I'm in a Bad Mood!! How to Be Happy Anyway...

There are moments when I'm in a bad mood.

And everything bothers me...

They used to last a long time sometimes, but as I practiced changing my mind (or really just thinking about things that make me feel good), they got shorter and shorter.

In fact, one of my favorite ways to cut or at least soften a bad mood is to make a list of my favorite things.

For example, if I'm in a bad mood and I've had it up to here with something in France (or Switzerland) and I'm getting cranky about it (this happened a lot for the first two years in France, by the way), it was because I was making a list of all the things I couldn't do because I was in France.

And that's common for people living in a foreign country (also known as expatriates or expats)...

It's the reason I got upset a lot for two years.

And at the time I had no idea that my thinking was the cause of the upset.

Not France or Switzerland...

My thoughts...

Until I realized that there was another side to it.

I wasn't happy because I wasn't making a list of all the things I could do in France.

I also wasn't making a list of all the things I could ONLY do in France.

After I started doing this, it got a lot easier...

After a year of practicing it, I began to realize how lucky I really was.

I had this huge list of things that I could do in France and another list of things that I could only do in France.

I could refer to my list at any time...

Directing my attention towards the things I liked about France completely changed my experience of France (as well as Germany and Switzerland)...

And I can use it with anything that bugs me regardless of where I am.

And most importantly it feels really good!

And while we're on the subject of I'm in a Bad Mood!! How to Be Happy Anyway...

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Looking forward to hearing from you...

Suzanne

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