Creating Bliss Through Your Surroundings
Have you ever had one of those days where you’re just in a mood and you don’t even know where it came from? Like you just woke up, and BAM! Don’t talk to me, don’t look at me, don’t even think about me or you may catch some hands! I know I definitely have. Sometimes there’s just no amount of good coffee that can break me out of that funk.
But I have noticed a theme on these days. When that bad mood just pops up out of nowhere? Yeah, it’s usually coming some SOMEWHERE. And that somewhere is often in my surroundings.
In my years of self-development and growth, one thing I’ve gotten really good at is being very self-aware. Bad moods creep in all the time. I am by no means a happy-all-day-everyday kind of girl. But I’ve gotten to the point where bad moods don’t just happen for the whole day. They happen, I notice, and I go to work to figure out why.
This whole happiness thing that I preach about all the time? It’s not a one-time choice to be happy, and then life is blissful from there on out. Oh no, no. It’s constant effort and constant choice. It’s being self-aware and asking myself lots of questions throughout the day to figure out why I’m feeling certain ways.
So, what do we do when we find ourselves in a mood?
Well, one of the biggest mood-crushers I’ve found over time is my surroundings. We are what we consume every day. I believe that both physically and mentally. Our surroundings, whether we realize it or not, play a huge role in our mood on a daily basis! So, the first step of getting out of that bad mood and into a better one, is by checking in with your surroundings.
Here are my keys to boost your surroundings in order to naturally bring more happiness into your life:
What am I listening to?
Take note of what’s playing in the background. When I’m at work, we have telemetry monitors (heart monitors) for all of our patients that show their heart rates in real time at the desk so that we can see what’s going on with them, even when we’re not in the room. When there is an out-of-range rhythm or rate, the monitors will beep to alert us to check the monitor and to check in on that patient. Well somedays, we will get a patient whose monitor is being finicky, or they have a fast heart rate that hasn’t been controlled yet. When this happens, the monitor goes off constantly. It’s just an alarm, but since the alarm means something is out of range, it sets off an internal alarm for us. Now, throw this in for a whole day (which sometimes happens), not only do you end up emotionally exhausted by the end of the day, but more often than not, you lay down to go to bed at night and still hear those alarms in your head even though you’re no longer at work.
Background noise in everyday life can have this same effect. I know many people like to have the news on as noise in the background, but are you listening to what is actually being said? And more importantly, are you paying attention to what that’s doing to your physiological state? It is likely stressing you out without you even realizing it! What about music in the background? Have you paid attention to the lyrics? I was recently feeling very tense during a workout and was trying to figure out why. I finally stopped and paid attention to the music I was listening to. It was dark and heavy, and I was feeling that!
Regardless of what you’re listening to, take note! Is it positive? Is it encouraging? What is it doing to your internal state?
Here are some of my favorite things to listen to – and these are things I listen to DAILY that truly truly help me to be encouraged and in a great mood:
Worship music or encouraging music – stuff that makes you happy! Sad music is fun sometimes, but we don’t want to be sad. We want to be happy!
Podcasts – I LOVE a good podcast. Now, I don’t listen to the dark stuff. Whatever season I’m in, I find something I can listen to that will serve in that area. Right now I’ve been listening to a lot of small-business stuff. In the past I loved mindset and fitness podcasts. Tony Robbins is great to listen to (not sure if he has an actual podcast, but you can find him anywhere).
Silence is golden – sometimes I like to just go outside and listen to the wind blow. There is beauty in silence if you’re willing to sit still and listen for it.
WHO am I listening to?
Sometimes it’s the people around us that are bringing us down. Have you ever been around that coworker that just drains you? The energy-sucker as I call them. More than likely, that person does a lot of complaining and gossiping. Now I know we can’t wear earmuffs to drown out every Negative Nancy we have to be around, but we can make a conscious decision to not absorb it. Drown it out as much as you can, don’t engage in the conversation with them, and if you do get stuck talking to this person, be the one who lifts the conversation to a higher level.
What am I looking at?
If you’re sitting at your desk, staring down a stack of bills, it might be hard for you to be really happy or pleasant (however, I have another way of viewing this that I’ll save for another post). But you can take a break. Take a moment to change your scenery. Get outside, or even just get to a window to change the view. What we see can play a big part in our mood, so be aware of what you’re staring at all day. If your social media feed is all negative, then maybe it’s time to follow some different accounts. And again, with the news playing. If you’re staring at doom and gloom all day, there is a good chance you’ll be feeling doom and gloom all day. Instead, set your computer or TV screen to display photos of your loved ones, watch an uplifting movie, or turn it off altogether.
The mind will start to believe what the eyes show it all day, so be careful what you’re letting in.
Physical surroundings – icing on the cake
As I write this right now, I’m sitting out on my back patio. The sun is shining, it’s a beautiful 60 degrees, and there is a perfect breeze in the air. Days like this don’t happen all the time in the Midwest, so when they do, I make a conscious effort to get outside. I encourage you to do the same. Sunshine is so good for us! If you can get out into it, do it! When I’m at work, I will often go have my lunch in front of the big windows of the hospital (unless it’s nice, and then you better believe I’m out on the patio!). It’s a short break in a long day, but that little bit of sunshine really helps get me through the rest of my shift.
If you love the snow – get out in it when you can! If you live by the beach – please PLEASE tell me that you’re taking advantage of that situation!
The bottom line is this: I believe getting outdoors can boost your mood almost instantly. I think we’re intrinsically connected to nature. Like we get closer to God being outdoors in creation as opposed to man-made buildings. Maybe that’s me being a hippie. Who knows? Give it a try and see if it works for you.
Other ways your physical surroundings impact your mood include your home and work space. If you’re anything like me, a tidy space probably makes you less stressed. When I come home and see my house a mess, I turn into a bear. I’ve had conversations with my family about this, and bless their hearts they do try to clean before I get home, it’s just not usually to my standard – and that is a whole other sermon. Ha!
But if a tidy space is important to you, then get to tidying! If you can splurge on it, I highly recommend a cleaning service. And if not, then tackle it on a weekend and then just do a small bit each day to maintain it. If you have older kids – put those sweet babies to work! It builds character, I promise. When your space is clear, your mind is clear, and when your mind is clear, you’re less likely to be in a funk.
And finally, when’s the last time you had a change of scenery? I know we can’t just up and take vacations every time we get in a bad mood. Boy, wouldn’t that be the life! But we can implement habits that change our scenery from time to time. If all we do is wake up in a house that may or may not be a joyful place, and then go to a job that may not be a joyful place, that doesn’t leave a lot or room for a blissful surrounding. Create a place you can escape to for some solitude, prayer, a good cry, or just a few moments of silence. This could be your backyard. It could be a quiet drive down a country road (I love a good drive – it’s good for the soul!). It could be a trip to your local gym to get in a good workout and be surrounded by people working to better themselves – I could go on a whole sermon with this too, whoo! It could be a walk at the end of the workday to decompress and practice some gratitude. Whatever this is for you, use it as a time to get positive. Let it be your place where you recharge and get clear and focused. And happy!
I hope you will find these tips on building blissful surroundings helpful and put some to use if you don’t already! I can’t promise you days full of nothing but happiness. I still come home from work and turn into a bear most of the time. BUT, I have the tools to change my surroundings and in turn, fix my bear attitude.
Give these a try and let me know what you think!
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