Put Your Happy Girl Panties On By Annie

As you long term readers know – and as I am about to explain to all you newbies – I was not always my charming, friendly, sun shiny self! In my earlier days, I was often referred to as “Angry Annie” and all through my youth, strangers to the place were warned to watch out for me. Now, I’ve only bitten one person (who probably ought to remain anonymous since he kinda threatened me, after the fact!), and while I did rip his britches, I only grazed Dustin’s skin! But since my crazy, wild youth – I have definitely mellowed!

I figured out a couple of things that have helped me to become more accepting of, in my opinion, the idiots and idiotic behavior that I come into contact with and have decided to share it with all of ya’ll so you can better cope with all of this nonsense too!

Really … And this is NOT a secret! Dogs have been doing this for as long as we have been dogs! Yes, that’s right - the cure for a bad mood is likely just as easy as going outside!

Researchers from the University of Regina recently found that spending just five minutes outside is long enough to help turn someone’s mood around. All of us know that when we get too stressed that the best course of action is to just step away from the situation, gather our thoughts and de-stress a bit. Generally, we are then able to go back to the situation and deal with it in a much more productive manner. BUT – our improvement is even better when that “step away” is in the great outdoors (and I believe that good ol’ sunshine even improves the impact!)

Researchers conducted two separate tests where participants were asked to either sit in a room or in the outdoors for different periods of time, all without those danged ol’ electronic devices to keep them occupied/distracted. The results proved that negative emotions were lowered in both situations after just a few minutes; however, being out in nature tended to actually inspire positive emotions.

This research isn’t exactly earth-shattering news (to me anyway)! We all know we need breaks, and it makes sense that doing that outside, getting some fresh air would be better than sitting at your desk. But the big takeaway is - how many of us actually go outside when we’re in a bad mood? So, instead of spending that break surfing SpaceBook, consider stepping outside for a few minutes next time. I think you’ll come back a lot happier! (If your really ticked off – I speculate that chasing a rabbit – or chopping some wood – will also help!)

Another trick that I credit with my more accepting mood is that I have started going out of my way to be nice to others! Yeah, that’s right – let someone go ahead of you, let someone else have your breezy (or warm – depending on the weather) spot, wait your turn in greeting dad – and for you two legs, you could buy someone a coffee or hand out a compliment.

Now, if you know me, you know that I hate the vibe of “random acts of kindness[iii].” I don’t celebrate World Kindness Day and I am not going to hold hands and sing Kumbaya[iv] with you (unless we are at summer church camp!). But I do appreciate the power of the smug sense of superiority of being the one on top and being the better dog! Yes sir! You bet!

Here’s the bit where I give you some facts from the experts: like the University of Louisville study that says that folks who do good - feel good. Then there is the British study that found people got more pleasure from memories of gift giving than from memories of buying something for themselves.

Yeah ok, I get it … If you’re in a bad mood, you might not want to think of those around you and their annoying ways in some lovey-dovey “all you need is love” sort of way. But think of it as earning your secret self-righteousness points. You can also replace some of the negative junk that you recently saw, and experienced, by just thinking about the good deeds that you have done for others! Yeah – you can make yourself feel good just by making someone else feel good!! Cha-Ching! We’re the Winners!

Well, I guess it’s not really a selfless act if your primary motivation is to make your own self feel better. So, I guess we ought to call it a “selfish selfless act.” You get to know you did it for yourself, but the world still gets the benefit anyway. Sounds like a Win-Win all the way around!

So, those are two of my little tips at how I obtained, and am maintaining, my sunny disposition! Please take this to heart and start spreading it around – far and wide! I am afraid that our world today is in pretty desperate need of some better moods and good deeds!

Annie

Some quotes to consider!

The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.

Bob Marley

If you hang out with chickens, you're going to cluck and if you hang out with eagles, you're going to fly.

Steve Maraboli

Before you speak, ask yourself, is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence?

Sai Baba

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?"

William A. Ward

We're all in this alone.

Lily Tomlin

To sit alone with my conscience will be judgment enough for me.

Charles William Stubbs

[i] Most of this content was stolen from Emily Price’s article at https://lifehacker.com/improve-a-bad-mood-by-going-outside-for-5-minutes-1831927148 . Her original was a good write up, and she gets full credit – but dogs have known all this since inception!

[ii] I credit a big chunk of the second part of the article to Nick Douglas’s article at https://lifehacker.com/fix-your-bad-mood-with-a-selfless-act-1820606457 . I stole his stats and even plagiarized some of his article – I figure that as long as I credit him appropriately, that’s a heck of a compliment to him and he should probably send me a dog treat or two for helping to expand his career ; )!

[iii] For more BC insight on random acts of kindness, please see this ARTICLE by Patches. First published on this site back on January 10, 2013.

[iv] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbaya