8 ways to feel better right now

Everyone has bad days, but knowing that is no help at all when you’re feeling down.

So I want to share with you 8 things that you can do right now that will lift your spirits.

Use these simple tricks when you’re feeling low or discouraged to shift yourself into a better place.

Watch my video to discover what they are and my handy way to easily remember all eight of them.

Here’s a link to download a printable version of this list:

• 8 Ways to Feel Better Right Now

And if you know of anyone who would benefit from this video, please share it with them.

Video Transcript

8 ways to start feeling better right now

I know all too well what it can be like to have a down day, despite all of your hard work and your best efforts.

You feel discouraged and you feel low.

So I want to share with you today eight things that you can do right now to start feeling better.

Hi, I’m Nikki, the Truth Fairy from ChoosingDifferently.com and I’m here to help you create a life of YOUR choosing.

Shift yourself out of a low state

So I’ve struggled with depression on and off for years, so I know what it’s like to have days where everything just seems rotten and you’re so discouraged and you’re really low and it seems like there’s no way out.

And I’ve tried lots of the techniques that people recommend and some of them work and some of them don’t.

And so I want to share with you the eight that I’ve found that work most effectively for me.

Now remember when you’re feeling down these things are the last things in the world that you’re going to want to do.

But see which of them you can get yourself to do to try and shift you to a better place.

So there’s eight things and I’m going to make it a bit easier for you by associating them with different body parts to make it easier to remember.

#1 – Your legs

So body part #1 is your legs.

Use your legs to get yourself moving.

Whether that’s going for a walk around the block, going to an exercise class, bouncing on the trampoline or just walking laps around the lounge room.

By using your legs to get yourself moving, getting your whole body moving, you change your physiology and you change your emotional state.

Even going from sitting to standing can make a big difference.

I know from personal experience that getting moving is one of the last things that I want to do when I’m not feeling great but it can be really powerful as a way to shift your emotional state.

#2 – Your gut

Body part #2 is your belly or your gut.

Tune in to your gut and ask yourself this question “Are there any of my needs that I’m not meeting right now?”

So things like, “Have I had enough sleep?”, “Have I eaten properly today?”, “Have I taken a break?”

I’m so guilty of this. Not taking care of my basic needs.

But if you’re not taking care of your basic needs, it’s much easier to fall into a state where you are feeling discouraged.

So tune into that gut of yours.

Ask this question, see what you get and there probably will be something that you can do right now.

Whether that’s take a nap, have something decent to eat or take a break to help you shift your state into a better place.

# 3 – Your heart

Body part #3 is your heart.

So again tune into this space and say “Is there something I can do right now that will make me feel better?”

Now when I’m feeling rotten, I can’t remember anything that I could possibly do that would make me feel better.

But I know that there are things and so over the years I’ve collected a list of the things that I know that I can do that make me feel better.

And this is really about taking care of you.

So here’s my list for example and I have this handy so that when I tell myself I can’t remember, I have my list to refer to.

And it can be something as simple as getting in the bath.

For me that’s one of my defaults.

Getting in the bath or having a hot shower helps me to feel better.

So I’m doing things that I know make me feel good.

Anything that you can do that you know makes you feel good will help you to shift that state from yucky to a little less yucky.

So if you can’t remember in that moment refer to that list.

But do whatever you can to do something that nurtures you, that takes care of you and helps you to feel better.

#4 – Your arms

Body part #4 is your arms. Your arms!

Use your arms to give a hug.

Whether that’s your partner, your kids, the next-door neighbour, a stranger on the street.

Hugging people can be so powerful.

And if you can’t find someone to hug, hug a pet, hug a tree, hug a cuddly soft toy like this, or hug yourself.

Give yourself a hug.

But it’s amazing what a hug can do.

And in fact when I’m not feeling great, a hug is one of the first things that I will do.

And I’ve read some great research that says as humans we need four hugs a day just to survive, eight hugs a day to grow and be healthy, and 12 hugs a day to thrive.

So I try and aim for my 12 hugs a day.

And trust me they can make a big difference.

But when you’re hugging someone else you’re also getting a hug.

So you can’t give a hug without getting a hug and that nourishes you and can make a huge difference to your state of mind.

#5 – Your ears

Body part #5 your ears. Listen to music.

Music is so powerful at shifting our emotional states, our mental states, our physiology.

So use the power of music to shift your state.

Find your favourite music, and it might change from day to day, but pick something that you enjoy listening to and listen to it.

Up loud if you can and even better if you can sing along.

But use the power of music to shift yourself into a better place.

#6 – Your eyes

Body part #6 your eyes.

Look for things to appreciate.

Now again when I’m not feeling great, I can’t find anything to appreciate.

Nothing looks good to me, everything stinks.

But if you can find even just a tiny crack in that wall of yuck to find something to appreciate you can be amazed at how quickly things will shift.

Start really small, and even stupid and silly-seeming things can start you on the right track.

So a pen. Here’s a pen.

Brain’s saying “This is really stupid. It’s a pen. What is there to appreciate about a pen?”

Well, I like the colour of the ink in this pen. And I like the way it writes. It’s really smooth.

I’ve started and then see what else you can find:

I really like the view out of my window.

I like being able to see the trees.

I like the grass and the leaves that fall from the trees.

I like the birds that fly by.

And the more you practice the easier it will find, you’ll find it to find things to appreciate.

It will get easier and easier to get into the flow of appreciating things.

If you can persist through that little initial stage where it feels awkward and uncomfortable, you will find more and more things to appreciate.

Because the trick is when you are appreciating things you’re not worrying about things, feeling bad about things.

It’s impossible to feel good and bad at the same time.

So by appreciating, you’re giving yourself a break from feeling bad.

#7 – Your mind

Body part #7 is your mind.

Use your imagination to create in your mind’s eye a picture of an experience that makes you feel amazing.

Now you can use a memory, something amazing that happened in your past.

Whether it was a big thing like getting married or having kids or whatever.

Or something really small like a really nice meal you had last night, or something nice that someone said to you yesterday.

It doesn’t matter about the scale.

What matters is how it makes you feel.

And again if you don’t like going into the past you can imagine something in the future.

Something that could happen.

A great holiday that you could have, an interaction, a nice meal with friends.

Something that you can imagine happening that would feel amazing.

Because what’s key here is that you’re creating positive feelings inside yourself by imagining something that either happened or something that could happen.

#8 – Your body

Body part #8 your entire body.

So I want you to let it be okay to feel how you’re feeling right now.

So often we fight these experiences when we’re feeling rotten.

We don’t want to be here and so we don’t acknowledge it, we don’t accept it, we push it away, we try really hard to get away from it as fast as possible.

But I want you to stop and just be fully in your body.

Feel the feelings that you’re feeling at the moment.

Allow them to be, accept them, embrace them, experience them.

And then because you’re not fighting so hard ironically you’ll find that it’s easier to actually shift into a different state using the seven tricks we’ve just talked about.

The eight tricks – A recap

So just to recap.

Eight tricks:

1. Your legs, get moving.
2. Your belly, meet your needs.
3. Your heart, do something that makes you feel good.
4. Your arms, give a hug.
5. Your ears, listen to your favourite music.
6. Your eyes, find something to appreciate. Look for things to appreciate.
7. Your mind, use your imagination to create an amazing experience in your mind’s eye.
8. And your whole body, let it be okay to be where you are.

Time to take action

Okay, so your next steps are:

Step 1 – Download the list of tricks that I’ll put in the description of this video or you can check out the transcript on my blog.

Step 2 – Write your own list of things that you know that you can do that make you feel good, so that you can refer to it when you’re in one of these moments.

Step 3 – Use these tricks every single day.

And I’ll see you next time!