Escapism and grounding

5 ways to feel an instant crash the very next moment or day and feel like you are in the bottom of an abyss, unable to climb out of the rut.

Ok maybe chocolate shouldn’t be on that list, I love chocolate, but you get my point. Those things in the list, are time and again, tested and proven, to throw you further down into the rabbit hole of crappiness. You resort to them in hopes of alleviating your bad mood, and i’m sure you know what happens after that – you feel worst, guilt, shame, anger, sorrow, apathy. These emotions have actually been scientifically studied and given a logarithm score, and those emotions rank the lowest on the scale. (based on the great book Power vs force by Dr David Hawkins). No wonder you feel the way you are feeling. 

So what do you do when you feel low, or experiencing a bad day? 

5 ways to feel instantly feel happy at any moment, without side effects 

1. Gratitude 

2. Love 

3. Nature 

4. Breathe 

5. Chocolate

Chocolate is the best.

But let’s get into the other 4 powerful methods to have a shot of dopamine and happiness anywhere, anytime.

I’m sure you have heard of gratitude, it’s going around as the new hip trend, because it actually works. You virtually cannot feel sad when you have a thought about something you are genuinely, and truly grateful for. This can be something recent, like a gift from your loved one, or something in your memories, like how your family could afford to go on the best holiday to New Zealand a few years ago, and all the joyous memories you had. It can be fairly generic, like having a roof under your head and food on your plate (Literally, millions right now do not have what you are having right now). THANK GOD and feel instantly relieved and happy.

Love, often associated with a lover. Not the case. Try feeling love for everyone and every situation you interact with. Love is ranked so high above the scale by Dr Hawkins, it is close to enlightenment. Think about that. How powerful the feeling of love is. Now it is going to be hard to cultivate and practice this emotion, but with practice, we know that it’ll get easier. Show love and compassion to strangers, friends, family, animals, anything that you encounter. As you get better at this and you start showing love to even those who mean harm to you, you will realise something in you lift, and you will no longer feel suffering. Easier said than done.

Nature. Connect with nature, because ultimately, as in the Eastern belief, our bodies are part of the 5 elements – wind, water, fire, earth and space. Ever been in the presence of breathtaking landscape like the grand canyon or the niagara falls, and feel almost ecstatic and in awe. Many of us may not have the luxury to visit these wonders of the world, but go to your nearest waterbody or nature reserve around your town – You can derive similar benefits. Sit alone on the grass, walk barefoot, and hear the sounds of water and animals. DON’T put on sounds of waterfall and birds chirping on youtube using your smartphone, that does not count. You will realise that you will slowly get out of your head and into the present moment. Better still if you combine the next point while you are out with nature – Breath

Breathe. There are several beautiful TED talks on the power of breath. An interesting one is Change your breath, change your life by Lucas Rockwood, highly recommended talk.
It is our fundamental life force. Without breath, you will be dead within seconds, and yet, we have taken it for granted and ignored it completely. Proper breathing stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system and calms your fight or flight nerves. It nourishes your entire body with oxygen, including your prefrontal cortex which governs your executive function and critical thinking – basically, you will get smarter and more focused. Notice your breath when you feel angry, sad, fearful or anxious. Don’t try to change it, just bring some awareness to it. Shallow, rapid, wasteful breathes. And sometimes, some of us have gotten so used to “bad breathing”, that we such shallow breathes are our norm even when we are happy or calm! Practice some good, deep, belly breathing with your diaphragm guys. Some people say that you should feel your abdomen move out and expand, rather than your chest. I find that quite uncomfortable, so find what suits you best, but take fuller, deeper, more satisfying breathes. Oh, and slow the rate down if you can, if you breathe deeper, you should automatically be breathing slower as well. So try it, next time when you feel anious, first become conscious of your breathing pattern, then start to breath deeper and more mindfully, it will be like alcohol after a while, as Lucas Rockwood puts it in his talk!