Live in the present moment.
Forget about what happened last year, yesterday or what may or may not happen tomorrow
Allow yourself to be bored.
Chill out, look at the sky, shut down your mind for a few minutes
Imagine yourself at your own funeral.
Morbid but it puts things in perspective. Think about what you would of liked your priorities to be and what kind of person you would of wanted to be. Certainly wouldn’t of wanted to be stressed all the time!
A low mood is not the time to analyse your life.
Of course you’ll be annoyed, negative etc, you’re in a bad mood.
Life is a test. It’s only a test.
Redefine issues/problems as tests.
See innocence in peoples behaviour.
We need to stop assuming someone is 'guilty', purposely being spiteful, irrational or selfish. The likelihood is they are innocent.
Resist the urge to criticise.
This is the big one for me. Stop finding fault/negative in people. Let them be and if it’s different from my opinion then thats cool with me.
Zen. See the glass as already broken.
Everything has a life span, whether its your car or a nice whisky glass. Accepting that its already broken means that every day it isn’t is a bonus! Basically don't stress about things getting broken, they already are.
Breath before you speak.
Especially when you’re frustrated or disagree, take that extra second to take a breath then start talking. We are always waiting for our turn to speak, jumping in as soon as we get the chance. Let people speak and take some air man.
Life isn’t an emergency so stop making everything seem urgent.
Life is never as bad as we like to make out. When you get stressed, remind yourself that life isn’t an emergency, it doesn’t need to be a soap opera you’re probably blowing things out of proportion.
Positive reinforcement.
Tell yourself how good you are at things rather than how bad you are.
Count to 10 whilst breathing in and out.
Each count is an inhale and an exhale.
Be flexible with changes in your plans.
If someone is late, does it matter? Probably not, just go with the flow.
Think of what you have rather than what you could have.
Be happy where you are right now and what you have. Replace expectation with appreciation.
Practice ignoring negative thoughts.
Meditation.
Keep doing some simple meditation, daily if possible.
Prepare for the morning the evening before
Have everything you’re going to do lined up the evening before so that you can get started quickly and not stay awake thinking about it.
By Jonathan Clift, a UX Desginer based in the UK.