How to Get Out of a Bad Mood Quickly

Scenario: "Dude, you just gotta snap out of it. You can do it! Yay!" Getting out of a bad mood doesn't take a magic pill or any other 1-second remedy. Instead, it starts with your everyday mind. If you're making your mind happy daily, you're creating a safety net from those bad moods. If you're feeling lousy constantly, the bad moods will overwhelm you such that it's near-impossible to get escape.

It's In the Research

In a study done by Ohio State University psychologists, a set of students were induced with happy feelings by watching the David Letterman show -- while the other half saw a child being diagnosed with cancer. The researchers then asked the students to choose another video, and rate how they felt about it. The students that watched the David Letterman show maintained their happiness. The second half of students who watch the child with cancer were less concerned with the happiness factor.

How High Self-Esteem People Rock

According to Researcher Richard Petty of Ohio State:

People with high self-esteem in a negative mood do work very hard to retrieve a positive state, while people with low self-esteem do the opposite. They tend to perpetuate their melancholy by staying aboard a negative train of thought.

It's as if the high self-esteemed people told their badasses: "I don't deserve to be in this bad mood!" So if you're looking to get out of your bad moods in the future, use the template daily:

"I feel like a badass today."

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