Fake It til You Feel It

When you find yourself feeling a bit “meh” about your day, or worse yet, dreading parts of your day, you’re at a cross road. You actually do have some control over how the rest of your day will go if you pause and take a few minutes to reset yourself.

Whatever we give our attention to tends to bring more of the same. What I mean by this is that if we chose to focus on the negative aspects of our lives or the things we don’t like or want, it seems that we inevitably experience more of them.

If we’re able to focus on what we do want, even if it feels so far away from where we are in the current moment, we invite that reality in.

For example, have you ever been in a slightly bad mood and made yourself smile, even though it felt like a fake smile? The mere act of smiling and holding that smile on your face, changes the way you feel.

Even more so, try to fake laugh and make yourself do it for at least 30 seconds. It’s harder than you think but it’s actually really funny, and it’s almost impossible not to feel better once you start doing it.

Your fake laughing sounds so ridiculous that you can’t help but laugh at yourself and in an attempt to continue laughing for 30 seconds you end up fake laughing more, which makes you real laugh more.

Any laughter is good laughter and you will feel very light and entertained after trying this, though I would highly recommend doing it in private so you can get the full benefit without feeling self conscious.

It’s hard for most of us to focus on feeling good when we’re not feeling good. Sometimes we just want to complain and feel badly, but do we really?

I often hear people tell me that they feel better when they complain about something, but they’re not complaining to the person who can change anything. They’re often complaining to someone who has nothing to do with the problem and then often starts complaining about something negative in their lives as well.

The more we complain, the more we get sucked into the negative emotions and spiral lower.

What if you were to try something different? The next time you want to complain or are just feeling negative about something, what if instead of staying in your stuck place you focused on what you really wanted?

Sometimes we really are stuck and have to simply deal with the other people around us the best we can, but many times we have control over our circumstances.

Could you pretend to be happy when you’re feeling frustrated? I know, it’s a big ask! It’s really amazing how you can shift your emotions with some effort however.

Start by closing your eyes (assuming you’re not driving) and take a few deep breaths in and out. Them imagine the way you’d like to feel and really focus on those emotions, rather than “your reality”.

You will eventually create your own reality that is very different than your stuck place of the past. It’s very weird but it’s so true. Practice a few times and notice how you can start to easily make things shift in your day.

The more good you pay attention to, the more it seems to manifest.

Action Steps:

• Decide how you want to feel today, or even just in the next few moments.

• If you’re not already feeling it, start faking it until you really do feel it. It’s kind of a fun challenge and the rewards are amazing!