Interdisciplinary Psychology:

    Often times when I am grouchy or sad or stressed out and have some time on my hands, I find that the absolute, number one, best strategy for lifting my mood is this:
    Step One: I go down to the gym in my apartment complex. Luckily most of the other tenants are old and like to smoke, so I have the room to myself. I play some awesome, super-amped-up tunes on my ipod, hop on the treadmill and run as fast as I can for as long as I can. Then I figure, since I’m already down here I might as well work out anyways.  This gets the endorphins going and gets rid of any anxiety.
    Once I’m done with that, Step two is to take a really long, hot shower. If there is any better mood lifter than a hot shower, I don’t know what it is, and I also don’t care. After the shower, I do my clay facial mask and a bunch of other girly stuff involving things that smell good. This has the added benefit of making me pleasant to be around, increasing my social activity, and thus my long-term happiness. If I don’t have enough time to do all this, watching a couple of funny videos on the internet works, too.

    My two hours in “assisting others” didn’t turn out the way I had expected. After going back and forth about what would be “noble” enough, a friend called me, she was pretty upset and didn’t know what to do. “Finally,” I thought. “This is my chance to be helpful and altruistic and whatever that ridiculously long word says!”  I did what any good friend would do I bought a six-pack of good beer and went over to her house.
    She is still fuming when I get to her house and hand her a beer. The problem, it turns out, is her boyfriend.  She feels that he’s been disrespectful but she doesn’t know how to fix the situation. After making the usual “oh no!” and “what a jerk!” and the “ he did what!” contributions for a while. I say that “Maybe he doesn’t realize what he did upset you. You should talk to him about it and let him know how you feel...” and so on and so forth, blah blah blah. You know how this goes.

     I wish more people knew about Positive Psychology.  Most people don’t realize how much power they have to shape their experience. When people believe that things just “are the way they are” they become passive observers in their own lives. This increases susceptibility to depression and other mental illness and creates a victim culture, in which the individual is void of personal responsibility for their actions. People see life as all or nothing, you’re either successful and self-motivated, or you’re not. If not, too bad for you!  Despite what we’ve all been taught, the evidence confirms that the valuable life skills necessary to thrive are almost entirely learnable. Positive coping strategies, happiness, optimism, even talent!