Playing Games.

Playing games is a valuable enterprise to help in all aspects of mental health and can help you recover from depression.

You'll have to listen to the talk to know why there are pictures of baby animals here.  :-)

A Ted talk by Jane McGonigal.  This highlights a way to use a game to experience post traumatic growth.  That's one phrase you don't ever hear.    Go, watch this Ted Talk.  Do what she says and then, just for fun,
visit Deep Fun by Bernie DeKoven and find a game to play with someone  that will enhance your relationships and enhance your very life.  Play is so important.

Great article.

I found a great article this morning on Dose.  It has 50 ways to Happier, Healthier and More Successful.    Some of them we have talked about before and some of them I have implemented in my life in the past year.  I do think that they help and they are reasonable things and they can't hurt, so why not?

They mention journaling, which is reported to be as good as anti-depressants.  I was on anti-depressants for several years and they caused me to have side effects that I don't ever want to have again, so I am in the process of trying to kick them for good.  Journaling has no side effects that I know of, unless it would be a tired hand or paper shortages.  I personally think that the act of writing things out by hand is therapeutic, rather than typing them, but if you want to try typing them, by all means, try it.  Report back here and let us know if it helps fight the darkness.

Another one that I try is a modified cold shower.  I just turn the cold on at the end, rinse my hair,


which makes it shinier (bonus) and hopefully, benefit from a better mood.

I also make my bed each day, or really, my husband does it.  My reading this article for the first time, coincided with our family getting a new dog who likes to chew his chewies on our bed (messy!) so when I started making the bed, it gave us the bonus of not having his chewy mess on the sheets.  I do have to wash the bedspread more frequently than I used to but it's better on than the sheets.   This caught on and now my husband does it every morning before work.  It does make me happy to walk into the bedroom and see the bed made up and looking pretty.

This particular article has a LOT more stuff and you definitely should go read it.  My favorite it is to make one audacious request per week.  Hey, you never know what might happen!!!

Keep on fighting the blues!  It's winnable!

14 Mood Lifting Tricks from Prevention.

Prevention magazine has an article on things that you can do right now to feel better and boost your mood.  Some of them, we have looked at before, such as writing things down and taking a walk, but they have expanded on these a little.  When talkign about writing, they say you should quickly make a list of good things about the person or the situation that is getting you down.  Here's a quote:

"Turn your thoughts into a race—it can lift the blues in minutes, says Princeton University psychologist Emily Pronin, PhD. For example, when your mother-in-law is driving you crazy, give yourself 30 seconds to make a list of all the ways she's been helpful to you in the past—you'll feel better fast. (If nothing nice comes to mind, quickly jot down other ways she bugs you; speed thinking negative thoughts can still improve your mood, Pronin found.) Researchers believe that rapid thinking may release feel-good brain chemicals—or it could just be a helpful distraction. "

And there are some things I've never heard of on this list. 


For example, they recommend looking at pictures as something that will give your mood an 11% mood boost.  I had not heard of that as a mood booster, thought it makes sense.  I might want to stay away from this one during periods of grieving but it might help you to look at happy pictures of times past.

Another one they mention that I had not heard before is chopping vegetables.  Interesting.  Presumably, not onions.  :-)  

Go read the article.  Prevention.  

My hope is that you and I will internalize these lessons and learn to use these coping skills so that our winter blues or all the time blues or clinical depression will be a thing of the past.  Hang in there.  

A good free resource.

Art Journal Guide - Daily Reprieve Center  This art journaling resource combines education about mental health and recovery with information about art journaling and looks like a good way to get started on the art ... and it's free!

An article on The Science Of Happiness.

"It's more than a little comforting to know that people can become happier, that pessimists can become optimists, and that stressed and negative brains can be trained to see more possibility." - Shawn Achor

This is a quote from the post from Huffington Post.  I'll wait here while you go read the article. 

It mentions a bunch of the things that we have already talked about on this blog, exercising, being kind do others, meditating (or praying), but it adds in a few I haven't heard of, such as abandoning shallow small talk and talking about things that matter.  It's worth taking a look if you haven't already.  

Goals for 2015.

I came in to 2015 in a stress/survival state but I am going to leave 2015 in better shape.  Who's with me?  I found this 2015 Goal Setting Worksheet and I am going to fill it out, decide on my priorities and try and stopped being overwhelmed by all there is to do, so that I can feel more joy with what I have.  Come on, join me!

Happiness day.

It's world happiness day today.  I'll have to admit, I have not spent the day in complete and utter happiness.  My mom had to go to the ER today and my brother took her because he was the first one called.  I was taking my son to an activity when it all went down.  Normally, I cope pretty well with this kind of thing, but right now I am coping with a lot of stuff.  I took a stress test the other day for stressful events and I scored 335.  The test said if you score over 300 you should probably talk to someone and find ways to manage the stress.  Today, my management of the stress included throwing up and going to bed for part of the day, while waiting to hear any news.  In my defense, (because I always feel I have to defend my reasons for taking a nap for some reason!) I felt that I might need to spend the night at the hospital, if she had to stay.  Fortunately, she did not have to stay and I am back up again, blogging, crocheting, watching TV and playing words with friends, some of the multitasking that I do when I am stressed.  Sometimes one activity is not enough to take my mind off things.  I'm not proud of it, but there it is.

Apartment Therapy has an excellent article today that is called Ten Simple Things to Make You Happier at Home.  It touches on some of the things that we have already talked about on this blog, like making your bed, but the most fun part to me is something they call "If you can't get out of it, get into it".  It's really good.  You should go read it.

Now I am going to share a link to just about the best ever in the world blog post about feeling happier, how to look at your home with "fresh perspectacles".  It is absolutely awesome and you should absolutely go read it, even if you never listen to anything else I say.  Type.  Whatever.

Momastery

While you are over there, you might want to read her whole blog.  Lot of wisdom there.

Take care of yourself today.