Often we start to notice ourselves falling into anger, 
depression, self-pity or other responses to a work or home 
situation. Here are a few ideas to implement when in a 
situation where a knee-jerk reaction starts to arise.

Remember it is much easier to nip something in the bud than 
to deal with stress after it flowers into physical symptoms 
or a bad mood. If you get into a funk sometimes it can last 
for days and it's often hard to break free of it. When you 
can "catch" the negative moment beginning you have a great 
shot at stopping it from taking you down. I've found these 
helpful for myself as well as my clients:

Breaking out of moods:

1) If you feel a certain "mood" beginning (i.e. depression, 
   anger, discouragement) try to do something physical such as 
   go running, swim, or even clean. It's good to do something 
   that will tune up your nervous and glandular system. We
   need to break the incarnations that set into our bodies. 
   It is similar to stopping smoking after one cigarette 
   rather than 20 years of smoking. Sometimes if you have 
   a shoe and it is worn out on one side you'll see that if 
   you put your foot in it, it leans in that direction. The 
   mind follows the grooves it previously was tracing out. 
   We have the power to "change the channel" and watch a 
   different movie.

2) There are two breathing exercises from yoga that are  
   very helpful to cultivate a neutral mind. One is called 
   "Alternate nostril breathing" and the other is called 
   "Breath of Fire". These are explained in detail in the 
   booklet I wrote. You can also learn these from a yoga 
   class or video or write: mailto:yogabreathing@sendfree.com

3) Identify and write down the mental tape loops that you 
   finding yourself repeating. By knowing what these are you 
   can watch it instead of take it as your own identity. The 
   more you "see" the dramas the less you react from within 
   them. We all fall into our own melodramas and soap operas 
   and taking a bird's eye view can give us another perspective. 
   It helps us to not "buy into" our own story. Our inner story 
   is something we repeat to ourselves and others and gives us 
   our identity. It's good to step back and see which parts of 
   it are beneficial and which are messages from the past, 
   other people or our old identities. Just as a computer 
   needs to have files deleted in order to operate more
   efficiently, so our minds need to have the extra "files" 
   emptied out so we have room for new stories, dreams and  
   aspirations.

4) Keep a notebook of inspiring anectdotes, quotes and tips. 
   This helps to boost one's spirit and also to feel connected 
   with others that have dealt with similar feelings. Put some 
   reminders on your refrigerator, desk at work, car dash
   board and other places so you can catch you mind and 
   re-direct it in a positive direction.


                   Inspirational Samples

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not 
due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and 
this you have the power to revoke at any moment.

                   ~  Marcus Aurelius  ~

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver 
five minutes longer.

                  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~