How to Get Your Good Juju Back

looking for my juju

The other morning I woke up feeling pretty crummy.  The sky was gray, I was feeling emotionally drained from a conversation I had the day before, and I felt like my energy was zapped.  I tried to go back to sleep, but it wasn't happening. As I tossed and turned in bed, I thought, what can I do to raise my vibration (aka feel better) right now?

I can get out of bed, for starters.  This lead to:  I can take a shower, I can put on something colorful, I can go outside with the puppy, I can tackle my to-do list, I can get a cup of coffee at Starbucks (a rare treat), I can play pop music in the car and sing along, I can say my gratitude list out loud....and on and on and on it went.  Suddenly, I was feeling better.

Sometimes a gratitude list alone isn't enough to get me back to my natural state of exuberance, so I've developed the following formula:

 Taking action NOW + rattling off some g-tude = good juju.

This act of self-love really works.  It takes effort to be happy, but it's worth it! Doing these two things can't solve all your problems, but it can definitely lead you in the right direction.  It always amazed by the results of my little formula: talk about Instant attitude adjustment!

As part of my self-love journey, I've been practicing gratitude by making lists of all the things in my life I'm grateful for, and I always include my current challenges.  I do it when I'm happy (it's easier, and the list is longer), but it's most powerful when I am in a funk.  

One of my favorite quotes about gratitude from Melody Beattie goes like this:

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.

It really puts whatever you are going through in perspective.  I share this quote often in my yoga classes, and people always ask about it.  It is a powerful concept, and one I return to frequently.  

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, for every minute you spend angry {insert- in a funk, feeling crummy, not yourself, etc.} you lose sixty seconds of happiness.  Let's all make a pact to not spend any more time unhappy than is absolutely necessary.  I hope you bookmark this post and return to it whenever you may need it!

xo,

Amy