13 'proven' ways to Instant happiness ( or ) How to beat those moody blues .

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.“

~ Confucius

Disclaimer(s) :

a) These may not work on you. I have tried and tested these (ONLY) on myself.
b) These work on me most of the times.
c) If none of these work ... I sometimes ( try to ) sleep.


1) Listen to music ... Good Hard rock / Very fast guitar. ( I suggest you DONT use external speakers .. but headphones for reasons obvious to you and your neighbours.)
eg : Paranoid ( Black Sabbath ) , Flight of the Bumblebee ( Yngwie Malmsteen ) , Enigma

2) Make very strong Coffee ... ( self brewed and not machine made )

3) "Eat" insane amount of dark chocolate on emty stomach ... and wait till it dissolves directly into your blood stream - feel it ... ( trust me ... you can )

4) A warm-water soapy-bubbly bath with nice smelling body wash( citric concentrate or an aromatic soap ) .. Let the warmth flow slowly from your head to toe.

5) Close your eyes and do the your-are-in-a-pond-and-ripples-go-from-your-head trick. (ask me what this is )

6) Read the Bhagvat Gita . ( try Ch 2 , verse 22 ) and meditate on each verse. ( sometimes Bible helps :) )

7) Go for a ride in the open when you can see the blue sky. ( Avoid traffic ... Absolutely ! esp. if you are in Bangalore . )

8) Talk (over phone) to someone whom you really know. ( And make sure you *dont* dump your emotions on them .. you never know what mood they are in.)

9) Do high school math / puzzles. ( And feel good that you solved .. If you think it will take more than 5 minutes .. DONT DO IT ! :) )

10) Cook. ( Now we all live in a you-eat-what-you-cooked world) (And dont follow instructions from printed matter .. Do the do-it-yourself cooking )

11) Dance ... if you are already not tired ! ( Do the dance-as-if-no-one-is-watching-you dance )

12) Read about failed revolutions ( Student movement in China, Mao Rebels in Kerala, Guerilla uprisings in S.America ) or World Affairs ( particularly the Middle-East conflict ) and then think/console yourself by saying that your miseries are so insignificant compared to theirs :)

13) Play the guitar .. Try composing a new melody and work on it .


And I talked to other people and got some inputs from them on what they do to overcome blues

1) Visit a beauty parlour and get a facial done ( WOW .. I like this idea )
2) Go to a gym and work out till those endorphins run into your blood stream and make you feel good. ( Aah the quintessential human urge to feel good !)
3) Go to a place you have never been before or do something you have never done before !

And here are the things I generally avoid when Iam blue

1) Listen to slow moody music which I generally associate with other people I know.
2) Drink . ( Never do it alone ! Well .... Never do it atall !! )
3) Self pity.
4) Brood over the matter and walk inside the house like a peripatetic caged monkey. ( In other words .. DONOT 'nurture' your worries )