateful for, right. Write down what you’re grateful for, what you’ve achieved, the victories etc., etc., because when you write it down it sticks in here more.

Willie Nicol: Talking therapy was a previous vlog, talk to your chums.

Willie Nicol: Mindfulness and meditation and exercise. One or all or a combination of these will guarantee you change your mindset. 

David Logan: I can tell you personally that exercise works.

Willie Nicol: There you are.

David Logan: Yesterday I came back in my home office. I felt crap, as in negative. It was showers knocking about. I thought, “David how do I feel after that walk? How will I feel after that walk”? And I did it.

Willie Nicol: And how did you feel?

David Logan: Great.

Willie Nicol: There you go then.

David Logan: And I had no alcohol either! Okay, that’s great Willie. I think that’s us for this week. Fantastic. Thank you for giving us the 7 options to turn a bad negative mood into a positive, happy mood.

Willie Nicol: There are more but these are very simple ones.

David Logan: Simple, easy to manage, gratitude journal I love. Well …..

Willie Nicol: You carry on.

David Logan: So, to the viewer, if you’ve got any questions, drop them in the comments below or send us a direct message on here. Conversely, send a private message to either of us. Willie is your guy, he will sort you out, he will guide you to where you want to be. For now, search and keep looking up our videos, put in “Techno Dinosaur Meets the I.T. Geek”. Have a great week everybody. Remember to relax and enjoy yourself.

Willie Nicol: Very much so David. All that remains for me to say, goodbye for now but I reiterate what David says, take care, stay safe and have some fun. Bye for now.

David Logan: Bye!

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