Autumn and winter are a sad time when it’s easy to suffer from melancholy. Still, emotions are not introduced into the body from the outside. They come from within. How should you learn to better understand yourself and manage your own perception, how do you get rid of winter melancholy and maintain a cheerful mood?
1. Understand and react to the real signals of your emotions correctly
Negative emotions are very important: they give a signal about what we lack harmony and comfort. However, most people do not know about these signals and react to them incorrectly.
The three most common emotions that cause the most harm are fear, anger, and guilt.
- Fear is a warning about a threat.
- Anger is a reaction to something unfair or dishonest in relation to ourselves.
- A sense of guilt is a signal of our dishonest/unfair act in relation to someone.
To get rid of these emotions and restore the spiritual balance, you need to remove the reason why they appeared. We need to eliminate the threat, restore justice to ourselves or to someone we have offended (and, if it is impossible, to forgive the offender or yourself).
This is not always done simply and quickly, but it is necessary that the unpleasant emotion should be gone.
It is important to remember that no sweets or alcohol will remove the real cause of the emotion. On the contrary, they often lead to feelings of guilt and anger towards oneself. Remember these simple signals and eliminate the causes of their occurrence as quickly as possible.
2. Do not complain.
Do not complain about snow, rain, baggy clothes or fogging glasses in the subway. Ideally, do not complain at all. Complaining, like any other thought, increases itself in our minds. Complaining does not help to “release the steam” by giving way to negative emotions.
On the contrary, having got into the focus of our attention, it acquires new details and facets, distorting our perception in a negative way.
In the cold season, there are especially many reasons to complain. This will not help you or anyone else. You will only worsen your mood and the mood of other people. Instead of complaining, try to think constructively.
3. Try to understand people
Rude and unpleasant behavior of the surrounding people looks very authentic and spoils your mood. But it’s much better to learn to look a little further than that.
A person in harmony and joy never behaves rudely, aggressively or sarcastically. Such reactions are always a consequence and often an involuntary release of people’s personal anxieties, problems, and worries.
Very rarely, such unpleasant reactions have something to do with you. You are just a pretext. Understanding this fact dramatically changes the perception of such situations. They are still unpleasant, but they are no longer important.
Having preserved the spiritual balance, you will begin to imagine with curiosity what is happening in the life of this person, if he or she reacts this way. Preserving peace and harmony, we need to react wisely to whatever happens around.
If you react correctly to your own emotions, think constructively rather than complain, and understand that other people’s negative reactions are a consequence of their incorrect reaction to their own emotions, then comfort, joy, and peace will be with you at any time of the year.
Below are a few simple recommendations on how to overcome winter melancholy.
Add more light
A person with seasonal mood swings needs 10 times more light than the rest. Unfortunately, you cannot get enough ultraviolet for the rest of the year – there is no cumulative effect of sunlight. Therefore, from the beginning of September to the end of winter, it is necessary to undergo insolation. It is best to walk outdoors, in natural light. If this is not possible – turn on the fluorescent lamp every morning for 30-60 minutes. According to the professor of psychiatry from Boston, Nassir Ghaemi, such duration is most effective.
Take vitamin D and melatonin
Our skin absorbs the sun rays, and vitamin D is formed in the body under their influence. This vitamin acts as an antidepressant and helps with sleep disorders. In the case of ultraviolet deficiency, it can be obtained from fatty fish and food supplements containing vitamin D. Melatonin-containing medicines help regulate the disturbed circadian rhythms, but they should be taken after consulting the doctor.
Move
Get involved in aerobic exercises at least 30 minutes a day – ride a bike, jog, swim, dance, etc. Movement saturates the body with oxygen and increases the tone.
In most cases, winter melancholy is treatable. Follow our advice, do not take life’s troubles seriously, and you will not suffer from seasonal depression!
