MoodRaiser.com

Placebos Are Getting Stronger?

2010-02-06T15:45:00.000-08:00

RECENTLY I came across this headline: Placebos Are Getting More Effective. What? The article says over the last couple decades, placebos have been having an increasingly powerful effect. How can that be? My first thought was, "Maybe people are more gullible than they used to be." But the answer is far more interesting than that.

Research into the "placebo effect" started right after World War II. An anesthetist, Henry Beecher, was tending to American troops in Italy. Morphine was running low, so Beecher's assistant injected a soldier with saline water but told the soldier it was morphine.

Beecher was surprised to see the shot helped. When the war was over, Beecher started looking into this phenomenon.

In a long but fascinating article in Wired Magazine, Steve Silberman explains why placebos are getting stronger. Here's his answer in a nutshell:

The double-blind test against a placebo has become the gold standard for good research on drugs. The FDA requires it, and the "placebo response" (what percentage of people respond to a sugar pill) was established and has been used for years.

But nowadays, more and more drugs are for mental health issues, which are more influenced by the placebo effect than straight-ahead physical issues. Your own depression, for example, is more influenced by your expectations than, say, your cholesterol level.

The result is: If you combine and average all the experiments, you clearly see a stronger placebo effect over the years. Researchers may have to re-study drugs like Prosac and Paxil — it seems possible they may not be much better than placebos, now that we know the placebo effect is more pronounced for the mental health problems those drugs were tested for.

Another interesting finding is that researchers have gotten different placebo effects at different locations. Prozac, for example, has a greater effect in studies in America than in Europe.

Also, "a pill's shape, size, branding, and price all influence its effects on the body," wrote Silberman. "Soothing blue capsules make more effective tranquilizers than angry red ones, except among Italian men, for whom the color blue is associated with their national soccer team — Forza Azzurri!"

We call it the placebo effect, but it isn't a single effect. The body can produce many different physical reactions to expectation. If subjects think the placebo kills pain, their expectation rallies their bodies to increase the production of endorphins. If the subjects think the drug will make them relax, their bodies react by lowering the stress hormone level in the blood.

"Mechanisms like these can elevate mood, sharpen cognitive ability, alleviate digestive disorders, relieve insomnia, and limit the secretion of stress-related hormones like insulin and cortisol," writes Silberman.

In other words, expectation can rally the body to greater effort than it would normally make. Remember, these people are taking the placebo to alleviate a symptom they have been suffering with. Their bodies did not produce this effect on its own before taking the placebo. Their expectation — their belief — stimulated the body to do something it had not been doing up until that time; something the body was clearly capable of doing all along.

When I read this, I thought about aboriginal "healing ceremonies" where a shaman or other well-respected healer chants and blows smoke and says prayers, and maybe the family gathers around to participate in the ceremony. With that kind of activity and intention, it seems likely (if the sick person believed in it) that the ceremony could have many positive physical effects that could, in fact, really help the person heal.

If a pill handed to a Westerner by a doctor could rally the body in many different ways, it seems likely a healing ceremony performed by a shaman in that contest could rally the body even more.

But most of us don't believe in that sort of thing, so what good does this do us? Well, we can change our beliefs, can't we? I'm not saying we should start believing in magic smoke, but we could change what we believe is possible. We could change a limiting belief we have about our potential or our future or our health. And if we did, couldn't that also change the way our bodies physically respond? Of course it could.

So how can you change a belief? Two of the best methods are the Antivirus for Your Mind and NLP belief change techniques. The antivirus for your mind is a somewhat blunt instrument, requiring no sophistication or skill, but it works very effectively. NLP belief change techniques are more subtle and precise, needing some degree of skill, but they work very effectively too.

If you're doing everything you can to reach a goal but you feel somehow stimied — whether that goal is physical or emotional, financial or personal or marital — it may be a limiting belief holding you back. Instead of continuing to beat your head against an invisible wall or persisting in something that hasn't worked in the past, try belief change. It's the next best thing to a magic pill.

Moodraising On Groundhog Day

2010-02-02T00:22:00.000-08:00

IN THE MOVIE, Groundhog Day, Phil Conner (played by Bill Murray) is a weatherman who gets stuck in time, reliving the same day over and over, always waking up on the morning of Groundhog Day (February 2nd) until he finds happiness. Once he attains happiness, he makes it out of Groundhog Day into the next day.

When the movie starts, Phil is not a very nice guy. He is sarcastic and rude. He is egotistical and selfish. Later in the movie you discover Phil acts that way because he's not happy. He is busy trying to live up to the goals society or his parents have given him and the goals of his own self-centered ego — trying to be successful, well-known, and wealthy — rather than asking himself what would really improve his mood.

Phil's goals were the kind people have when they haven't taken the time to wonder what they really want with their life. They are the built-in, default kind of goals: Impress others and have lots of money.

When he discovers he is re-living the same day, his first response is to be unnerved. He loses his cockiness and some of his rudeness. He's uncertain.

Next he begins to revel in his freedom from the rules of society. He does whatever he feels like doing. The laws don't matter any more because even when he is thrown into jail, he wakes up the next morning back in his bed, and as far as anyone else is concerned, none of it happened.

He pretty much indulges his whims, using his unusual situation (being able to anticipate what's going to happen) to his personal, selfish advantage, but he's still unconnected to who he really is and what he really wants. He just tries to satisfy his appetites for food and sex and money. He steals. He takes advantage of women by lying and pretending. He buys expensive cars.

But it gets old. None of it is making him happy. Simply indulging his appetites, as many newly rich people discover, does not produce any real satisfaction. It is an empty gratification.

Every day he goes through the motions of doing his weather report, so he sees Rita (his producer, played by Andie MacDowell) every day and he begins to realize what a good person she is. He falls in love with her, but can't reach her. As far as she is concerned, up until today he has been an egotistical jerk, and she still thinks of him that way.

So he begins an elaborate seduction, getting farther and farther with her each day, pretending to like what he doesn't like as he learns more about her, pretending to be what he's not in order to win her over. He tries to be what he thinks she wants. But she always sees through his fake character at some point — no matter how cleverly and carefully he tries — and slaps him in the face, ending his romantic ambition for the rest of the night.

Eventually he gives up on this last attempt at happiness, feeling trapped in Groundhog Day forever, with no hope of love or happiness, and he decides to kill himself.

But he won't die. Every day he wakes up in his bed again. He tries electrocuting himself, jumping off a building, stepping in front of a bus, and driving off a cliff. But nothing works.

Finally he gives up on even that, and begins to just be himself. He starts being honest. He starts noticing what he likes and wants.

He walks by an ice carving contest and realizes it looks like fun to him. He never would have even thought of doing it before because he was so focused on becoming a rich and famous weatherman.

He hears a piano and thinks learning to play the piano might be something he would enjoy doing too. He sees people having trouble of one kind or another and finds pleasure in trying to help them, using his unusual situation (being able to anticipate what's going to happen) for good instead of evil, and he begins to relax and be himself. He finds he feels good when doing good.

He discovers he likes being himself.

Because he is stuck in Groundhog Day, he can't advance his career, which is what he was obsessively focused on before, so he is free to ask what else he might want. His mood rises to a state he has never felt before.

And he finds love — not by being a phony game-player, but by simply being his honest self. And he finds happiness. "No matter what happens tomorrow," Phil says, "I am happy now." The next morning is the day after Groundhog Day. He made it to the next day.

Every Groundhog Day, I think about this movie and the lessons it teaches: Bloom where you're planted, pursue what is deeply important to you, be yourself, help other people, and you will enjoy good moods more often.

Here are a few choice scenes from Groundhog Day:

How Much Can You Control?

2010-01-26T15:07:00.000-08:00

WHAT WE control in our lives is often influenced by what we think we can control. For example, I know a woman who doesn't think she can control her anger. Her anger spontaneously erupts, according to her.

And this woman's anger is causing a lot of trouble in her marriage. It would make a huge difference in her life if she learned to restrain at least her expression of anger.

But she "can't."

What doesn't ring true about that is the several times I've seen her angry before a phone rang or someone came to her door and yet she answered pleasantly. She is obviously capable of controlling her expression of anger but because she says she can't, she doesn't try, and if she won't try, of course she can't!

There is an enormous range of activities over which we have control but think we don't. And because we think we don't, we don't.

Now some extremists have taken this sane and practical truth and gone overboard with it. You don't create reality. You can't control everything.

But many of your own feelings and behaviors are firmly under your influence — but only if you allow the possibility that they are.It makes no sense to remain uncomfortably warm when you're sitting right next to a thermostat. Turn it down! I think the reason most people don't know how to change their feelings is because somewhere along the line they got the impression they couldn't change their feelings.

But you can, and by gum, you should!

Of course, if you are a Moodraiser reader, you know that already. But if you have friends who don't know they can change their feelings, it might improve your mood to send them this article.What you can control is influenced by what you think you can control. Begin now changing the way you think. Recognize those areas where you do, in fact, have some influence. An effective way to change the way you think is with the Antivirus Program For Your Mind.

Unnecessarily limiting beliefs function like a virus on your computer, impairing its capabilities. But we now have a way to root out those beliefs and eliminate them, restoring your full potential. It takes some work, but it doesn't cost anything and it is more than worth the effort.

The Quickest Way To Feel Better

2010-01-20T21:13:00.000-08:00

SOMETIMES WE need reminding more than we need new information. The method I'm about to tell you is something you already know. But I'll bet you don't use it nearly as often as you could. It works almost every time and it only takes a few seconds. You don't even have to stop what you're doing.

The method is to take a deep breath. If you're tense, it will help you relax and feel better. If you're angry it will help you calm down and feel better. If you already feel fine, a deep breath will make you feel better too.

Here's something you might not know about deep breaths: When you get tense, you tend to take more shallow breaths, and your breathing tends to be higher in the chest. And that kind of breathing tends to make you feel more tense, so it can become a vicious cycle.

Of course, the cycle can be broken any time by deliberately taking slower, deeper breaths, and bringing that air down lower toward your abdomen. Your abdomen should move out when you take a deep breath. This helps bring new oxygen into the lower parts of your lungs. It will make you feel better, and it's better for your health too.

Try to remember this simple practice. Do it often. It makes you feel better almost every time, you have it with you wherever you need it, and it will never wear out. While we're thinking about it, why not take a deep breath right now?

More on deep breaths:

Deep Breathing is Good For Your Health

Using Your Muscles to Relax

Beyond Deep Breaths: Slow Your Body And Mind Quickly

Reduce Stress With a Guardian Angel

2010-01-18T14:11:00.000-08:00

TWO WEEKS ago an eleven year-old boy in Canada was gathering firewood to bring into the house, just like any other day, when his golden retreiver, Angel, began walking next to the boy rather than running around the yard as she usually did.

Suddenly a cougar lept at the boy from about ten feet away. But the cougar was intercepted mid-charge by Angel as she jumped over a lawn mower to intervene. "I was just lucky my dog was there, because it happened so fast I wouldn’t have known what hit me," said the boy in an interview afterwards.

The cougar seized Angel's head in its jaws and the boy ran to tell his mother, who called the Mounties, who then saved Angel from the death grip of the cougar.

Stories like this show us the survival value of owning a dog, but there is a much more common effect dogs have: Their presence tends to improve your mood. If you've been on the fence about getting a dog, you should consider this important fact: Having a dog lowers stress and improves your health.

Further reading: Reduce Stress, Get a Dog

What To Do When You Relapse

2010-01-15T15:31:00.000-08:00

DID YOU MAKE any New Year's resolutions? If you feel like you've already failed with them, think again. Not only is discouragement bad for your health and bad for your ability to succeed, but at least some of your negative assumptions are very likely to be mistaken.

A therapist once told me he had a client — I'll call him Dirck — who's wife didn't feel loved. The therapist helped Dirck find out what his wife needed to feel loved. She craved physical demonstrations of affection: Hugs, touches, kisses, holding hands. These were things that meant the most to her.

Dirck had been telling her how much he loved her without doing much physical demonstration. So although she "knew" (intellectually) Dirck loved her, she didn't feel loved.

The therapist coached Dirck on how to demonstrate his love with physical affection. Dirck returned a week later to say, "It worked!" His wife felt loved! He was now living in a happy household.

Six months later, Dirck was back. His wife didn't feel loved any more. The therapy apparently hadn't succeeded like he thought.

But with some careful questions, the therapist found that Dirck had stopped doing what he was doing before and was merely professing his love with words again!

As stupid as that sounds, it is not uncommon. We've all made similar mistakes. You have a problem, you decide what to do about it, you do it and it works, and then you forget all about it and stop doing what was working, and the problem returns. You "relapse." Then you explain it to yourself. Dirck's explanation was: "The therapy didn't work."

If you have failed with your resolution, you have already explained it. Your mind will not allow you to go on without explaining the setback. "I guess I don't have any self-discipline," you might think. Or maybe, "I am weak and lazy."

In all likelihood, your explanation is wrong (read more about explaining setbacks here). The explanation for your relapse may be simply: It's hard to notice the absence of a negative condition (except immediately after it goes away).

When things go wrong, it is very noticeable. When things get better, it is less noticeable. You might notice at first, but even then you quickly get used to it. And you won't feel much motivation to continue solving a problem that doesn't exist any more. Your life may be better, but you will soon take your new condition for granted. So you stop doing the work, and for awhile everything is great. And then the problem slowly begins to appear again.

Been there? Yeah, me too. But all is not lost. Not by a long shot.

If you feel you have failed with your resolutions, try this new explanation (it is hard to notice the absence of a negative condition) and start doing again what worked before. That's what to do when you relapse.

Read more: From Hope To Change.

A Surefire Way To Raise Your Mood

2010-01-11T21:14:00.000-08:00

FOCUS ON raising the moods of others. This does two things simultaneously that really help. When you focus on raising the moods of others, you take your attention off yourself. When you're less focused on yourself, you will usually feel better. And second, helping another gives you a helper's high, which feels good and is good for your health.

But what can you do? How can you raise others' moods? Here are a few simple things that will almost always work:

1. Simply show you are glad to see them. When you greet someone you work with or live with, it can be a fairly routine affair. But if you would make an effort to show — on your face, with your voice, and in your body language — that you are glad to see someone, it will almost always raise her mood.

2. Give a genuine compliment. This may seem like a common one, but you can make it much better by trying to compliment something that is not obvious. If you're complimenting something that is easily apparent, no doubt the person has been complimented on it many times already, so your compliment won't do much to raise his mood. Look harder and find something unique to compliment. Make sure you compliment something you genuinely like. Take a little time to think of something good.

3. Demonstrate your interest in the person. You may like someone, or even love her, and yet not show much interest in her life. Ask questions; listen; then ask more questions. Don't offer anything about yourself for the moment. It is elevating for most people to experience someone genuinely interested in the events of their lives.

4. Do the person a favor. You can do a premeditated action like baking cookies for someone, but even more important is to be on the lookout for spontaneous opportunities to do favors for people. Actions speak louder than words, and having someone volunteer to do you a favor is a strong moodraiser.

You want a surefire way to raise your mood? Raise someone else's. It works every time.

Learn Right Now How To...

2010-01-08T14:46:00.000-08:00

FROM THE DEEP well of the YouMeWorks.com website, here is a list of articles, categorized by what the article will give you. Which one would you like to learn? You can do something about it in the next few minutes. Learn right now how to...

...have a better attitude

...cure boredom at work

...improve your mood

...feel kinder toward others

...feel less frustration and anger toward others

...get more respect from others

...become emotionally stronger

...speed up your goal's achievement

...become less depressed

...worry less

...find your mission in life

...increase your chances of getting a promotion

...accomplish your goals quicker

...become more optimistic

...feel calmer and more serene

...make personal changes that last instead of backsliding

...motivate yourself

...prevent people from criticizing you

...improve your people skills

...improve your ability to accomplish a difficult task

...help your children feel good about themselves

...make more money at work

...get maximum rejuvenation from your leisure time

...feel good about yourself

...be less negative

...solve problems more quickly

...feel anger less often

Self-Generated Ecstasy

2010-01-05T13:42:00.000-08:00

I HAD NEVER heard of Nia until a few months ago. It's a way of exercising that combines movements from three healing arts (like yoga), three martial arts (like Aikido), and three forms of dance (like jazz dance). The music and movements are unique, and the end result is deep fun. Here's a ten minute video about it:

The important thing for our mood-raising purposes here is that this is a pleasure-based exercise. It generates pleasure during the exercise, as well as having the normal improved mood for a day or two afterwards. It is more moodraising than normal exercise, partly because of the psychological impact of the movements, and partly because of the unusual amount of motion variety.

Most adults suffer from motion variety deprivation. The range of motion and the variety of motions we normally use throughout the day is unnaturally limited. Even doing normal exercise, like a treadmill or indoor bike, is a limited, repetitive movement.

Over time, a lack of motion variety produces pain in the body (read more about this concept in the book, Pain Free). One hour of Nia will give you more motion variety than you've probably had in a year! I'm serious.

You can learn Nia at home, or you can take a local class. Given how few people know about Nia, it is surprising how ubiquitous the classes are. There are probably Nia classes near where you live. If not, or if you'd rather dance in the privacy of your home, here are some Nia DVDs:

The Nia Technique: Global Unity
Nia Unplugged
Nia Opal

You can find Nia classes in your area with the Nia Finder.

Take Action: Move Your Money

2009-12-30T20:19:00.000-08:00

WHEN SOMETHING bothers you, if you can do anything about it, your mood is likely to rise. Many people have obviously been affected by the recent economic downturn and some of us are justifiably angry at the fatcats who made the decisions that caused the trouble but who personally walked away with riches. And we're peeved that large banks took bailout money and used it only to further their own interests.

I saw a video today that gives us something we can DO about it. Taking this constructive action will improve your mood. For more information (including an easy way to find community banks), go to Move Your Money.

Watch the video below. It is 4 minutes and 11 seconds long. And please share it with others (another constructive action you can take).

Reduce the Stress of Too Many Choices

2009-12-25T23:08:00.000-08:00

WE HAVE SO many opportunties available to us in the developed world, and we are bombarded by so much information, and the world is full of so many worthy causes that most of us are overwhelmed by the opportunities and choices we have. It's really a wonderful problem to have (compared to someone living in a time or place with very little information and almost no choices about how to spend their time).

But while it may be wonderful, it doesn't feel wonderful, does it? It is a major source of bad moods. You have so many things you want to do, and so many things you feel you should to do, it can be depressing. You have more worthy goals than you will ever accomplish if you worked in a feverish frenzy every moment of your life. It is overwhelming.

There is only one answer: You must prune your goals.

There is only one problem with this: Complexity will keep creeping in. You will naturally drift toward greater complexity.

I’m referring to this as “pruning” goals rather than “dropping some goals” because the process has to be continual. Just as tree branches keep growing, your list of goals will keep growing. You don’t prune once and for all — you can’t. You have to keep doing it.

Goals tend to increase and accumulate, weighing you down and slowing progress, until you are overwhelmed with too much to do. This can be demoralizing. The way to prevent it or cure it is to sit down and list your goals, and then try your best to prune some of them. Either give them up, or put them in a file to be accomplished later (a someday-maybe file).

This is hard to do. And it’s hard for the same reason it’s hard to throw away something you own, even if you haven’t used it in years. After all, you may still want to use it in the future, right? In effect, that object represents a goal. It might be an old tennis racket you haven’t used, but it represents a goal to play tennis “some day.”

There is a certain degree of built-in greed we all have. We want to own, we want to accumulate, not just physical possessions but also future accomplishments. That’s why giving up a goal is difficult. But it has to be done if you want to live in peace. You have to throw away perfectly good and desirable goals.

You can curb your natural greed by practicing the virtue of simplicity. Learn to appreciate simplicity and focus, and appreciate them so much you are willing to suffer the pruning.

And I’m not just talking about your stated goals. Someone might spend three hours a day watching television and yet not think of it as a goal. They might spend more actual uninterrupted time watching television than any other activity, and not ever consider it one of their goals. But it is functioning as a goal, and a very important one, given how much time they spend on it. Relaxation or entertainment or escape must be an important goal of theirs.

If the amount of time you spend on something doesn't match how important you feel it is, the time has come to prune that goal. You don’t have to go overboard. Everyone needs a certain amount of downtime. But you can prune until it reflects your true values.

The fewer your goals, the more focused you are. The more focused you are, the faster your progress, and fast progress prevents the feeling of overwhelm. It is enlivening and motivating, spuring you on to more and more accomplishment and peace of mind. To help make this happen, keep your goals pruned.

This is one of seven principles of Cultivating Fire: How to Keep Your Motivation High.

How to Have a Good Time With Your Family For The Holidays Even If Some of Them Drive You Crazy

2009-12-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

ONE VERY good way of dealing with a predictably stressful situation is to prepare beforehand to respond differently than you normally do.

In an article in the New York Times about how to handle holiday family stress, the author gives this example:

Dr. Bulik told the story of a patient whose mother scolded her for not eating her homemade cookies. “You don’t like my cookies?” she asked. As a result, the daughter relented and took a cookie. But when she then reached for a second, her mother scolded her again. “Do you really think you need another one?” she asked her.

It's the kind of stuff that drives you crazy at the holidays, right? But at the end of the article, there is a good example of doing something about it, preparing ahead of time:

Betsy, a high school teacher in Boston, said she had longstanding issues with her mother-in-law, some of which began after she underwent a Caesarean section. After the delivery, her mother-in-law, a slim woman, brought her only light lunches of lettuce salad, even though she was famished after nursing her baby.

Betsy said her cousin also complained of holiday meal tension with her own family, so the two devised a strategy to help each other cope. Each made bingo cards, but instead of numbers, the squares were filled in with some of the negative phrases they expected to hear during the meal, like “That outfit is interesting” or “Your children won’t sit still.” As comments were made at the separate family celebrations, each woman would mark her card.

“Whoever fills up a bingo row first,” Betsy said, “sneaks off to call the other and say, ‘Bingo!’ ”

If you normally find it stressful to hang out with certain members of your family, try something new.

Read more about how to come up with new responses: Everyday Creativity

You Are a Star (In More Ways Than One)

2009-12-21T09:47:00.000-08:00

THE MOLECULES you're made of were made in a sun. That sun (or star) lived a full sun life — a billion, two billion, maybe five billion years — and then at the end of its life it went supernova and exploded, creating a huge cloud of stardust. We know this because the heavy elements existing in such abundance on earth are created in the nuclear furnace of a star.

The dust accumulated, pieces drawn together by their own gravity, and eventually settled into our solar system as we know it.

Not only is all life on earth star stuff, but you are solar powered. The energy from the sun is captured by plants and then converted by you into energy.

And the evolutionary path that led to us was further helped by another star's supernova explosion which created another vast dust cloud filled with radiation. Our solar system passed through that radiation cloud and it caused massive mutations in the early life forms on earth, leading life into new directions, one of which led to you.

You are made up of an old star. You are fueled by a star. Your genetic evolution was crucially influenced by a star.

And when you die, you will become star dust.

Celebrating the Winter Solstice

2009-12-14T12:46:00.000-08:00

IN THE NORTHERN hemisphere, the summer solstice marks the longest day of the year and on that day until the winter solstice, the days get progressively shorter. The winter solstice is the moment when the days begin to get longer again. Just the reverse is true in the southern hemisphere, but the two solstices themselves occur at exactly the same moment for everyone on earth.

The origin of the word "solstice" is the Latin solstitium from "sol" meaning sun and "-stitium" meaning a stoppage. Observing the sun over time, you can see the sun rising further and further to the south until the winter solstice when it slows and stops and then reverses.

The winter solstice in the northern hemisphere is close to the same time as Christmas, and many of our Christmas traditions originated from the days before Christianity, when the solstice was celebrated. Traditions for celebrating the end of shorter days and the beginning of longer days have been practiced around the world for many thousands of years.

At Stonehenge on the British Isles, for example, the huge stones are arranged in such a way that they frame the setting sun on the day of winter solstice. The ancient Brits had a tradition of tying apples to the branches of oak trees in the dead of winter to affirm that summer would come again. The Celts put mistletoe on their altars.

The ancient Romans celebrated the winter solstice by giving gifts. And they feasted a week. Servants traded places with their masters — the masters serving their servants during the feast. They also had a tradition during winter solstice of bringing evergreens indoors.

In the Scandinavian countries, the sun disappears in the dead of winter. In the far north, it disappears for as long as 35 days. The ancient people of the far north had a tradition of feasting when the dark days were over and the sun once again shone on the horizon. They celebrated with what they called a Yuletide festival. They feasted in a long hall while a Yule log burned in the fireplace. They thought of mistletoe as sacred. Kissing under mistletoe was a fertility ritual. Holly berries was considered to be the food of the gods.

The solstice celebrations were officially replaced with Christian ceremonies during Roman times as a way of overtaking the ancient traditions, even though Jesus wasn't really born in December. It was a political act. December 25th used to be the solstice with the old calendar. It usually happens on December 21st with the modern calendar.

But the Christian usurping of the celebration was a long time ago. It's water under the bridge and really at this point, who cares? We could start fresh and celebrate the solstice instead of (or in addition to) our other celebrations. We could celebrate the turning of the season. We could celebrate longer and warmer days ahead.

We could keep our celebrations, but change the date, and that way more people could celebrate together. People of different customs could celebrate their customs but also celebrate the solstice with all people.

The solstice has nothing to do with religion, race, or nationality. Every one of us relies on the sun for our warmth, our sunlight, and our food. The time and date of the solstice can be accurately determined and it occurs at the same moment everywhere on earth.

The solstice might some day become an international holiday. This could be the beginning of something wonderful: a point of unification, a place of agreement, a universal tradition.

You can begin this year by celebrating the solstice in even a small way. Take any of the traditions normally associated with the holiday season and do some part of it on the solstice. Give a gift. Eat a feast. Be kinder to your fellow human beings. Invite people of all faiths to your home to celebrate the end of the longest night and the beginning of longer days. The celebration of the solstice in your own home could actually and concretely work for peace on earth and goodwill toward men and women.

This year (2009), the Winter Solstice occurs at 9:47 AM PST on Monday, December 21st. I wish you a Merry Solstice.

A Few Of Your Favorite Things

2009-12-12T23:06:00.000-08:00

CONSIDERED A HOLIDAY song, My Favorite Things is a song about a method to improve your mood. And the method actually works. If you remember a few of your favorite things, then you really won't feel so bad.

Try it today. You don't have to write them down or make a project out of it. Just think of some of your favorite things — not things you want but things you already have and love. It's a good technique.

Click here if you'd like to listen to a clip of the song right now (free).

Really Enjoy Your Time Off

2009-12-10T00:33:00.000-08:00

MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI has been doing some fascinating research into creativity and enjoyment at the University of Chicago for over thirty years now. He invented a new way to study enjoyment. It’s called the Experience Sampling Method.

Basically, subjects are given a pager and a booklet, and then they go about their normal lives. At random intervals eight times each day, the pager goes off. The subjects immediately stop what they’re doing and fill out the questionnaire in the booklet.

Each questionnaire is identical. It asks what they’re doing, where they are, and who they’re with. Then it asks them to mark where they are on several scales of experience, such as one to seven to indicate where they are from “happy” to “very sad.”

After collecting over a hundred thousand of these samples, Csikszentmihalyi had a huge fund of raw information. He began to wonder, “Are people happier when they use more material resources in their leisure activities? Or are they happier when they invest more of themselves?” In other words his question was, “If I spend my day off going to a movie and out to dinner (or using resources and electricity in some way), will I have a more enjoyable day off than I would if I spent the day gardening or reading or talking or doing something requiring just my own effort?”

Which is ultimately more enjoyable? Using energy outside yourself, or using your own energy?

What would you guess? To answer the question, Csikszentmihalyi and his colleagues went back through the data and sorted each experience sample by the amount of energy being used. They measured the material resources in units of energy called BTUs (British Thermal Units, the energy it takes to raise one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit) and sifted the data in search of an answer.

What they found surprised everyone. The fewer BTUs a person used in his leisure, the more he enjoyed it. Those time-off activities like watching TV, driving, boating, or anything that used electricity or expensive equipment were less enjoyable than self-powered activities like conversing with a friend, working on a hobby, training a dog, or gardening.

This goes against the prevailing notions of what’s enjoyable. “Everybody knows” it would be more fun cruising on a yacht drinking margaritas than building a bookshelf in your basement. “Everybody knows” it would be more fun to go to the movies than it would to sit home and read a book. But according to the research, that’s not the case. Certainly those high-BTU activities are easier and more immediately appealing. But not more enjoyable.

When the pager went off and the participants stopped and checked how much they were enjoying what they were doing, they discovered something truly illuminating: The most fun things don’t cost much.

Is this true for you? Test it. On your next two days off, do something that uses up material resources the first day, and the next day, have a friend over and converse or do something powered by your own energy. You’ll see a difference. The activity might not be as titillating at the moment, but when your day is done, you’ll be more satisfied with the self-powered day.

Do you want some first-class leisure? Find an interest and pursue it. Turn off the TV and use your own energy. You may be surprised to find it doesn’t wear you out but fully refreshes you.

This is extremely good news. It’s good for your pocketbook, it’s good for the planet, and it’s good for your own enjoyment. Use more of your own BTUs on your time off and the world will be a better place.

This is a chapter from Self-Help Stuff That Works.

What Is Bringing You Down Right Now?

2009-12-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

THINK OF SOMETHING bringing you down today. Just pick one thing interfering with you being in a great mood right now. If you're feeling great today, think of something that put you in a bad mood several times in the past.

Just pick one thing. Do this now... You have time (this is a short article).

Okay, now see if you can think of one thing you believe about it. What do you think is true about it?

Now ask yourself throughout the day today, "Am I SURE that's true?"

For example, John has a pain in his knee and it is bringing him down today. He believes it's a sign he's getting old. So he spends the day asking himself, "Am I SURE it is a sign I'm getting old?"

Try this today. It's a simple technique. You can do it while doing other things, so it doesn't need to take much of your time.

It is possible asking yourself if you're SURE it's true will make you feel uncertain about your belief. This is a good thing. The uncertainty will make you feel better. You might be surprised by that, but part of what's bringing you down is a negative assumption you're making, and when you put that assumption into question, the depressing effect of the assumption is eased and lightened, so you feel better.

Even if you think you're sure about your assumption to begin with, keep wondering, "Am I really sure that's true?"

Just wonder. Don't try to think positive. Don't try to make yourself believe something. Just wonder about it in a curious, interested way. I think you'll be surprised at how effective this very gentle technique is at improving your mood.

Learn more about this technique: Antivirus For Your Mind

A Powerful Way To Raise Your Mood

2009-11-28T13:55:00.000-08:00

WE RECEIVED the following note from a woman named Tufia Bair about a method to raise your mood that is practically guaranteed to be a peak experience every time:

I WAS working out at the club and looked up at the track. I noticed this slender, fit, tall lady. She was moving totally different from the others who were running or walking. She was smiling and appearing very much at peace with herself. She moved with a lithesomeness and grace.

She was wearing her earphones and it appeared she was playing very fine music which she was moving to accordingly.

I watched her for about a year before I asked her what she was doing. She told me and gave me her name at the same time; and she asked me if I was interested and would I like to learn. Her name, Klassy, fit her perfectly. She originated this movement herself called "walkdancing."

I told her I wanted very much to be a part of what she was doing.

On the following Monday we met at the club and went to the track. She had brought with her an extra earphone set so we could both listen to the mustic as we moved along together.

I was not concerned about what people might be saying and thinking. I was so tuned into the music and following her steps. It did not take me long at all to start stepping in to my own style.

Walkdancing is a let go and have fun type of experience. I was living my dream in being and feeling alive and free through the reality of self-expression. I felt as if I was moving in celebration of my life and self. Life is good!

If you're interested in raising your mood this way, you can learn more about walkdancing here: WalkDance.com.

For specific instructions about how to do it, check this out: How to WalkDance.

The songs you choose for walkdancing have to be within a certain range. If the beat is too fast, you can't keep up and if it's too slow it's not as much fun. And ideally, you would choose songs that have a positive message, so you can not only "get into" the beat, but get into the song itself (which makes peak experiences more likely). Here is a list of songs that fit all the criteria: Great Songs For WalkDancing.

One Goal To Rule Them All

2009-11-15T23:35:00.000-08:00

THOSE OF US trying to improve ourselves might all be after the same thing without realizing it. I think we want to be able to take in experiences the way we want to take in those experiences. If we did that, we'd feel better more often and we would act more like the people we really want to be.

How many times have you been frustrated or upset or angered by something and wish you could have the perspective you have at your better moments?

Two different people experiencing the same objective event may not respond in the same way. One might get upset, the other might instantly forgive and forget.

The difference in responses is the difference in how the different people took in the experience. Now, ideally, you would take in experiences the way you do in your better moments, right?

That's what you're really after. You want better moods, you want personal growth, you want ______ (fill in the blank). Whatever you're after, it all boils down to a single goal: You want to take in experiences better. And there are lots of ways to accomplish this.

A cognitive therapist would help you discover your own irrational beliefs and help you see those beliefs as irrational. A positive thinker might tell you to look on the bright side. A Zen master might try to help you experience the precious fleetingness of this moment. And all those different methods ultimately accomplish the same thing: They cause you to take in the events of your life in a new way. Hopefully, a better way.

We want to be better people. Nobody wants to be grumpy. Nobody wants to be rude or hurt others' feelings. And yet we have done these things.

You want to be wise and kind. You want to have a bigger perspective at times. You want to take in experiences the way you would at your very best, and you want to do that more often. The key factor is the way you interpret events.

How do you interpret — what do you do internally with — the outward event? If you interpret events well (as you do at your very best), your internal reaction is more likely to be what you want it to be, and your behavior is too.

But you don't want your better interpretation to be forced. You don't want to make yourself, through gritted teeth, look at the event in a "positive" way. You don't want to make yourself act in a way that you don't feel, either. You want to be open and relaxed and compassionate and to genuinely see things that way.

How can you get better at this? There are hundreds of ways. Thousands. One reliable long-term answer is daily meditation. Another is improving your ability to connect with people. But many tools work for different situations. One way to go about improving the way you take in events is to start with something you want to be better at dealing with and apply a method that works for that specific situation.

But the method isn't our topic here. The reason I brought this up is to point out that while we are after better moods here on Moodraiser, we're actually aiming at something more important. A better mood makes you feel better, but it also makes you respond better. It makes you more like the person you want to be.

Anyway, it's a good idea to be clear about the real goal. A better mood is the immediate, short-term goal. The more meaningful, long-term goal is becoming the person you really want to be more often. The ultimate key is the way you take in your experiences.

Can Optimism Improve Your Mood?

2009-11-09T18:37:00.000-08:00

IN THE LAST THIRTY YEARS, research into our thinking patterns and their influence on our moods has brought us to an understanding far beyond the positive thinking pioneers of a hundred years ago.

There’s an age-old battle between pessimists and optimists. Is the glass half-empty or half-full? Pessimists say it’s half-empty and only starry-eyed dreamers would think otherwise. Optimists say it’s half-full and you put yourself in a bad mood unnecessarily to think otherwise.

In the last forty years of research, cognitive scientists have gathered enough evidence to say who has a more legitimate point of view. A pessimist and an optimist can argue with more fact and less opinion these days. Here’s how a conversation might go...

SHERRY AND NICK WALKED along the road. It was autumn. Small gusts of wind were knocking leaves off the trees ahead of them. “I’ve never felt so sure of anything in my whole life,” said Sherry, “This new business is the opportunity I’ve been looking for!”

“You shouldn’t be too optimistic,” said Nick. He looked serious.

Sherry seemed startled out of her reverie. “Why not?”

“Because you’re just setting yourself up for failure and disappointment.” He said it as if it was the most obvious thing there was. “If you get all pumped-up and things don’t work out, you might deeply disappointed, maybe even depressed.”

“How could I get depressed?” She’s surprised. “If I hit a setback, I’ll change my approach and keep trying. There’s no such thing as failure. Only temporary setbacks. The only way I could fail is to give up, and I’m not going to give up.”

“But what if you never succeeded? What if you kept living on hope your whole life and ended up a failure? What good is optimism then?”

“Well, what’s the alternative, Nick? Think about it. What’s better than optimism? Being unhappy? Never really trying anything challenging because you’re afraid of disappointment? The alternative to optimism is pessimism and pessimism is the road to depression.”

“Maybe you don’t have to be on either extreme, Sherry. Did you ever think of that? Or do you think optimism is better than the middle-ground?”

“I know it is. Optimistic people are happier, healthier, and more successful.”

“Who says?”

“Lots of studies have been done on this. And that’s what they found out. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy: If you think you have a chance, you’ll keep trying. And if you keep trying, of course, you keep increasing your chances. But if you don’t think you have a chance in hell, you won’t even start, so of course, you can’t possibly succeed. If you hit a setback and think it’s a small, temporary thing, you’ll try to fix it or get past it. If you think it’s huge and permanent, you might just give up right there.”

Nick has been a pessimist all his life, but he never thought of himself as a pessimist. He considered himself a “realist.” This conversation is getting to him. He doesn’t know why, but it feels like a cherished religious faith is being attacked. “But,” he pleads, “if you’re too optimistic, you won’t see the bad news coming your way. Pessimistic people actually see reality more accurately. There are some studies that prove that too!”

“Your right. Pessimists see reality more accurately, are more miserable, not as healthy and don’t make as much money. Even if I never dropped into a pessimistic mood — and I do once in awhile — but even if I never thought about what could go wrong, optimism would still be the best way to go through life.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because what difference does it make if you avoid more bad stuff in life if, at the same time, you end up avoiding most of the good stuff too? And you have to admit, if you aren’t happy, healthy or successful, you’ve missed most of the good stuff in life. It’s kind of a second-rate booby-prize to say, “Yes, but I see things more accurately.”

They walked on in silence for a long time. A leaf floated gently down and landed on Nick’s shoulder, balanced there for a second, and fell behind him. He never noticed. Finally he said, “Maybe you have a point. But I don’t think I could become optimistic. I’ve been pessimistic my whole life. I don’t think I could change.”

“That’s kind of pessimistic of you, isn’t it?” says Sherry, laughing.

Nick gets the irony of it and smiles. “I guess that could become one of those self-fulfilling prophecies,” he says.

“Sounds like it to me,” says Sherry, putting her arm over his shoulder.

“Maybe I should just give it a try anyway.”

“That’s the spirit!”

“Hey, you know what? I feel a little better already!”

They walk off into the sunset. Music rises to inspirational tones. Nick and Sherry both feel confident that things are going to start getting better from here on out.

The End.

OPTIMISM WORKS. It’s a practical, realistic approach to dealing with life's inevitable setbacks. It works better than pessimism. The facts are in. Optimism won.

Does It Ruin Your Mood To Be Authentic?

2009-10-30T16:29:00.000-07:00

IF YOU'VE BEEN AROUND for fifty years or so, and if you interact with people 15 to 30 years old, you have probably noticed a marked trend away from the phony "putting on a happy face" you saw so much as a child. It is becoming more and more common for people to have given up trying to fool others into thinking they're happy and feeling good when they're not.

I think this is a good trend. It is a trend away from fake smiles and fake bubbliness and toward authenticity and honesty. It is a trend away from worrying about what others may think and toward relying on what you think. Emerson called this Self-Reliance.

There is a drawback to this trend, however. I will explain the drawback in a minute, but first read this experiment from an article on humor:

"The actual expression on your face might make it easier or harder to see what's funny. This idea comes from an experiment by Fritz Strack, a psychologist at Mannheim University in Germany. He took a bunch of people and told them he was going to test their physical skills. Then he showed them a series of cartoons and told them to rate the cartoons' funniness. But he told them to hold a pen in their mouth while they did it. Half of them were told to hold it between their lips; the other half, between their teeth.

"The ones with the pen between their teeth rated the cartoons as funnier.

"Apparently, when they held the pen between their lips, they couldn't smile, but when it was between their teeth, they were forced to smile the whole time, and that physical change in their facial expression changed how funny something was. Interesting. And it might have some usefulness to you in your quest to see things as funny."

In another article, this one about developing an attitude that will help you accomplish goals, you find out about two more experiments along the same lines:

"The researcher Patricia Ruselli did an experiment that went like this: The subject was brought in and told to watch a slide presentation designed to produce sadness. Half the subjects were told to frown while they watched it. The other half were told not to frown.

"For several hours afterwards, the people who frowned felt more depressed than the people who didn't frown...

"Another bit of evidence comes from a pilot study that found when people were injected with Botox to get rid of furrowed brows, it improved their mood, showing in particular, decreases in symptoms of depression. Even when your facial expression is changed with a paralyzing toxin, it can alter your emotional state.

"The point of all this is for you to realize that when you change your facial expression, you change your feelings."

The drawback I see from the trend toward authenticity is more bad moods. Here's how it works: Something makes you feel less than happy. You honestly frown or purse your lips or whatever. And then that outward and honest expression of your negative state makes you more likely to be in a bad mood longer, to find things less humorous, etc.

Does this mean you have a choice between being genuine and natural or being an artificial, back-slapping, glad-handing, insincere but happier person? I don't think so. Like many other things, this issue is not a black-and-white, all-or-nothing problem. Thinking of it in those terms is another significant cause of bad moods, oddly enough, but that's another story (read more about that here).

The distinction missing here is your intention. The reason you do something has a big effect on your mood. For example, you can smile at someone in order to fool them into thinking you're happy when you're not. That's one reason to smile. But that's obviously not the only reason possible. You can smile as a gift. You can smile simply to experiment with the effect of smiling on your mood.

The first smile will probably give you a bad feeling. Being fake for self-serving reasons feels bad, even if the physical act of turning up your lips might improve your mood in the longer run. But the second two reasons for smiling would allow you to have the improved mood without the sour taste in your mouth from being phony. Your intention matters a lot.

Being authentic can improve your mood if it's done right. It can contribute to a genuine and heartfelt enthusiasm for living. (Read more about that here.) Pay attention to the look on your face, the way you move your body, even the way you breathe. All these can have an impact on your mood. Do it for the right reasons, and you can have your integrity and feel good too.

Read more: A Simple Way To Change How You Feel.

Good Sleep For Good Moods

2009-10-24T22:49:00.000-07:00

I FOUND one of the shortest, most practical, most complete articles on sleep I've ever seen, published by InteliHealth, a solid, authoritative source. Here's the article:

6 Reasons For Good Sleep

You'll find six compelling reasons for making sleep a priority, and you'll get seven excellent tips on how to get better sleep.

I'll give you a condensed version of the article: Get enough sleep. That means seven to nine hours a night — whatever is enough to allow you to wake up feeling refreshed and to stay awake and alert the whole day. Getting enough sleep is a good idea for these six reasons:

1. You will remember things better and it will enhance your ability to solve problems.

2. You will find it easier to lose weight. Your body naturally produces leptin when you get enough sleep (a hormone that suppresses your appetite).

3. You'll be less likely to die in a car crash. People who don't get enough sleep tend to fall asleep for short periods when they're driving — just for seconds at a time, but that's enough to cause an accident.

4. Getting enough sleep will help you stay in a better mood, and your mood has consequences. You will do better work and get along with people better if you are in a better mood. And better work and better relationships have significant long-term consequences.

5. Your cardiovascular system will be healthier, so you're likely to live longer.

6. Your immune system will be more powerful. You're less likely to get sick if you regularly get enough sleep.

If you have trouble getting enough good quality sleep, read the tips in the article (go here to read it). If you want to be healthy and stay in a good mood, one of the most important fundamentals is to get enough good quality sleep.

Read more: Sleep Is Not For Sissies

Read more about the value of fundamentals: Beginner's Mind

This Recession Is Good For Your Health

2009-10-14T12:57:00.000-07:00

THERE MAY be plenty of bad things about this recession, but it may have at least one very good side: Evidence is strong that bad economic times are good for your health. Read more about this result here:

Scientific American article

MSNBC article

Yahoo News article

University of Michigan article

Bad news may sell better, but good news is better for you. Read more good news here: Good News.

World Smile Day

2009-10-02T01:52:00.000-07:00

ONE VERY good way to raise your mood is to raise someone else's mood. This is a way to raise your mood that's available to you almost anywhere and almost anytime.

Today is the first Friday in October. And the first Friday of every October is World Smile Day, a celebration created by Harvey Ball, the man who invented the original "smiley face" back in 1963.

To celebrate this day, all you have to do is make someone smile today. And notice how it improves your mood when you do.

Gaining Perspective Deliberately

2009-06-26T02:30:00.000-07:00

IN THE MOVIE, The Game, Michael Douglas plays Nick Van Orton, the wealthy son of a wealthy man. The story begins when Nick’s brother (Sean Penn) gives Nick a birthday present: A life-changing experience, sort of like a personal-growth workshop, except it doesn’t take place in a classroom — it takes place in your life, and you never know who is an actor and what is real. The game is especially tailored to you and you never know what is staged and what isn’t.

The creators of the game make Nick’s well-ordered life completely fall apart. All the things he identifies with — his money, his calmness, his place in society — are taken away from him. His life is destroyed one piece at a time.

When Nick tries to find out if this is all part of the game, it appears the company was a big scam, stole all his money, and left town. They very realistically give Nick the impression they took him for everything he’s worth. He lost his mansion, his credit cards, his Swiss bank accounts. He was penniless.

While all this is going on, we (the people watching the movie) really don’t know what the truth is, and we see Nick going through all these miserable experiences and on the one hand we’re seeing it as anybody would — just miserable experiences and nothing more — and at the same time we are half-viewing it with the question, “I wonder if this is the perfect experience to teach him to be happier?” Because we realize these experiences are teaching him against his will to care more about people, to appreciate what he had, and for the first time in the movie, we feel he is actually engaged in his life. He looked deeply bored with his predictable life before the game started.

He was a snob who lived in a bubble and didn’t really experience real life or real connections with regular people. He needed nobody. But now he has no money, and he has to rely on the kindness of a waitress in order to get something to eat.

Is this a humbling experience, a potentially life-changing experience for Nick? Or is it merely misfortune? We, the viewers, really don’t know until the end of the movie.

Watching the movie was a great demonstration of a profound fact: That the same experience can be seen in at least two different ways, both of them equally valid. One way of looking at it only makes you miserable without any benefit. The other one helps you learn to be a better person, to have better values, and to be happier.

And of course, the thinking viewer will also eventually realize while watching the movie, that all of life is like this.

Someone might get an ulcer, and that is clearly just a hassle and he has to take medication that gives him dry mouth or whatever...or... this is an indicator-beacon that says change your life — the way you live your life produces too much stress.

With the first viewpoint, he just feels frustrated and that probably just makes his ulcer worse. The ulcer itself becomes another stressful thing to add to all the other stressful stuff in his life.

With the second viewpoint, he may feel motivated to change his life in ways that’ll make him feel better. The second viewpoint, the better one, the one that doesn’t come naturally to anybody but the most buoyant optimists, is a reframe.

The point of view you have about something is like a frame around a painting. You can take a painting and put it in an old beat-up frame and it looks like trash. Or you could put it in a fancy, museum-style frame, and it would have an entirely different feel.

Reframing means seeing the same situation in a different way. It means to see the same picture through a different lens. It means to see the same event in a different context. It means interpreting a situation a different way — in a way that makes things better. It means reinterpreting an event in a way that helps you feel better and get more done.

We automatically see (interpret, understand) the events in our lives in a certain way. You found out in Antivirus For Your Mind that it really helps to scrutinize the way you naturally explain setbacks and find mistakes in your explanations. You look at your explanations and ask, “Is it true?”

But sometimes you can’t answer that question. Either you don’t know or the answer cannot be known at all. That’s a good place to use reframing.

You must explain events. If you don’t do it deliberately, your brain will do it automatically. What explanation should you use? When you don’t know whether an explanation is true or false, what criteria should you use?

The only intelligent criteria to use in that case is, “How helpful is it?” Does your explanation help you feel better and get more done, or does it hinder you?

If you find your interpretation isn’t either true or false (either you can’t find out or there is no objective way to decide), and you find out it is definitely not helpful, unfortunately, you can’t just leave it at that. You have to come up with another interpretation. Your mind will not allow “no explanation.”

Your explanation can certainly be provisional — good until something better comes along, like a scientific theory — but you’d better choose your best explanation or your brain will do it for you.

Learn how this can best be done: Grow Stronger With a Good Reframe.