Cranky Panky

We all have cranky days, where you just wake up cranky and stay cranky all day and no matter how much positive self talk or repeating positive affirmations you do...it doesn't make an ounce of difference. 

I'm having one of the those today and it's allowed me to get a few insights into how to deal with them in a positive manner, without damaging too many people along the way.

• Notice how you feel, be the observer and watch the emotions flow through you and how they affect you physically. This puts a little distance between 'you' and the emotions allowing some space to breathe. From this vantage point you can see how thoughts create emotions and then emotions affect the body.
• Avoid judging yourself. You may find that your internal monologue will start to say things like "Look at you, you got angry, you’re bad person" That merely is the ego (or little crazy me as I like to call it) making another pointless judgement. Just let the thoughts go without believing them.
• Don’t pretend to be happy and put on a fake smile, that only suppresses the feelings, bottling them up causing you to have a massive blow up at someone who least deserves it. Just be honest and let people know you’re having a cranky day and you hope it passes quickly.
• Avoid people as much as you can. Its times like these that it’s okay to be alone or take time away. Let’s face it...you want to cause as least damage to as many people as possible!
• Go into the backyard or the nearest park or in my case, work parking lot and scream and yell. Roll around, jump up and down, dance like an idiot or whatever (Okay maybe not the park as people will think you’re nuts) and release the energy that has built up. It’s important to do this as the energy needs to be moved on, not held tight within your body and this is the safe and gentle way to do it. Otherwise you may end up blowing up at someone that doesn't deserve it.
• Say thank you. Yep, say thank you to the universe for your "cranky day" as it’s allowed you to notice a little bit of how 'you' work and what you can do to be gentler on yourself and others. 

via Cranky Birds

What about you...what's your mood like today?