Bad Mood? A 10-Min Anti-Cranky Walk | Ep 43

Are you having one of those days where you feel like you want to rip someone's head off? Or maybe just hide from the world because everything is irritating?

This quick mood boosting walk (about 10 minutes) helps you shake off the crabby mood fast… without toxic positivity.

Here's what you'll get on this walk:

• An instant mood lift using a simple body-mind trick 
• A way to break that negative thought loop when your brain is stuck on repeat 
• Energy without caffeine — a quick tempo bump (brief push) gives you that “ahh, I’m awake” kick.

If your face is sliding into full resting b*tch mode, lace up your walking shoes. This walk will fast-track you to a happier state.

P.S. You’ll hear a bell halfway through. If you’re walking outside, that’s your turn-around cue. And tap Follow/Subscribe so next week’s walk is waiting for you.

Instagram: @yourwalkingpodcast

Facebook: @yourwalkingpodcast

Transcript

Helen Ryan: 0:02

Okay, so I'm going to try to sound like a commercial right now. Are you suffering from the case of the crankies? Do you feel like you want to rip someone's head off? Well, the magical mystery potion right here will help relieve that for a zillion kajillion dollars. Oh, I'm just kidding. But if you're like me and you're sometimes cranky and you're in one of those moods, well getting out on this walk today will help shake those crankies away, I hope. And it's about practical action, not just that thinking positive, because nothing makes me more cranky than when I'm in a bad mood and someone says, oh, oh, just think positive thoughts. Oh yeah. Well, okay, well now I'm in a extra bad mood. So hopefully this emergency, anti cranky walk will help put you in a better mood. If you're walking outside, there will be a bell at the halfway point. So if you want, you can turn around and head back and you can also do this workout inside. You can march in place, you can go on a walking pad, a treadmill, whatever you have. We're going to warm it up. Another deep breath in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Roll your shoulders back, big rolls, and roll your shoulders forwards. We're going to get out of that cranky slump. And as we're walking along today, feel for any tense spots in your body and try to release those. Can't really think your way out of a funk, but you can move your way out of it. And if you've heard my podcast before, you know, I talk a lot about dancing. I know nothing about dancing, but I just, I like the way dancing around my house makes me feel. But when you move, your body releases chemicals like endorphins and serotonin, and they're like your natural anti cranky medicine. It's a real physiological shift. So right now, deliberately pull those shoulders back, lift your chin, and even if you have to like force your lips up just a little bit to get out of resting bitch face. Because changing that little thing like your smile can actually help put you in a better mode. I learned this when I used to teach spin. One day I was walking from my car to the gym and I passed all the glass windows. One of my students was working out inside, just before spin class. And then he saw me and he asked me if I was okay. And I realized that I was projecting that I wasn't okay. I was projecting that I was tired because my chin was down. My posture was slouching forward. And then I realized that, you know what I need to start preparing for the class and projecting when I get out of the car because people can see me and they're not going to want to work out with someone who looks defeated. Defeated, and tired. Welcome to my defeated and tired spin class. I started to immediately get out of the car, pull my shoulders back, put on that smile, even though nobody could see me lift my chin. And I immediately felt better, like right away was , ready to teach. Fake myself out. Go a little bit faster. A little bit harder. Let's make it purposeful. Swing those arms. You can even walk like you're strutting down the runway. Not a airport runway. The runway for the models."I'm sexy for this walk. Too sexy for this walk." Just keep your breathing going. Keep that fresh oxygen flowing through your body. And a bad mood is often your brain stuck in a loop. And then to break that, sometimes you have to give it a new, simple task that kind of gets you out of your head. And one of my favorite things is to put on a high energy song that makes me happy, takes me back to a happier time. Just really fills me with good feelings. Because music with a good beat can trigger release of dopamine, which is our brain's pleasure chemicals. Now, you don't want to have a song like that Puddle of Mud, "She F*n Hates Me." That's not really going to lift you out of your mood. One of my favorite songs right now is Abracadabra by Lady Gaga, just because it, it really makes me feel energetic and happy no matter what's going on in my life. Another thing is that we want to do is we can clear our mind. So bring it out from being in our head where we're stewing and ruminating. We're going to do a little quick scavenger hunt in your head, and we're not going to look for things in your head. That'd be weird. But you're going to look for five things that you can see right now. Just pay attention to five things. Identify them in your head. And now see if there's four things that you can hear aside from me. Now you want to feel for three things like the air on your skin, the road under your feet, the way your shirt feels. Let's see if we can just break ourselves away from that busyness in our head for a moment. Keep your breathing going. Deep breath in. Fill up those lungs and exhale. Shake out those hands. Relax your feet. Relax those shoulders. You can always bring your shoulders up tighter against your ears, and then drop it back down. Hold onto that brisk pace. And today's walk isn't about ignoring what's wrong. It's about training your brain to see that the bad mood isn't the only thing that's true. I don't know if you've watched the new Matlock series with Kathy Bates, but she says repeatedly throughout the show: Two things can be true. Yes. And right now, two things can be true. You can in fact be in a bad mood and that's okay. And there's another thing that can be true at the same time. So to make the other thing true, let's find one tiny, genuinely good thing from our day that happened to us. Because when we're in a bad mood, we can't always find gratitude, right? When I'm cranky, when I'm tired, when I'm overwhelmed with things and people say, "Oh, but you have so much to be grateful for." Yes, I do have a lot to be grateful for, but I'm in a pissy mood. The word gratitude is so big and covers so much, so for me, I need to find one tiny good thing. For example, my coffee this morning was amazing. My cats did not diss me today. Maybe someone gave me a good review for the podcast. Maybe a friend of mine had something really good happen to them today, and it made me happy. Our brains are hardwired to scan for threats, the negative stuff. So by looking for that one thing where we're wiring our brains to focus away from just the negative because two things can indeed be true. Still holding onto your pace. It's just brisk. We're not doing anything marathon-y today. We're not doing bursts. I just want you to feel through your body again, I want you to feel any tense spots, especially in your jaw. A lot of times when we're tense, we keep our jaw tight, or that's what also reminds you today about your hands, because sometimes you might be making fists and you may not know it, and you kind of look like walking with your fists. So just relax that, shake out your hand, shake out your fingers, release those tight spots if you have any. Start the mood in your body and then bring it up to your brain. Okay, now we're going to slow it down. This is a short walk today. Keep your breathing natural. Going to change what we're doing with our body in order to change the focus, in order to change our mood. And then when your walk is over, share that one good thing you thought about with someone. It doesn't matter who it is, it could be a friend, you could tell your dog, or sometimes I like to post something small and positive on Facebook, like a picture of my coffee or just something small that happened because there's a lot of negativity in the world and when you share something good that happened to you, even if it was tiny, it really helps other people think about the little things in their lives that are good. Because we always hear the negative, the negative, and we don't really hear a lot of the positive. So share your little positive thing with people. So hopefully this walk made you a little less cranky. Deep breath in again, through your nose. Exhale your mouth. If you know somebody who likes to walk, you can share these walks with a friend. But any of my walks, you can send them the podcast. Keep everybody moving just a little bit. Take another deep breath through your nose. Now fill up those lungs all the way. Big, big, big, big, big breath and exhale. I am going to send you a virtual hug and we'll end with a few lyrics from my favorite song. Wait. First we're going to slow it down just a little bit because I almost forgot. You know what that song would be. Don't worry. About a thing. That's right.'Cause every little thing is going to be all right. Actually, that would be a great song to play because it just makes you happy, right? Who cannot be happy listening to Bob Marley? Try to fit in a little stretching if you can. And we're not going to worry about a thing. We're going to relax. going to think about that small thing that happened to you today. The good thing. Your body's happy 'cause it got fresh oxygen, and I'll see you next time.