It's the Little Things

Today we talk about how little things like sight, sound, smell and touch - all have an impact on our mood.  Taking the time to look at these things and how they make us feel allows us to make better choices which in turn sets us up for a better mood.

Transcript

Hello, my name is Tiffany, and welcome to the podcast, Working on Amazing. This is a podcast where we talk about the work that it takes to rebuild an amazing life.

And I use that word rebuild specifically, because we're designed for women who feel like they're starting over in the middle of their life. If that's you, I just want to say, from the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry.

I know how overwhelming and itchy it feels when all of your plans, all your hopes, all your dreams for the future have gone up in smoke. And it really does. It feels like you're starting over.

But I'm here to tell you, you are not alone. You're actually in the right place. There is hope.

It gets so much better. So welcome. I'm so glad that you're here.

As we get down to today's episode, today we're going to talk about our senses and how that affects our mood. I think being conscientious of things is the first step to conquering being on top of our mental health and being aware of how things are.

So I think so much of my life, I did things kind of unaware, you know?

The way things affected my mood or whatever, I was just kind of a little bit oblivious to, and becoming really conscientious about how we interact with the world and how that affects our emotions, I think is a big step in our mental health and in

taking control of it. Instead of it controlling us, we control it. And I think that's super important. So I think, just taking the time to think about it, as like how our senses affect our mood.

So as we talk about our senses, well, the first sense that comes to mind is sight, right? So what we see truly affects our mood. And you know this, you know, if you see a sunset or a rainbow, it kind of puts you in a good mood.

You're like, oh, that's pretty. But if you see a pile of trash or an animal that's been hit on the side of the road, that can put you in, oh, a not so good mood, right? So how can we control this to affect our mood in a positive way?

Well, color has a big effect on your mood. So really dark colors can sometimes, I mean, there is science of psychology behind this, that lots of blacks and lots of really, really dark colors kind of dampens your mood.

But bright colors lift your mood. And it's slight. I'm not going to say if you paint your whole house white and yellow, that you'll suddenly be in a better mood.

But colors truly do affect your mood. And so I think the things you have around your house and the dominant colors matter.

I've noticed some design trends where you have an accent wall that's really, really dark, like navy blue or something like that.

If you're in a difficult season in your life and you're struggling not to feel depressed and sad, I would recommend having a very dark accent wall. This went so far for me, even as the color of bedding that I chose.

I always tried to choose light bedding. And then one time, I was on this deal website, and they had some bedding, and it was so pretty. It was navy blue, paisleys.

It was really pretty, and I bought it, but I realized it just made my room feel dark and closed, and it didn't have the same effect.

And even though it was a beautiful comforter blanket, it really wasn't what I needed as I was going through a difficult season. And it's not that anything was wrong with it. It was just, I needed to have bright colors.

I had a bright white shower curtain with, you know, rhinestone accents. I just tried to visually make myself see things that were, I don't know, that lifted up my mood. So, dark things really do have a slight effect on your mood.

And it may only be 5 or 10 percent. Maybe it's a small amount. But overall, when you're at a low percentage mood-wise anyway, you just don't need that little extra.

The other thing I would say that I think affects your mood visually is having natural light. So, when you wake up, open up the windows, let that natural light flood in, that really does affect your mood. I mean, it truly does.

The other thing I would say, when we talk about visually, if you look at a pile of trash, that doesn't put you in the same mood as looking at a rainbow, right? So, the other thing that really can affect your mood is clutter.

So, when you have clutter around your house, it can put you in not such a great mood. And once again, it only affects it by maybe a little bit, right?

But the reason is because every time you see that, your visual, you know, how your vision affects your mood, right? What you see, every time you see the clutter, you just kind of know you've got to put it up.

You've got to do something with that, right? And you turn that off immediately, like, I'm not going to do that today, I'll do that tomorrow. But your mind is constantly telling you, you need to do something.

And when you pick it all up, have you ever just gone on a cleaning spray and cleaned everything? And you go to sleep at night, and it just feels so good, because, like, everything's put up. When you look around your room, it just feels so good.

There truly is science behind the fact that clutter causes us low-grade stress. I say a little bit that it falls in the visual category, but it falls in other categories, too.

So I think it's worth being conscientious about and thinking about, what does my environment look like? What colors am I using? Am I using bright colors, or am I using those dark jewel tones?

I love jewel tones, so don't misunderstand.

But if you really love dark colors, like the dark cranberries in the dark navies in black, like black is beautiful, but maybe use it as an accent piece, as a throw pillow, as something small in the bigger, heavier colors that are gonna carry the

room, the whole couch, the colors of your cabinets, the accent wall, have that be a brighter, lighter color. And the color that goes on your bed, that's a big chunk, that's a lot of real estate in a room, what covers your bed.

So, things like that, you want maybe lighter, brighter. You wanna work on clutter. You really don't wanna be looking at a mess all the time.

And like I said, even if these things only affect your mood by 5%, when you're dealing in a really low threshold, when you're struggling, when you're going through a difficult time, you need every percentage point you can get, right?

And when you're going through a really good season, use those dark colors, don't worry about it.

And when you're in a dark season, I mean, in a good season, you're less likely to have clutter because you're emotionally just capable of going ahead and tackling it and putting it up like you should.

But when you're in a dark season and you're a little bit struggling with depression, it's much easier to let stuff build up and have clutter, and then that affects your mood, and you see how that spirals.

And you get in a little bit of a funk and a bad mood, and then you're less likely to put up even more stuff, and it can spiral really quickly.

So I'm just encouraging you to think about the way your space that you occupy most of the time, the way it looks. So maybe it's your desk at work, maybe it's your car if you have a long commute, and definitely the room you sleep in.

Take the time to make it visually relaxing, visually calming, visually appealing. And it doesn't have to be fancy. We're not talking about designer stuff.

We're not talking about a huge investment. We're talking about cleaning it up, making it unique, and using colors that are calming colors. So brighter colors, lighter colors, and less of those heavy, heavy, dark colors, okay?

What's the next thing, sense, that we have that affects our mood? And I'm going to say sound, okay? So if you listen to death metal, or you listen to raindrops falling on a tin roof, you know, those put you in a very different mood, right?

And there are certain music, I've noticed my kids will turn on things, and certain things just hit my ears in a way that's like, can you please turn that down? It's almost like it's giving me a headache, right?

And I hate to be that mom, and I try not to do it often, but sometimes it's just like, you know what? I can't listen to that right now. What sounds are you listening to?

And it could be something that you love. It doesn't give you a headache. But sometimes it's the words that just puts you in a bummer kind of mood.

There is some music, sometimes it's country music, and there's the sad song, right? Or there's whatever, but there's certain things that music affects our mood so, so much. What we listen to affects our mood.

So I just want you to encourage you to think about, what am I listening to? And how does that affect my overall mood? Am I listening to things that are positive?

Or even just neutral? I think classical music, or I love, there's an artist, he has passed away now, his name is George Winston, he's a solo pianist. I would just listen to instrumental music.

It was very calming and relaxing to me. My favorite album by George Winston was called Summer.

I still have that digitally, and will pull it up on my phone sometimes, like if I'm in the bathtub or whatever, and just want to, music can put you, it can really, really have a big effect on your mood.

So just take the time to be conscientious about it. What am I listening to?

I'm a big proponent of Christian music, and the reason why I'm a big proponent of Christian music is because I went through this process where I was listening to things, and they weren't all negative. Some negative songs would come on.

But when I made the switch to Christian music, it was so uplifting. It put me in a positive mood, and there was no negative. And so the other music I was listening to, there was some negative, some neutral.

But Christian music kind of gave me a few percentage points, right? If that's not for you, think about classical music, think about instrumental music, think about maybe the rainfall sounds.

There are so many tracks like that out there that are nature sounds, are rainfall, are ocean waves, things like that. Think about what you're listening to and what really puts you in a happy place. Are you a beach person?

Do you absolutely love the beach? Maybe ocean waves would really put you in a good mood. And yeah, maybe you don't want to listen to that all the time on your commute.

But knowing that you have a touchstone, something that you can turn on when you've had a bad day or when you're stressed or you just want to relax, if you turn on those ocean waves, if you turn on that instrumental music, and that is soothing to you,

it's good to be conscious and aware of that and have those things that you can go to and say, hey, I'm having a bad day, I'm just going to take a time out and listen to this. I know it helps put me in a better mood.

Things like that are really, really important. And then, you know, for my commute in the car, I do listen to Christian music because it does lift me up. But what are you listening to?

What other podcast are you listening to? What music are you listening to? What is the soundtrack of your home?

You know, for a while, that George Winston album called Summer, I had that playing in my bedroom on a loop constantly. It didn't matter. All the time, it was just constant background music in my bedroom.

And it was just really, really soothing for me. And it played, and I still hear that music, and it just relaxes me and calms me down.

And sometimes, I don't know if you've ever gone shopping to a store, maybe like Nordstrom's or, there used to be another store that I would go to, probably a long time ago, 10, 20 years ago, but they would play classical music.

And I would walk into that store, and it would just be like, oh, that's very soothing. Have you ever had that feeling like gone somewhere in there? They've got that in the background.

You're doing something different. You're shopping, you're whatever. But it's like, oh, that's really soothing, right?

Nordstrom, used to, the Nordstrom that was at the mall that I would sometimes shop at, would have a piano, and somebody would be playing the piano. And it's just such a soothing sound.

And when you're in a dark season, knowing the things that help soothe you and what can change your mood is really, really important.

And knowing that if you listen to the gangsta rap, which sometimes you just need to pump yourself up, you know, you're going to the gym, you're getting ready to face something, and you want to listen to something that's going to kind of whatever.

I get that. But understand, and just be honest with yourself, how is what I'm listening to and what I hear, how does that affect my mood?

What are some go-to things that I know if I hear this, it's going to help just kind of soothe the frayed edges of my mood and my emotions, right? And just think about it. It's worth thinking about.

And I would challenge you to try Christian music because it is positive, and it is encouraging, and it does just kind of help your mood overall. So for Christian music, there's K-Love, that's a radio station, Joy FM.

There's a few, if you have SiriusXM, there's a message. So there's a few different ways you can just tune in to Christian music. Just think about it, you know?

Really think about it. Maybe try it for a week, but what, how much does what I listen to affect my mood? And then let's use that knowledge to our advantage.

So we're working on having a good mood instead of putting ourselves behind the eight ball and putting ourselves in a little bit of a bad mood based on what we listen to. What, how does what we listen to affect our mood?

So I think that's really worth thinking about. Another interesting one that you may or may not be on your radar is smell. Smells take you back, right?

There are certain smells, and when you smell that, you're just like, oh my gosh, you're back where you were in your childhood, right? There are smells that totally affect your mood, and totally are linked to memories, okay?

So while your house probably doesn't smell stinky unless you have pets, sometimes pets can make a difference in the way your house smells. But be proactive about the things you're smelling and what scent. So I love to take a bath.

I've said that so many times. And Dr. Teals is a bath salt.

They are a brand of bath salts that I use. They're relatively cheap. You can buy them at Walmart.

And there is a particular scent that I love. And it is so soothing and relaxing to me. And I have taken baths and just soaked in that enough that now I can just smell it.

I can just open the bag and smell that one particular scent. And it just kind of calms me down. It's just like, oh, that's so relaxing.

What is that for you? So think about it. Is it the smell of freshly baked cookies?

Is it the smell of more floral scents? What smells really kind of just like, oh, that smells good. And how can you get that smell and have it in your house?

You know, vanilla for those like, baked cookie smells. There's so many floral scents out. I'm not a big fan of floral scents, but my daughter is.

And so everybody's different. And like the scent that I love for Dr. Teal's, like my favorite Dr.

Teal scent, my daughter does not like that one. You know, she's like, I don't want to use that one. It's too strong for her.

So everybody has a different scent. There are oranges and lemons in that citrusy scent. That's really soothing for some people and bright and kind of helps put you in a little bit uplifted mood.

Think about it. And what scent takes you back to a good place, a good memory, a smile, right? Scents can totally affect our mood.

And just like music, you want to be able to have that sound that you can pull out when you're kind of frayed at the end of the day, or you're just going through a really rough spot.

You're having to deal with some stuff that is really heavy and emotional, and you can pull out that ocean wave sound or whatever. Well, maybe you can have a scent like that.

Maybe you have something that when you smell it, you're just like, oh, wow, right? You just have that moment where you just kind of relax just a little bit, like, that smells so good.

I remember, you know, whether it's tied to a memory or whatever it is, take some time to think about that. I know there are people that do those pots where you have water boiling, and you put the lemon or the cinnamon or the cranberries.

Around Christmas, you hear the more winter ones with the cinnamon and the cranberries. But I used to do rosemary and lemon, and it would smell so good. And just a pot of water and just kind of like let it simmer on the stove.

What can you do so that you have smells that are soothing, that are comforting, right? So sight, sound, smells, the last one is touch. So what can you touch?

And I know that sounds really odd, and it may not have as big of an impact as what you see and what you hear and then what you smell. But what feels super soft and soothing to you?

So there are blankets that I have on my couch because I'm a blanket person and I really like blankets. And even if I'm hot in the summer and don't fully want to cover up with a blanket, I just kind of want to cuddle.

I want it beside me because I reach down and I just touch the blanket. It feels soft, it's comforting. I have a robe that's soft and cozy and soothing, right?

Fuzzy socks. Sometimes you put on fuzzy socks and you're just like, oh, that feels good, right? Do you know what I'm saying?

What do you touch? Are your clothes soft? The pajamas that you sleep in?

The sheets on your bed? You know, we spend a quarter to a third of our life in bed. So make that soft and comfortable and inviting.

What does it feel like if you're gonna be in bed for a huge chunk of your life? It needs to feel soft and cozy, right? I mean, just take the time, like, what pajamas am I wearing?

Is this soft? Are my sheets soft? How can you bring comfort to yourself on just the really basic, simple level?

Am I wearing things? Is what I put on my body, does it feel soft? Does it feel comforting?

And maybe gravitate to something that feels comforting and soft and soothing to you. Surround yourself with things that when you touch them, you think, oh, that feels nice. Does that make sense?

Like, really think about all your senses. Think about the things you see. Think about the things you hear, the things you smell, the things you touch.

And how can that set you up to be in a better mood versus not thinking about it? You know, we have all done this, where we've put on something that has an itchy tag. We weren't thinking about it.

We didn't like think, oh, I want to be itchy all day and scratch my back. No, we just were oblivious to it. But partway through the day, you're just like, oh my gosh, this is so annoying.

Somebody please cut this tag out of my shirt. Have you ever experienced that? Well, that's kind of what we're doing.

We're trying to take an honest look at our life and find those kind of annoying places that we're not even aware that we had. But they just annoy us slightly, you know, just a little bit.

And when you're on the edge, when you're going through a really difficult season, you're rebuilding your life, you know. Your whole block tower has been knocked over and you're rebuilding it.

In that season, you want to be as gentle with yourself as possible. You want to set yourself up every way you can to do good and have a good mood and have a good day. And you want to eliminate as much friction as you can.

So taking just an honest, objective look at your senses. And what am I looking at? And does this help me be in a better mood?

Does it uplift my mood? Is it neutral? Or does it put me in a little bit of a negative mood?

Like it kind of pulls me down. Think about that with each of these areas, with what you see, with what you listen to, with what you smell and what you touch. How are these things affecting your mood?

And just be conscientious about it. And that way, you're going ahead and cutting the tag out that is itchy, right? You're going ahead and being pretty emptied about it.

And you're taking control. And these are little things. Like I said, they're not gonna affect a huge percentage.

But there's also a piece of not only taking care of that, like I'm seeing things now that help enhance my mood. I'm listening to things. But just the fact that you're being proactive, that helps your mood too.

And that helps your self-confidence. Like I can take care of myself. I can do this.

I am strong. I am able to be in control. Like you're just reaffirming that you can do this, right?

You're good at this. You can take control and handle it. Instead of letting life happen to you, and kinda getting in a funky mood because you're listening to something or different things like that, you're taking control.

And just the act of taking control really makes a difference. So I encourage you to take an honest look at your environment and in the way your senses interact with it and in what you can do to set yourself up for success.

And it's not a huge percentage point, just smelling something good won't change where you are in life. But it's going to help put you in a little bit better mood. And that little bit better mood, you build on that, right?

So small degrees, forward momentum, not backward momentum, right? Just a little bit, a step a day, just a little bit. It doesn't have to be huge.

But small wins equal huge gains, okay? So just little bits, it doesn't have to be a lot. Take control of your life.

Take responsibility for parts of your mood that you can control. Yes, there are things that are going to happen that are outside your control. But let's take responsibility for the things we can control.

That is so empowering. I really appreciate you joining me today. Thank you so much.

Look me up. I'm on the Internet, on the World Wide Web. So you can find me on www.workingonamazing.com.

You can find me on almost all the social media platforms, but I do hang out on Facebook the most, Working on Amazing. Let me know what affects your senses, which one affects your mood the most. What do you do?

Is it a smell? Is it a sight? Is it a touch?

Is it a sound? What is it for you? I would love to hear from you.

I would love to hear what affects your mood and that you can control with your senses. Thank you so much for joining me today. I look forward to talking to you next time.

Bye.