The Magazine and Daily Blog of Catholic Living
Faith & Family Live is where everyday moms offer one another inspiration, support, and
encouragement in Catholic living. Anyone grappling with the meaning of life or the cleaning of laundry is
welcome here. Read the blog, check out our magazine, join our community, learn more
about our mission, and come on in! READ MORE
Meet the Faith & Family bloggers. We invite you to join us in encouraging and helping the Faith & Family community grow in faith!
Danielle Bean
Danielle Bean, a mother of eight, is editor-in-chief of Catholic Digest and Faith & Family. She is author of My Cup of Tea, Mom to Mom, Day to Day, and most recently Small Steps for Catholic Moms. Though she once struggled to separate her life and her …
Read My Posts
Rachel Balducci
Rachel Balducci is married to Paul and they are the parents of five lively boys and one precious baby girl. She is the author of How Do You Tuck In A Superhero?, and is a newspaper columnist for the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia. For the past four years, she has …
Read My Posts
Lisa Hendey
Lisa Hendey is the founder and editor of CatholicMom.com and the author of A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms and The Handbook for Catholic Moms. Lisa is also enjoys speaking around the country, is employed as webmaster for her parish web sites and spends time on various …
Read My Posts
Arwen Mosher
Arwen Mosher lives in southeastern Michigan with her husband Bryan and their 4-year-old daughter, 2-year-old son, and twin boys born May 2011. She has a bachelor's degree in theology. She dreads laundry, craves sleep, loves to read novels and do logic puzzles, and can't live without tea. Her personal blog site …
Read My Posts
Rebecca Teti
Rebecca Teti is married to Dennis and has four children (3 boys, 1 girl) who -- like yours no doubt -- are pious and kind, gorgeous, and can spin flax into gold. A Washington, DC, native, she converted to Catholicism while an undergrad at the U. Dallas, where she double-majored in …
Read My Posts
Robyn Lee
Robyn Lee is a 30-something, single lady, living in Connecticut in a small bungalow-style kit house built by her great uncle in the 1950s. She also conveniently lives next door to her sister, brother-in-law and six kids ... and two doors down are her parents. She received her undergraduate degree from …
Read My Posts
DariaSockey
Daria Sockey is a freelance writer and veteran of the large family/homeschooling scene. She recently returned home from a three-year experiment in full time outside employment. (Hallelujah!) Daria authored several of the original Faith&Life Catechetical Series student texts (Ignatius Press), and is currently a Senior Writer for Faith&Family magazine. A latecomer …
Read My Posts
Kate Lloyd
Kate Lloyd is a rising senior, and a political science major at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire. While not in school, she lives in Whitehall PA, with her mom, dad, five sisters and little brother. She needs someone to write a piece about how it's possible to …
Read My Posts
Lynn Wehner
As a wife and mother, writer and speaker, Lynn Wehner challenges others to see the blessings that flow when we struggle to say "Yes" to God’s call. Control freak extraordinaire, she is adept at informing God of her brilliant plans and then wondering why the heck they never turn out that …
Read My Posts
coffee talk | advice | discussion | lenten reflection | sharing | parenting | family | prayer | nfp | education | fertility | school | couples | sex | marriage | homemaking | open forum | laundry | homeschool | lent | husband | wife | relationships | procreation | learn | humor | cleaning | teach | babies | love | fun | videos | recipes | children | kindness | moms | saints | contraception | faith | news | food | books | housekeeping | forgiveness | hhs mandate | religious liberty | hallie lord | ideas | style sex and substance | thanksgiving | jesus | college | blessings | giveaway | gifts | suffering | sweet | gratitude | spouse | cooking | vocation | happiness | challenges | sleep | confession | mass | eucharist | vocations | infertility | service | gospel | health | titanic | friendship | parish | christ | self-sacrifice | pictures | blogging | art | heroism | natural family planning | womens health | nobility | sexual purity | pregnancy | tips | star parker | giveaways | fashion | easy | women | confirmation | kids | easter | stories | sacraments | questions | music | mothers day |
Posted by Rachel Balducci in Family on Tuesday, November 01, 2011 4:30 PM
Do you ever have times where you’re walking around and realize you’re just in a funk?
I do, and I usually make it worse by fixating on the fact that I’m in a funk. “I’m feeling blue,” I will say to myself, “I wonder why I’m blue?”
Instead of thinking so much about it, maybe a better plan is to try getting out of the funk. It’s not that we shouldn’t try to figure out what’s bothering us—sometimes that’s important and necessary. But other times there’s no need to get to the bottom of things. What matters is getting snapped out of it.
Here’s an interesting little article featuring nine things you can do to elevate your mood—ways to increase your happy factor instantly. It’s got some good tips, like tackling a task that’s weighing you down, or reach out to someone else and get your mind off your self.
If you’re feeling blah, try a few of these little tricks, and let me know if it helps.
Page 1 of 1 pages
thanks, Rachel! Yes, when I think “why am I feeling down?” it usually leads to me remembering a whole list of things to be angry about, usually…things my husband has done. Not a good idea.
I like the “set the timer for 10 minutes” idea. I learned that from my sister-in-law and it is a big help when I am feeling overwhelmed—it really is surprising how much decluttering or cleaning you can get done in 10-15 minutes.
When I am in bad mood it helps me to figure out why. Usually identifying it takes the power out of it for me. And usually it is something stupid and not worth being down about so knowing that helps me put it aside. Sometimes it is something serious but it still helps me to take the cloak off and name it. Occasionally when I can’t identify it, that fact that i tried helps anyway because I figure, “Couldn’t be a very bad thing that is bugging me if I can’t even remember what it is.” I have even taught me son who has a similar temperment to try to identify why he is in a down mood and once he does that he invariably has a better attitude. This has helped our homeschooling go a lot smoother.
“Act Happy” definitely helps boost my mood when I’m tired or not feeling great, as long as I can force myself to do it. I read somewhere that when you laugh, your body doesn’t know if it’s forced laughter or not, so you have the same positive effects. It’s so true! I’ve tried this (when only my young children were around 
I feel like a crazy person, but after a moment I’m actually laughing for real. Singing also helps. The challenge is remembering how much my own mood tends to impact others (and this is immediately seen in my young children), and how important it is to be cheerful whether I feel like it or not.
I’d be interested to see how other people can “force” cheerfulness upon themselves
Alexis, here is a 5 minute clip by Dennis Prager, a radio host who also has a fantastic book on the topic of happiness called, “Happiness is a Serious Problem.”
http://www.prageruniversity.com/Psychology/Happiness-is-a-Moral-Obligation.html
It may not give you tips on precisely *how* to force cheerfulness, but it will encourage you to know you’re on the right path!
By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
Print Blog
Email a Friend