9 Ways Bad Moods Can Be Good For You!

Photo credit: bigstock.com

There is a difference between being in a bad mood for a reason, basking in a cloud of depression, and having a bad day with the hope of having a better one tomorrow. It is a much better feeling to be happy, but contrary to popular belief it is very difficult to be happy every moment of every day no matter what occurs in your life. In fact, being in a bad mood is not only normal, sometimes it gives you the impetus to clear out bad feelings and bad habits and recharge yourself with a new outlook.

Many of the ancient literary works viewed misfortunes as a regular part of life. Shakespearean tragedies viewed life in this way as did musical artists like Chopin and Beethoven. Philosophers saw the advantage of accepting problems and finding ways to live through them and live to see a better day. Here are 9 ways being in a bad mood can benefit you:

 

1. Increases your memory

A clinical study tested the memory of the people who participated in it. They tested the participants on their recall of the details that had to do with a shop they had recently visited. What they found was that the people who went to the shop on a gloomy, chilly day were able to provide many more details than those who visited the shop on a sunny, warm day. The study showed that the people who were sad paid more attention to the shop and all of the details about the environment, whereas the people who were happy provided less details and just went with the flow.

 

2. Makes you more polite

When researchers studied a group of people who had just taken in a sad movie, they found they were much more polite when they made a request. They seemed to be more in tune with other people’s feelings after viewing the movie. After studying people who watched a film that had a happy theme they found the viewers were not as in tune with others and were not very polite at all.

 

3. Gives you motivation

A study was conducted to determine the level of motivation between sad people and happy people. They found that those who were sad stuck with a difficult task and persisted until completion. Happy people, on the other hand, quit the difficult task without trying to complete it. They also hampered their chances of completing the task by indulging in a beverage that could affect their performance.

Continue to Page 2

PrevPage: 1 of 3Next
//