Just about everyone winds up in a bad mood every now and then, some of us more often than others.
Whether it’s related to anxiety, stress, or simply someone getting on your bad side, we all have ways of coping. Of course, some of these methods are more effective than others.
Maybe you go shopping for a bit of retail therapy or you binge-watch the best episodes of your favorite show. Or perhaps you have a healthier vice, like going for a quick run. There may be an even better way to tackle that negativity though.
A study recently published in the Journal of Happiness Studies suggests a simple exercise you might want to try.
Researchers at Iowa State University outlined techniques for “decreasing anxiety and increasing subjective well-being.” Sounds nice, right? Apparently, at least one of their strategies is actually quite useful.
The techniques involved “downward social comparison, loving-kindness contemplations, and interconnectedness contemplations.” (Don’t worry, we’ll explain these in a minute.)
Each of the test subjects were asked to focus on one of these techniques while walking around for 12 minutes.
The first, and most effective, of the techniques was “loving-kindness.” For the subjects that contemplated this technique, they experienced greater happiness and empathy, reduced anxiety, and even more positive feelings.
The exercise, which also brought heightened feelings of caring and connectedness, simply involved wishing people well.
The subjects were to look at others during their walk and think, “I wish for that person to be happy.”
That’s it, they simply walked around and contemplated the happiness of others and it boosted their own moods.
“Walking around and offering kindness to others in the world reduces anxiety and increases happiness and feelings of social connection,” explained one of the researchers, psychology professor Douglas Gentile.
One of the other experiments tested in the study involved thinking about interconnectedness. While it was beneficial in terms of social connection, it didn’t have the same mood-boosting effects of loving-kindness. In the interconnectedness experiment, the subjects were required to think about how people are connected to one another. This was, again, during a 12-minute walk.
The final strategy, which surprisingly showed no real benefit, involved downward social comparison. In this test, subjects again walked around for 12 minutes and thought about the people they came across. This time, they considered the ways in which they themselves may be better off than those they encountered.
Neither of these strategies worked as well as the first, and the latter was “significantly worse.”
Isn’t it incredible that simply directing kind thoughts towards others could have such an impressive mood-boosting effect? Perhaps this is something we could all use more often in our daily lives.
Next time you’re feeling anxious or down, try taking a short walk. On that walk, be sure to wish happiness on everyone you encounter. By simply thinking these kind thoughts, you may suddenly find yourself feeling much better all-around.
