“When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I’m feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t feel so bad.”
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Things were simple on that grassy mountaintop where Maria sang about her favorite things in The Sound of Music.
Those days are gone, if, indeed, they ever existed.
But keeping a daily focus on the small moments of joy in your life is still a good way to improve your mood.
Since many electronic devices can cause bad moods—having to be available 24/7 and the pressure of keeping up with news and social media can leave you frazzled—you probably don’t think of your smartphone as a tool for mindfulness.
Like any tool, though, your smartphone can help or hurt you, depending on how you use it. Used mindfully, it can actually help improve your mood.
How? – Nowadays, many apps are available that can help you practice mindfulness daily, focus on gratitude and moments of joy, and remember your favorite things.
Here are some.
1. Smartphone Backgrounds and Wallpaper to Calm and Cheer You
Advertisers have perfected the art of using visual images to affect our feelings. You can use that technique to insert visual relaxation cues into your day.
Choose smartphone backgrounds and wallpaper that lift your mood. A sleeping puppy, a breathtaking mountaintop, or a serene forest scene can change your perspective instantly.
Or, use your wallpaper to place a visual of one of your goals to help you activate your intention to become your reality. If you are training for a marathon, for example, place a picture of the finish line as your background image, since you look at that picture all the time whenever you reach for your phone.
2. Recorded Sounds That Help Relax Your Mind
Sounds that relax and calm are part of mindfulness practice. Music, chants, and the sounds of ringing bells accompany yoga practice and other meditation exercises. White noise helps drown out distracting sounds to help you relax and sleep.
Apps like “Noisli” and “White Noise” provide background sounds that you can customize using different sound loops and volume adjustments. Many of these apps come in free or low-cost versions for both iPhone and Android phones. Everything from Tibetan bowl sounds to thunderstorms is available.
And don’t forget, music calms as well as stimulates. Create your own music mixes to soothe you when you’re feeling jangled or inspire you when you’re feeling down.
3. Create Affirmations on Your Smartphone
A cheerful or encouraging message can make all the difference in your day.
An app called “ThinkUp” lets you record affirmations in your own voice and set them to music. Another app, “Love pioneer,” provides a series of “flash card” style affirmations. And the “Shine Text” app sends a motivational message to your smartphone every day.
4. Manage Stress and Breathe for Relaxation
Learning to control your breathing helps you relax and reduces stress. Apps that help manage stress through deep breathing combine information with instructions and exercises.
Check out “Address Stress,” available free and in a full version for pay, which combines breathing exercises and relaxing sound. Or perhaps “Breathe2Relax,” a free app that includes exercises and feedback so you can mark your progress.
5. Guided Visualizations to Help You Relax and Sleep
Guided visualization is a tried-and-true way to learn relaxation and create those much-needed moments of joy. Apps like “Buddhify,” available for a small cost, provide hours of guided meditation in sessions on topics that relate to what you’re doing while listening: eating, waking up, taking a break at work, traveling, or trying to overcome stress or pain.
Moreover, sleep apps like “Sleep Better” track the depth of your sleep and have built-in “smart” alarms to wake you up. There’s even an airplane mode.
6. Directed Meditation to Connect with Your Senses
Meditation is a proven method for improving mood. Meditation apps help you connect with your senses and stay in the present.
“Headspace” is a widely used app that bills itself as a “gym membership for the mind.” It uses 10-minute guided meditations designed for beginners and experienced practitioners. A free version takes you through 10 days. After that, there’s a monthly fee.
And the app “Calm” provides a range of guided meditations varying from 2 to 25 minutes long, a daily 10-minute feature, breathing exercises, and sleep stories and sounds. There’s a free version and a premium subscription version.
The app "Insight Timer" is a terrific app that offers guided and unguided meditations as well as offering lectures from some of the many mindfulness teachers.
7. Gratitude Apps to Focus on the Positive
Humans tend to focus on what’s going wrong. Focusing on what’s going right in your life and work improves your resilience.
Apps like “Gratitude” lets you rate your day, list things you’re grateful for, and attach photos. While the “Gratitude Stream” app encourages you to record what you’re grateful for and share it. Both are good tools to help you focus on the tiny moments of joy that keep you feeling positive.
8. Journaling Apps Help Record Your Moods
Handwritten journals are a time-tested method of recording and examining your feelings so that you can gain understanding. Apps can help you extend this useful tool to times when you’re not at home with notebook and pen or computer.
“Journey” is a journaling app that lets you make written or photo entries, tag them, and access them from either your Android phone or your computer. And the app “Day Journal: Personal Diary” lets you attach photos and audio files to help you remember your day more vividly.
9. Book Reader Apps
If you’re a reader, you may have resisted using your phone for reading books. But because it’s always with you, your phone lets you dip into new, exciting reads or revisit old friends whenever you have a free 10 or 15 minutes.
If you select reading that uplifts and strengthens you, reading on your phone can help you get through a difficult day. And if you worry that reading on your phone is bad for your eyes, there’s always Audible.
10. Keep Track of Your Mood Swings
For a more serious investigation into improving your mood, there’s a free smartphone app for android phones that can track your feelings and find what could be mood triggers.
“Emotion Sense” collects data about where you are, how noisy it is, how much you’re moving, and who you’re communicating with, along with your own reports. Correlating this information can show you when you’re likely to be most stressed or when you feel relaxed.
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Clearly, taking time during your day to remember your favorite things and focus on moments of joy and successes in your life will help you boost your mood and deal with the stresses of your busy life.
Instead of just being a means for communication, think of your smartphone as a handy helper for improving your mood with relaxing images and sounds, affirmations, breathing exercises, meditation, journaling, books, and other mindfulness techniques.