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 I admit it: I don’t always feel great.

Yea, I’m surprised, too.

You’d think the author of such self-help books as The Attractor Factor and The Key, who stars in the inspiring movie The Secret, would have it together by now.

Sorry to disappoint you.

I still have my “moments.”

At least today they are only off moments where in the past they were bad days.

But if Boston can transform a prison into a luxury hotel called Liberty Hotel, then you and I can transform our mood.

So let me give you an early Christmas present by sharing ten self-help tips I do to shift my emotions which may help you, as well:

1. Pet a cat. I look into the eyes of my pets and I begin to feel more relaxed. They purr and my world changes. Ahhhhh…

2. Walk a dog. Just moving can make you feel better but having an excited dog tug at you to move you along faster is even better.

3. Play loud music. Nothing like hearing great music from Michelle Malone — or AC/DC or Stevie Ray Vaughan or Bruce Springsteen — playing at ear ringing levels to make me forget my woes. Dance to the music and unhappiness doesn’t stand a chance of surviving.

4. Make a decision. As I say in the movie The Secret, and in my books The Attractor Factor and The Key, setting an intention for how you want your day to go will realign you and your day. How do you want to feel? What do you want to achieve? Focus on that and you’ll begin to go toward it.

5. Help someone. Feeling unhappy is a selfish experience, so share it with someone you love. Just kidding. You can lift your own mood by looking for someone who is sad and comforting them. Listen to them. Buy them a cookie. Anything to take the focus off of you.

6. Feel grateful. Look around and find something, anything, to feel truly grateful to have. Gratitude is a powerful attractor of more to feel grateful for. Compared to people in the past and people in third world countries, you have it made.

7. Watch a movie. Movies shift your feelings and thoughts and can be a powerful way to improve your mood. Watch The Marx Brothers, The Three Stooges, etc. I liked the Bruce Willis movie 13 Blocks. Watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Watch Donny Deutsch’s The Big Idea. Watch cartoons. Whatever flips your switch.

8. Eat something. Yes, it’s comfort food when you reach for a meal when you aren’t really hungry and feel like crap, but food helps put you in the moment, shifts your serotonin levels, and makes your blood rush from your head to your stomach. Just don’t make this a habit.

9. Detach. Consider this a spiritual exercise and learn to detach from your thoughts, feelings and body. As I write in Zero Limits, you are the witness behind it all. Enjoy the show. Life is a play, my friend. It just seems real.

10. Smile. Look in the mirror and create a dozen different ways to smile. How would a kid do it? Go ahead. Be silly. No one is watching. You might start laughing at yourself and sooner or later, son of a gun, you’re really smiling.

Bonus Tip: Take action. Nothing beats simply diving into a project, preferably something you’ve been wanting to do anyway. Getting lost in the doing is a smart way to transcend your mood and get something productive done, as well. Forget avoiding. Start doing.

Finally, remember what comedian George Burns said —

“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.”

Well, are you happy now?

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – My Miracles Coaching program is accepting new applicants. Want a miracle or two? Want to feel happy and excited every day? See www.miraclescoaching.com Hey, no charge to go look.

Note: Photo by Lola Jones of www.lolajones.com 

You can ask me anything you like about my latest book, The Key: The Missing Secret to Attracting Whatever You Want by going here www.AskJoeTheKey.com No charge, obligation or expectation. Just an invitation. Go see.

I just wrote an original article for a local magazine (Austin All Natural) about giving. It will appear in their December issue.  As “luck” would have it, I just received this email, shared here with the author’s permission:

“Hey Joe, hope this email finds you doing well.  I just had to write you and give you a quick testimonial.  Remember I had sent you the leather bags and in turn you sent me all your books.  They are awesome.  So here’s my story.

“I had just finished reading your book “The Greatest Money Making Secret in History” and I was thinking about how much I liked giving things away.  But I currently really wasn’t giving money, services, etc. to anyone on a regular basis.  So I was pondering who in my life I wanted to give to. 

“Then I remembered a homeless gentleman that hungout a few blocks from my apartment.  Now generally speaking I’m not in favor of homeless people hanging out on corners with their little signs asking for money.  But this guy was different.  He was handwriting poems that he made up each day.  I found it fascinating and I loved the fact that he was using his brain and at least offering people something of value and all he was asking was a quarter for a poem! 

“I would typically see this guy 3 times a week.  So I started buying a poem from him every time I saw him.  But I was giving him a 20 dollar bill each time.  It made me feel great and of course I could afford it. 

“In your book we were told to give what we were comfortable with and I was.  It cracked me up because he never remembered me but each time I drove off I could see him in the rear view mirror jump up and down in delite.  On top of that I really liked his poems! 

“This went on for a couple of weeks and in the mean time I was getting ready for a big move.  I just recently moved from Los Angeles to Denver and I was really dreading the move, not only from a monetary standpoint but also mental.  I knew it was going to be costly to move and I really didn’t know where I was going to get that much free cash flow for my move. 

“Well low and behold two weeks after I starting giving as instructed in the book I had Macy’s North (the retail store) which is comprised of 10 of their stores on the east coast find my website out of the blue and they ended up placing a $12,000 wholesale order of which I profited over $5,000.  

“Now consider this, I do both retail and wholesale orders but even my wholesale order on average are around $300 per order.  NEVER, NEVER have I had one of this size.  It paid for my entire move.  I just can’t think of any other reason than the Power of Giving that I was given this order in return.  Joe, it works.  It really works.”

— Rob www.robdiamond.net for belt buckles and belts!

Well done, Rob.

What have you given today?

Ao Akua,

joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — Money is only one thing you can give.

There’s a recent in-depth review of my book Zero Limits at
www.chicagowellnessmagazine.com/pdfs/novdec2007/Page%207.pdf Enjoy.

Byron Katie teaches people “The Work.” It’s basically a simple questioning process. You take a statement that is bothering you and “work” on it.

For example, “My boss infuriates me” (which could be “My spouse infuriates me” or “My neighbors infuriate me” or “That blogger infuriates me”) could be the statement you focus on.

You now ask these questions:

“Is it true?”

“Can you absolutely know that it’s true?”

“How do you react when you believe that thought?”

“Who would you be without that thought?”

There’s a bonus technique to do after you answer those questions, too.

You take the original troublesome statement — “My boss infuriates me” — and turn it around, to its opposite: “My boss loves me.” (Correction: The turn around statement would be more personal, such as “I infuriate me.”)

Note how that feels.

This procedure is a powerful way for exploring what troubles you. There are many books and audios by and about Bryron. A good place to start is www.thework.com

While in Canada, I picked up a copy of her book, Question Your Thinking, Change the World. It’s a collection of quotes from Bryon. Here’s one:

“There’s no suffering in the world;

there’s only a story that would lead you to believe it.

There’s no suffering in the world that’s real.”

Chew on that.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS —  My Miracles Coaching program is currently accepting new applicants. See www.miraclescoaching.com