Our Winter Mood

We are most definitely on our way to winter now! The sky is greyer, the mornings are darker and it’s only a month until the clocks change. All living creatures are sensitive to the change of seasons.

Our moods change as the seasons change

During the summer months life really seems to flow. Relationships are harmonious, communication is easier, everything feels easy and relaxed. The days are longer and we have more energy, even if we stay up late we don’t feel tired the next day. This just isn’t true of the winter months. Life doesn’t feel so easy and the worries we forgot about during the summer begin to crowd back in on us.

Don’t let the seasons get you down!

A number of my clients have expressed how closely their emotional lives are tied in with the weather. If it is grey outside, it is grey inside too. If we are built this way then it is easy to begin to let external circumstances such as the weather to get to us more. If we are not careful before we know it we have allowed ourselves to be influenced so that our mood begins to colour every part of our day, and, if we don’t control it, every part of our lives too. We begin to feel more serious, more anxious or stressed about our lives in general.

Watch your moods and Take Control!

From now on take control of your mood, don’t let outside forces to effect you. When you wake, take a moment to assess what kind of mood you are in. If you are in a good mood take the time to lock it inside you. Decide that whatever happens outside, whether it is the weather or other peoples’ behaviour, you will not allow your own mood to be affected. We have all had the experience of getting up feeling optimistic and grateful for the wonderful things in our lives and ending our day feeling angry and disappointed, simply because of a shift in our mood. It is remarkable how quickly our moods can change and how our experience of our lives alters simply because of that change.

What to do

Apart from taking the time to protect your good mood, learn some techniques whereby you can alter your mood if you wake in a bad one or your mood drops significantly when you open the curtains! I had a wonderful guy in my life for a time. However bad he felt when he woke, he would put on his favourite song of the moment and sing at the top of his voice and literally dance around the flat until he had got dressed. I don’t need to tell you that he absolutely always left for work in a fantastic mood.

Emergency help!

If you find your mood is slipping into a negative one, or that you have suddenly fallen into a negative mood, STOP, question it. There may be lots of reasons why you are feeling the way you do. Learn to ask yourself useful questions so that you can find out how you got into this mood. Have you allowed someone else’s behaviour (present or past) to effect you negatively? Have you had enough rest and relaxation? Have you drank enough water or eaten the right foods today? Have you taken on too much? Have you said ‘Yes’ when you should have said ‘No’ or vice versa? Get yourself into a resourceful state and remember: when you are in a bad mood, avoid at all costs allowing your thoughts to wander into any serious analysis of your life and avoid your peril tackling any major issues with yourself or others as absolutely everything will be coloured by your mood.

Get used to listening to and attending to your internal barometer, you can’t do anything about the weather, but you can do something about YOU!