We all have grumpy days, it happens sometimes. You wake up one morning and the day just lacks its usual luster. Where there is usually a warm, glowing, ball of beautiful life giving energy in the sky, you see the sun as merely a hot, bright, blinding headache instead. Not fun. And when you wake up feeling bummed it can easily change your entire day – usually for the worse.

What’s a normally happy human to do when all you’re feeling is grumpy?

Try these techniques and see if you can change your perception and as a result, change your grumpy mood into one that is a little brighter and more enjoyable!!!

1. Change your scenery and get out in nature!!
Just a few moments in nature can alter your mood significantly, find a beautiful spot to sit and breathe, even if you only have five minutes. Absorb the sunlight, observe the colors and textures painted on our earth, breathe in the fresh air and feel your connection to your surroundings! Can’t get outside today, that’s ok, just PRETEND!!!! Close your eyes and imagine a beautiful place in nature, maybe some place you’ve been before, or maybe some place you’re dreaming of visiting. Find a quite place to sit for five minutes, close your eyes and let your imagination paint a scene in nature for you to absorb and observe. Notice the colors of the landscape, imagine the sounds you would hear, and let yourself find stillness.

2. Spend time with people you love!
Take a couple of minutes to call, text or visit with a friend or family member you care about. Ask them about their day, tell them you love them or send them a wish for success in their day. Sometimes stepping out of your head to connect with someone else is all you need to start feeling a little better!

3. SING!!!!
Turn up your favorite song and let it out!!!!!! Find a place where you can have privacy and let yourself get lost in a few of your favorite songs. Be silly. Dance. Sing. And don’t worry about how it sounds, how it looks or whether you’re singing the same words as the artist – just let yourself have fun and enjoy the experience of connecting to music!

4. Go for a walk!
Whether it’s for five minutes or one hour, physical activity can change our state of mind for the better.

5. Do something nice for a stranger!
Random acts of kindness can really help elevate your mood, so even when you’re feeling grumpy, practice a random act of kindness and it might help elevate your mood. Hold the door open for the person behind you. Let someone go ahead of you in line at the store. Smile at a stranger.

No one really like being in a grumpy mood, so when you notice your mood starts to sail south, try to take steps to counter your mood and you might find you can rise above that grumpy mood before it ruins your day.

A yoga practice can show us the power of our perception. When we practice asanas (yoga postures) we are able to see how altering our view of a situation can change our experience. Suddenly a frustrating experience turns in o a beautiful opportunity to learn more about yourself, and the experience transforms from something you were resisting to something you’re embracing.

That’s pretty awesome, if we can learn to control our perception, we can ultimately control our reality, at least on some level that is. We learn to change our responses to events, feelings and even start to appreciate the lessons in the most challenging situations.

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Sometimes it only takes a few beats and you know!! Your eyes widen and your heart begins to patter to the rhythm of the music. Turn the volume up and begin to let yourself get lost in the moment of the music. Music can take you away, it can tell a story of your heart, and it can move your body to it’s beat. Music crosses boundaries, allowing strangers to connect with each other in a unique and honest way. And it is within the melody, through the surrender to the rhythm in which we’re able to let go of it all and just listen, just experience this moment, to meditate in the present moment.

Meditation occurs in many forms, and has countless benefits! It is presence. Presence in each moment, like counting the beads of a mala, as the fingers move from bead to bead, in meditation we move from moment to moment deliberately, moving into the next moment once the previous one has been experienced, we move forward without attaching to the previous moment and entering the next with presence and honesty. Like the beats of a melody, we allow ourselves the experience of presence in each and every moment.

Meditation allows us to surrender to the moment, to life, allowing us to see and experience each moment honestly and openly, moving forward into the next moment with an open mind and an open heart!

Meditate today. Allow your Self to let go, to connect with the music and the rhythm of life! Whether you’re cleaning the house while your favorite song comes on, sitting at the bus stop with the sounds of the street, or sitting in a quite space for your meditation practice. You can practice meditation every day and at any time.