By Sheryl Kraft for Prevention.com
In a perfect world, every day would be sunny, we’d never gain weight and our checkbooks would always balance. But instead, stuff happens—and things don’t always go according to plan.
Does that doom you to a day of misery? It doesn’t have to, says Jeffrey Rossman, Ph.D., director of Life Management at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Mass., and author of The Mind-Body Mood Solution (Rodale, 2010).
While we might not be able to change the situation, what we can do is change the way we react to it, he says. And that’s good, because a bad mood not only makes you feel tired and drained; it’s bad for your health and could even affect how long you live.
We’ll show you how to turn everyday gripes and annoyances into positives so you can maintain your sunny outlook all day long.
1. Gripe: You hit your alarm’s snooze button and overslept.
What to do right now: Don’t rush around at warp speed. Take your time, especially when you’re in a hurry, says Gretchen Rubin, author of the New York Times bestselling book The Happiness Project (Harper Collins, 2009). This may sound counterintuitive, but it works: “When you’re frantic, that’s the time you’ll forget your wallet, or get into a fight,” Rubin says. Instead, try to behave the way you wish you felt—calm, collected, and in control. Focusing on those feelings will soon make them a reality.
