Use Meaningful Activity to Brighten Your Mood

In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns writes that taking action is the way to break a negative mood:

“Do you know why virtually any meaningful activity has a decent chance of brightening your mood? If you do nothing, you will become preoccupied with the flood of negative, destructive thoughts. If you do something, you will be temporarily distracted from that internal dialogue of self denigration. What is even more important, the sense of mastery you will experience will disprove many of the distorted thoughts that slowed you down in the first place.”

It sounds like the last thing to do, when you’re not in a good mood, is do nothing. I agree. I think it’s easy to fall into a trap of analysis paralysis or wallow in misery. I think the most powerful way to quickly change your state or mood is to do something physical. Changing what your body is doing is a good way to change what your mind is thinking and what you're feeling.

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