Springtime is here!! The weather is beautiful, the sun is out and you are starting to see more and more people walking, running and playing outside. It’s the time of year that we all look forward too, the cold is over and it’s time to end our hibernation. Our mood also seems to become more cheerful and happy. We tend to be more positive and more adventurous, more willing to go places we’ve never been before and more able to seize the moment. It’s almost as though we’re reborn into newer and happier people, but why does the weather do this to us? Shouldn’t we always be this happy and eager to enjoy life? Is the weather “in charge” of our emotions and how we’re supposed to feel each day? Let’s just say, the weather has more of an affect on us than most people may think.
Weather in general can be very unpredictable, but also so can your mood. You may find yourself waking up in the morning with a great attitude, ready to start your day and get things going and then one little thing happens and you find yourself angry and upset for the rest of the day. It’s the same with the weather; on sunny days you seem to be more cheery and full of life, and on cold and rainy days you struggle to find the motivation needed to complete your daily tasks. This is something that happens without you fully realizing that it occurs, and you are not the only one.
By having this nice weather, we feel that we have a newfound freedom. We are able to go and frolic outside without the worry of being too cold. We feel the sunlight on our skin and it brings a smile to our faces in a large part because we know that we have awhile until we have to experience the cold again. We all have serotonin in our bodies and when we are exposed to bright light, our serotonin level rises. When we have a lack of light, it decreases our levels thus making us more down and somewhat depressed. Many people have been diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder, which can be implemented on any season but is more common with the fall and winter months, but it evolves from a lack of sunlight, which upsets your biological clock causing disruption to your usual sleep cycle along with many other things. If you have SAD you find that during your hard season you really struggle with motivation to do or achieve anything. You find yourself staying at home more, getting sick more frequently and your mood becomes more irritable and upset towards others. But how can we improve this with the change of the season starting?
Get Outside
The sun is shining, the temperatures are up and the days are longer! Get outside and enjoy them! Studies have proven time and time again that people who spend at least 30 minutes outside on a beautiful day have improved moods, better memory, more creative thinking, and openness to new information. Thus making you more productive and more eager to achieve new tasks. When the sun is shining you can see that people are overall more friendly and more willing to help. When we are able to walk outside, with the sun shining on us, and take a deep breath of fresh air all anxiety and stress seems to just float away. By going outside and allowing yourself these 30 minutes a day, you are allowing yourself more clarity in your life. Clarity to enjoy the world around you, and the people who surround you with more of an openness and acceptance. Clarity of your mind, reducing stress and being able to think and process things more clearly. But overall, you are allowing yourself to become happier and you are sharing your happiness with the rest of the world.
Get in charge?
While we now know that the weather does affect our overall mood. It’s time for you to take charge of your emotions. Allow the weather to affect your mood more positively but never negatively. You should have a positive mood always, you continue to do the things that you have to or want to do and you do so with a smile on your face most of the time because you want to see success. Just because it is raining or snowing outside shouldn’t effect your motivation and attitude to the point of neglect. We have somehow programmed our brains into thinking that rainy days are meant for sleeping and watching movies… why? Although this is a nice time to enjoy a movie or to get some extra sleep why should that be the only thing we can do? Because we let it happen. We tell ourselves that rainy days are a day off from anything productive and that we deserve that time to ourselves to refresh our minds and bodies. But you should be doing that anyway, and not on rainy days, on any day that you feel you may need some time to yourself to collect your thoughts and to refuel your body. By taking control of your emotions, you are allowing yourself to be fully in charge of your bodies feelings at all times, allowing yourself to be more overall happy and most of all, allowing yourself success in the future.
Get Positive
With the winter months bringing some of us down, we tend to get wrapped up in our heads and turn everything more negative. Unplug yourself from the negativity and allow the positivity to come flowing in. Be more selective of what you are watching on TV, what books you are reading and whom you are hanging around. Try rewiring your way of thinking by becoming your own best coach. You now have control of your emotions and your mood, but it’s time to get control of your mind as well. Pay more attention to your thoughts and catch yourself every time a more negative one comes into play. Dismiss the thoughts that have no importance on your daily life and that seem to only bring you down. Become at peace with your mind and let yourself explore ways of transforming the negative thoughts into positive ones. Positive thinking and positive emotions result in unlimited happiness, remember this.
So get out there! Smell the freshly bloomed flowers while enjoying the sunlight and the wind on your cheeks. Do some exercise or sit in the park and read a book, or have a picnic with some friends. The season is just starting, how will you enjoy it?
The Clarity Of Mind 