Even the happiest, most positive people have days when they’re feeling blue. Sometimes life delivers a lot of big events at once and whether they’re positive or negative events, or a mix of both, it can lead to feelings of overwhelm and exhaustion.

When we feel overwhelmed and exhausted, it can lead us down a path of lower vibration emotions such as feelings of sadness, non-motivation, frustration, irritability and even depression.

So what can we do to combat these lower vibrational feelings and uplift ourselves? Here are five ideas to help you out of those blues and back into the light.

1. BE AROUND LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE

Finding our authentic tribe is important for us to shine. Spend more time with those who lift your spirit and be sure to be uplifting to them as well! If you don’t feel you’ve found your authentic tribe yet, think about joining a like-minded group, such as bicycling, a gym, chess club, video gaming, sewing, cooking, bird-watching, mom’s group, volunteering, photography, writing, whatever it is that brings you joy. If you’re not quite ready to do that, there are an abundance of positive and inspiring videos to watch through YouTube. The main idea is to connect with those who you connect with, those who have the same vibe as you.

2. GO OUTSIDE

There’s nothing like nature to ground us. Take a walk or a bike ride, climb a mountain or sit in front of an open window. Feel the air moving and nourishing you, listen to the sounds of nature around you. Breathe in the fresh air and feel it feeding every cell as your breath carries it throughout your body. Nature has been proven to soothe our soul, relieve feelings of anxiety and stress and is healthy for our body overall.

3. TREAT YOURSELF

There’s something to be said for some self-love. Do something nice for yourself . . . now! Don’t wait until you ‘have time’ to do it. It can be as simple as buying your favorite coffee or tea treat and taking it to the park to drink it, or making the time to go get a massage or get a mani/pedi. Maybe it’s purchasing something you’ve wanted for a long time or giving yourself the gift of browsing through your favorite book store with no time restrictions.

Whatever it is, do it! And more importantly, do it without guilt, you must do it with joy for it to be truly effective. Think of how much more you’ll be able to help others when you feel at your best.

4. NOURISH YOURSELF FIRST

While treating yourself is recommended to be done frequently, nourishing yourself needs to be done daily in order to be effective. I’m not sure why our culture doesn’t promote this more because I have learned it makes all the difference in how we feel. It’s the mentality of putting the oxygen mask on yourself first so that you can help others (as heard in the safety instructions on every plane I’ve ever been on). It makes sense, right?

How can we expect to be able to care for all of the people and things we have to care for if we don’t nourish ourselves first?

This lays the foundation for our health in all areas; spiritually, emotionally, physically and intellectually. This is one of the most important things you can do, not only for yourself, but for everyone around you.

Try doing these 6 things every day:

• Eat foods that nourish your body
• Drink at least 60oz. of water
• Exercise in some fashion
• Laugh at least once
• Talk with someone you love
• Get a restful nights sleep

The more these are your daily activities, the healthier and happier you will feel!

5. PRACTICE GRATITUDE AND JOY

Have you ever tried this? There are scientific reasons why this helps change our thought patterns. The mind/body connection is believed to be 80% body to brain communication and 20% brain to body communication, meaning that it’s much more impactful to improve our thought patterns by DOING rather than THINKING!

Our thoughts are tied to our body chemistry and our body chemistry is tied to our behavior. When we change our behavior, we change our chemistry and, therefore, change our thoughts. When we focus on those things, people, animals, events we have in our life and in our world that we’re grateful for, it takes the focus off the things that are making us feel blue and begins to allow us to feel uplifted.

I have a joy journal that I write in whenever the mood strikes, I used to write in it as more of a diary, keeping a journal of our life with all of it’s ups and downs. Now I use it more as a Joy Journal, writing down inspired thoughts and drawings and I journal about funny things that have happened, as well as those things I’m working toward manifesting (some would call them dreams). I find that I enjoy looking back on these writings much more and when I’m feeling a bit blue, I reread them and it helps bring things into perspective and can lift me up pretty quickly.

I hope that these suggestions will help you in your journey to live a life you LOVE.