Easy Steps to Boost Your Mood

In this age of social media with millions of Facebook status updates, tweets, Instagram posts, Snapchat and dozens of other platforms, we spend a lot of time caring about what people think of us. We can’t wait to “share” news about our jobs, travels, dogs, relationships, and some of the most intimate details of our lives with our friends, friends of our friends, and anyone remotely claiming to know us. (Hint: If you want to see the best example of people claiming they know you, just log onto LinkedIn!)

With all of this constant sharing and TMI (yes, you can share too much information!) I had to stop and think about what this is actually accomplishing. Although we may choose to reveal a lot about ourselves, does anyone really know us?

It’s probably no surprise that the image we carefully present to the world and the way people actually see us can be wildly divergent. If you want to test this out, have the courage to ask someone you have known for a long time to be brutally honest with you. If you want to know what others think about you at work, ask someone who has worked with you for a few years. But make sure you are prepared for what you might hear. I can tell you that I tried it and I wasn’t prepared!

I had a discussion with a trusted colleague I have known for years. I knew him well enough to take constructive (or even destructive!) criticism. So when I asked him what people thought about me at work or what they thought about me in general, his answer shocked me to the core.

“You could be happier,” he said. “You need to be happier.”

I immediately went into a semi-defensive mode and started sputtering, ”I AM happy! What in the world would make you think I am not happy? I come to work and feel the same way every day. I am usually always in a good mood!”

I could tell he wasn’t totally convinced, which meant I had no choice but to take his remarks seriously.

I took a look in the mirror, and for once it wasn’t to see if I needed to buy a new anti-aging cream.

I thought maybe, just maybe, I could use a mood boost! I mean, I wasn’t exactly walking around like a basset hound with a long, sad face, but couldn’t anyone benefit from a mood boost that would make them feel happy? Or happier?

I decided to make a list of a few things I knew would boost my mood up a notch and commit to doing them every day. I came up with the following:

• Go out of my way to say something positive and uplifting to a new person every day. My inner circle of friends at work would not count. It must be someone I barely knew or had never spoken to before

• Instead of waking up every day to social media, depressing television news and coffee, I resolved to start every morning with quiet time outside on my porch

• I would start adding lavender and other “mood boosting” essential oils to my daily routine, either in the bath or shower

• I would banish all of my black, “flattering” clothes to the back of the closet and wear as many bright, obnoxious color combinations as possible

• I would switch up my daily supplements routine by putting aside Dr. Formulated Probiotics for Women and trying the Dr. Formulated Probiotics Mood+ I had heard so much about

As for the last item on the list, I figured that I was already taking probiotics, so why not try the one a few co-workers were raving about that promotes emotional well-being and relaxation as well as digestive balance?

One obvious perk of working at Garden of Life is that we can pick up any product and read the back of the supplements panel to review the ingredients. Of course I already knew that Mood+ was formulated by our digestive expert Dr. David Perlmutter with clinically studied probiotics for those seeking to manage their mood and support relaxation. If you would like to know more about the 16 probiotic strains, the 50 billion CFU, or the prebiotic fiber, you can find out more here. To learn more about Dr. Perlmutter, click here.

However, what really caught my attention on the Mood+ supplement panel were the wild Alaskan blueberries and Ashwagandha. Used in Ayurvedic medicine, Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is an adaptogenic herb that helps to restore balance to the body, including supporting a healthy stress response, mood and memory. In addition, I recalled that Jeff Brams, our VP of Product Development, once told me the AuroraBlue® Alaskan Blueberry complex in Mood+ contains the highest antioxidant activities (up to 10 times higher) to support brain health and a positive mood.

Was it worth making a few small changes and adding two capsules a day to boost my mood? Was it possible to feel more level-headed, more balanced, and even happier than I already thought I was? Absolutely!

At the end of this exercise, I was glad that I had a colleague who was honest enough to tell me that I could stand to boost my mood and be happier. I decided that he didn’t mean I was always in a “bad” mood, but that if I claimed to be so darned happy, maybe everyone wasn’t seeing it because I wasn’t reflecting it.

Whatever the case, I realized every day brings its own stressful situations and challenges. We can let these things ruin our mood or we can decide to stay as calm, relaxed and balanced as possible. By choosing not to over-react to every little thing at work or at home, we can feel more at peace and experience more joy and happiness.

I believe that taking charge of emotional health is important. So I am doing the things on my short list, checking my mood more often, and taking my Mood+ capsules. I’m worth it, and so are you!

Dr. Formulated PROBIOTICS Mood+

A new approach to emotional health.†

Formulated for those seeking to manage their mood and support relaxation, Dr. Perlmutter created Mood+ with clinically studied probiotics (16 probiotic strains and 50 billion CFU), prebiotic fiber from premium Organic Acacia (A. Senegal), Organic Ashwagandha and Organic Alaskan Blueberries.

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