Photo taken by Christa in Austin, TX 2008

Feeling blue, sluggish or just unhappy?

You are not alone! You can learn how to be in a good mood. It’s a skill we learn just like riding a bike, baking a pie or changing the toilet paper roll in the bathroom.

Here is how to get started:

1)  Decide you want to make a change in your life
2)  Learn mood boosting skills
3)  Practice, practice, practice

The most important component to boosting your mood is deciding you want to change. The following mood boosting tip list is not a complete anthology but it is a good place to start. Incorporating tips like these into my life helped me climb out of my personal pit of despair.

Feel free to add your mood boosting suggestions, tips and comments!

#1.  Avoid Negative People

Do you attract people in your life that drain your energy? Are you a magnet for unhappy people? I was! People who criticize, berate, make fun of you or crush your dreams are negative. You don’t need people like that busting your good mood. Wave your magic wand and cast them aside. BE GONE ENERGY ZAPPERS! If you cannot cast them aside completely, limit your contact.

Avoid negative sources, people, places, things and habits. Don’t give up and don’t give in. Wanda Carter

#2.  Act Happy

You can make a conscious choice to break yourself from a gloomy mind-set. Thoughts create emotions and emotions lead us to act (act out, freak out, get pissed off). Focus on optimistic happy thoughts and limit negative thoughts. Act the way you want to feel and you will feel the way you want to act.

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt

#3.  Say Cheese

Smile. Smiling releases endorphins. These little teeny tiny molecule thingie-ma-bobbers help you feel better. When you start to smile, others smile back at you. Clark University psychologist argues we can make ourselves happy just by smiling. The behavior of smiling causes the feeling of being happy. Read that again - the behavior causes the feeling. Not the other way around!

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. Mother Teresa.

#4.  Move Your Body

Step away from the tv and the computer (not until after you read this) and go out for a walk, play with your dog , dust off that gym membership, go running, biking or head to the local yoga studio. You don’t need to exercise for hours a day.  A brisk 20 minute walk does wonders for your mood, trust me! Exercise releases endorphins, the body’s natural pain killer and endorphins naturally boost your mood.

#5.  Nourish Your Body

Do you wonder why you feel tired? Are you always sick? If you eat like crap, you’re gonna feel like crap! It ain’t rocket science folks. You are what you eat! Ease up on the caffeine, sugar and fatty foods. If you need help trying to figure out what to eat and what to avoid, consult a nutrition expert. Bottom line: Honor your body and it will honor you.

#6.  Release Worry

Do you worry about everything? Do you worry if X happens then Y and Z will happen and if Y and Z happen, I’m screwed! Unless you can predict all future events (which you can’t) or you are God, the omnipotent (if you were, you wouldn’t be reading this), start to accept life is unpredictable. Instead of getting all bungled up in a web of sticky worry, focus on the positives. In order for negativity to grow and sustain, we need to feed it with our thoughts. Don’t feed the nasty worry beast and it won’t grow. For additional self-help strategies about anxiety relief, click here.

Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out alive. Bugs Bunny.

#7.  Don’t Try. Do.

Instead of “I’ll try to smile more” say “I will smile more” or even better, just smile more! Try is a word that gives you an excuse to quit or a reason to fail before you even get started. Why cut yourself off at the knees? Don’t say ‘Try’. Just Do!

Do, or do not. There is no ‘try’. Jedi Master Yoda

#8.  Eat Cake

OK, yes and no. If it’s an anti-oxidant rich dark chocolate cake, have a piece – not the whole cake. What I’m really trying to say is: ENJOY! RELAX! NURTURE YOURSELF! Go to a movie. Draw. Take a long bath with aromatherapy oils. Nap. Commune with nature. Bask in the sun and breathe in fresh air. Play games with friends. Dance. Shake your booty (or your groove thing)!

#9.  Laugh

Laughter, giggling and silliness releases endorphins, natural pain killers and serotonin. Laughter makes us feel good, it brings people together and breaks down barriers. Find your giggle button, push it repeatedly and laugh. When I want to laugh I watch episodes of Friends (Chandler cracks me up), play games with friends, impersonate Ethel Merman and read funny blogs like Life Keeps Getting Weirder, I Do Things and Nanny Goat in Panties.

Choose to change! Boost your Mood!

Don’t Give Up! Giggle On!

For related mood boosting posts at Giggle On, click:

5 Quick Ways to Get your Giggle On

Favorite things, relish in the good stuff

Laughter Yoga

How to be Happy

(If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment! Thanks! Don’t forget to check out the Archives and subscribe to our RSS feed or get updates by email. Our posts are fat-free, calorie-free and tax-free!)

It’s NYR time! You know…New Year’s Resolution time!

Have you thought about your resolution yet? Do you do the NYR thing or are you the kinda person who doesn’t bother with all the resolution hype?

I set mine!

My resolution has nothing to do with reducing carbs, waving ba-bye to my chocolate covered espresso bean addiction, eliminating caffeine, stopping the nasty glue sniffing habit (not that I have one), flossing my teeth twice a day (who really does this anyway?) or Om-ing my face off at the yoga studio.

[Note to self:  It might be a good idea to eliminate caffeine but get real Gigglina - that so ain't gonna happen. And one more thing, buy more floss.]

New Year’s Resolution Question

My friends at Open to Hope posed a New Year’s Resolution question to me, and in turn, I pose it to all of you, my fabulous Giggle On™ readers.

The question:

What one thing do you resolve to do in 2009 to bring hope to yourself and/or someone else who is dealing with a significant loss or sadness in their life?

My answer…

I resolve to super size my smile everyday in 2009.

The more I smile, the more others smile back at me.

When I turn my big Italian Christa smile on full blast, I radiate happiness and joy back to myself and others. It’s a win-win deal. I LOVE win-win deals!

A simple smile or a big toothed silly-ass grin has the potential to fill up our spiritual gas tanks with positive light and energy.

The act of smiling is a physical prayer of hope and we all have the ability to deliver this care package of happiness to others during every moment of everyday.

Smiling is an act of pure love.

LOVE HEALS.

Smiling is a fat-free, calorie-free and, as far as I know…still tax-free! (but hurry up, that could change but quick!)

Give the gift of hope. Smile!

P.S.  I also plan to buy props in 2009 to help me carry out the resolution. Note to self: Buy a mustache on a stick, a whoopee cushion and chattering teeth.

It’s your turn to answer the question.

Be as specific and as creative as you can. Your response, either serious or funny, will help someone in need (that someone could be YOU).

What one thing do YOU resolve to do in 2009 to bring hope to yourself and/or someone else who is dealing with a significant loss or sadness in their life?

Please post your comment below.

Thanks and remember,

(If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment! Thanks! Don’t forget to check out the Archives and subscribe to our RSS feed or get updates by email. Our posts are fat-free, calorie-free and tax-free!)

Results are in!

Giggle On’s first Dollars for Comments charity campaign benefiting the Food Bank of Delaware is now over.

I tallied up all the comments left on my blog from the 21st of December to the 28th. The total number of eligible comments: 61.

Per my rules, I said I would donate $1.00 for every comment left on my blog. Well, I decided to change that rule, to the Food Bank’s benefit, and double the donation!

The Food Bank of Delaware will receive a check from me in the amount of $122.00.

Thank you to all the Giggle On readers for stopping by to leave comments. I made some new friends in this process and moreover, raised a few dollars to help the hungry here in my home state.

Online giving campaigns and community service work is a productive way to use your blog to help others.

As a result of the Dollars for Comments blog here at Giggle On, Yu-Jie Lin started his own dollars for charity post called You Comment, I Donate (comment deadline is 1/10/09 so hurry over there) and Kim from Interstitial Life wrote a blog called Pay It Forward and asked her readers to visit me here! Thank you Yu-Jie, Kim and all the readers who stopped by from Interstitial Life!

Thanks again to Operation Nice for giving me the idea for the Dollars for Comments campaign.

Another thanks!

Special thanks to Susan at If You’re Going Through Hell Keep Going for bestowing the A Hoy Blog Award on GiggleOn.com. The A Hoy recognizes blogs with positive thinking. Susan, I promise to choose a few blogs and pay this lovely award forward in 2009.

Here is the A Hoy Award (it’s so purty, ya’ll will want one now)!

(If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment! Thanks! Don’t forget to check out the Archives and subscribe to our RSS feed or get updates by email. Our posts are fat-free, calorie-free and tax-free!)

Merry Christmas (to those of you who do that sort of thing) and for everyone else I say (the politically correct version), Ho Ho Ho!

Oh…and Happy Birthday Jesus!

I mean, it is his day.

Giggle On birthday dude!

Note:  Recovering Catholics like me can safely say “Giggle On” to Jesus and refer to him as a “dude” without fear of repercussions.

I wonder…if Jesus were here, in the flesh, and celebrating his birthday, would he eat cake?

WKOCWJE?

Translation: What Kind of Cake Would Jesus Eat?

As you ponder that deep philosophical bakery question - take a look at my new Christmas Day holiday card! You like?

Notice the beautiful box of spiced wafer cookies? Uh-huh, you saw that right. Mom redeemed herself last night on Christmas Eve and gave me my OWN box of spiced wafer cookies. Yipppeee!!!!!!!

The evil fat Italian Ally Sheedy cookie envy ghost is dead. DEAD!

Don’t forget to get in on the Giggle On holiday poll and answer how YOU plan to get your Giggle On over the holiday!

Also, the Dollars for Comments campaign ends on the 28th. Get your comments in!

Merry Christmas and Ho Ho Ho to everyone!

(If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment! Thanks! Don’t forget to check out the Archives and subscribe to our RSS feed or get updates by email. Our posts are fat-free, calorie-free and tax-free!)

Dollars for Comments Charity Campaign

Help feed the hungry

I love receiving comments from people around the world at my humble Giggle On! blog.

I also LOVE donating to charity, especially anything involving feeding the hungry. I guess it’s that “mangia, mangia” Italian girl mentality!

Here’s the deal

For every comment left on my blog (not just this post but the entire site) from December 21st to December 28th, I will donate $1.00 to the Food Bank of Delaware.

Since my bank account isn’t overflowing like Oprah’s (not close), I will place a cap on what I can donate, unless of course Charity Santa Claus (or other corporate donors) work some serious magic.

I was inspired to participate in a comments for charity campaign after visiting Melissa Morris Ivone’s blog, Operation Nice, a web site where people share stories of being kind to each other! Go check it out!

We hear so much in this world about bad news but there are MILLIONS of fabulous people in the world doing nice things for others every day.

Let’s feed people AND get our Giggle On!!

Rules & Eligibility: Only one comment per person per post will be tallied for this contest.

Please tell everyone you know about it and thanks for participating!

Giggle On! with the goodness.

Related posts:

1. In the Spirit of St. Francis
   
2. Spread World Peace - Eat a Sandwich
   
3. Life is…

(If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment! Thanks! Don’t forget to check out the Archives and subscribe to our RSS feed or get updates by email. Our posts are fat-free, calorie-free and tax-free!)