Prescriptions for Life

This article offers some great tips to literally change the direction of our moods with our choices and attidues!! We can choose to take better care of our health, avoid alcohol, be around positive people or watch shows that make us laugh, listen to music we enjoy, get some sun, exercise our bodies and minds, and even smile or dance :) Yes, we are all suseptible to getting down, but we CAN do something about it. Some are more suseptible than others and fall into patterns that are difficult to break without some professional help such as depression counseling or anxiety counseling. It's amazing how much a new perspective, life purpose, new goals and hope can do in lifting our moods and changing our lives. Simple things can make a big difference. WIth practice, these tips can become a part of our lifestyle. Thank you for your inspiring story and words of wisdom and encouragement!

Some people are able to apply good advice and improve their lives within a relatively short period. Other people have been reading good advice for 20 years with relatively little apparent benefits.

The question is how do we go from good advice to actually transforming our life since the 2 are not always related.

I agree with the statement above. I could find this same information in any trashy women's magazine. I don't see how these are tips when the general population knows they should get more sleep and eat better, yada yada. The problem is they don't and there's a reason for it.

Society, particularly the U.S. strive for workaholics, perfectionists, outer beauty, the next best thing in entertainment, excitement, and so forth. Pressure comes not only from the outside but from within, and until we can fix society too, it'll be hard to "fix" ourselves.

I'm sick of people trying to make money off others thinking they know what will make people happy, especially with stupid tips in self help books. If you want to know what's makes people happy, go to a third world country and see how poor people can still have a smile on their face despite living in crap all their lives. Talk to someone who has overcome abuse, death, crime, and poverty, and ask them how they reached happiness. And maybe accept that you're going to be sad sometimes, because life isn't meant to be easy.

I can relate to how passionately you both feel about our need to change our society - I frequently write and speak about the fact that people in much poorer cultures are happier (I lived in Mexico for the last few years, and it changed me forever) and we that need to continue to look at why, to learn where we went wrong. I also agree that suffering teaches us much about what really counts in life, and what truly makes us happy. As a practicing physician I deal with the face of human suffering all the time (have you ever had to tell someone that they have cancer, or that they're having a heart attack?). I have personally experienced abuse etc. and absolutely agree that sadness has an important place in our lives - the deepest valleys have the most profound potential to transform us and ultimately lift us up (and others around us). That said, these tips really do work well for me, and for my patients and coaching clients that stand to benefit from them. As always, to each his own! Regardless, I appreciate your perspective, thanks for taking the time to comment.
Susan Biali

When they say Alcohol is a depressant that doesn't mean it makes you sad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depressant

Don't confuse Depressant with Depression. Although it still doesn't make Alcohol good for you.

If these tips were in a magazine, it would by definition no longer be trashy.
And, I share the author's biases: most people lose sight of how to "be happy" or to relieve poor moods. Some never knew these tips in the first place.
And, the way to progress is paved with reminders of what to do and why.
I believe many overweight sedentary people are not aware that they will feel much better and more energetic when they exercise: they think they'll be tired and exhausted and "worn out." And, many introverts do not realize that their mood would improve if they just gave folks a try.
So, Dr. Biali,
please do keep the faith and continue the message, knowing that if even one person reads and "gets it", you have changed a life for the better, perhaps for the individual's entire life.

By the way, perhaps another "tip" to getting into a better mood is to stop posting cynical, snarky, whining posts on anonymous blogs, trying to tear down those who are trying to make the world a little bit happier, one tip at a time... JMHO....

May the winds of God fill your sails...

I neglected to say: 'Thanks for the great tips..I'll be sure to use them today and I will thereby be happier today..."

Susan,I found your article quite uplifting,and merely reading it improved my mood.The great thing about your tips is that they are easy to put into practice and are available to all of us.Personally my favourite has always been regular exercise.I have often joked that exercise is my prozac and I am glad to see that the research bears that out.Your article was light and cheerful,and that is how life should be!

:)