Senseless

BLAH!

That's how I feel today. I have this lingering sense of a bad mood. The origin of the bad mood? Don't know. Not knowing why I feel the way I do only makes my mood a little darker. It's this kind of day that I feel like I should stay at home. Not to do me any favors, but to give those I will interact with the gift of not being subject to my possible hormonal tantrum.

Doesn't help much to turn on the news and hear about innocent people being gunned down while Christmas shopping. BLAH!!

I want to snap out of this funk. I need to snap out of it.

I often hear my client's expressing similar sentiments. They report session after session that they don't feel happy. Session after session they tell me they want to feel happy. And... session after session they tell me that they did not try anything new that week.

Sometimes I pull out a little experiential therapy.

I stand up in our session and exclaim dramatically, "I can't find my purse!".

And then I continue like a broken record...

"I can't find my purse, I can't find my purse, I can't find my purse, I can't find my purse."

If I am using this technique with a client, they are likely to be familiar with my style of therapy by this point and sense they are to respond to my broken record in some way.

"Check the cabinet." some say. Others point out, "When was the last time you saw it?" Some just laugh and say, "Well don't just stand there ,look for it!".

I learn so much from my clients.

When a gray cloud sets in on our life we are left with the choice of either living with it or learning how to fight it. Living with it means the bad mood won. Trying something - ANYTHING! - means we are picking up the boxing gloves and starting the fight. The only way to win is to fight.

Ask yourself the same questions my client's did about my purse.

"Check the cabinet" - look for your happiness. Choose behaviors that make you happy. Surround yourself with happy people.

"When was the last time you saw it?" - what were you doing differently when you were feeling better? I was exercising more, eating more healthy and walking the dog in the mornings. I have not done any of these all week. I need to trace my steps to the last place I saw happiness and start doing those behaviors again.

"Don't just stand there!" Doing NOTHING will bring you.... NOTHING. Try something... anything! Today I googled "Inspire Me". I found a blog (attitudeofgratitude.blogspot.com) that I enjoyed reading. I found beautiful artwork. I closed my eyes and meditated on positive images. I made a mental list of things I was grateful for. My mood began to life. I didn't just stand there. I tried something. Accepting the bad mood and allowing it to stay in my day without a fight is nothing less than a senseless act.