I have a few tricks I use to get my mind off of negative things. I use the first one most often when I wake up tired and grumpy. I read it in Thich Nhat Hanh's book "The Miracle of Mindfulness." All you have to do is smile a really big smile and take five deep breaths. Even if the smile starts out completely fake, just plastered on my face, by the time I get to five deep breaths, I feel better and the smile is genuine. It turns out that smiling releases endorphins in your brain.
Another thing I do is sing. I have a couple of songs that can always turn my mind around.
And if I'm really being stubborn, I resort to playing a video of someone singing, on my computer. My current favorite is little Connie Talbot's (www.connietalbot.com) rendition of Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds." How can I not smile while watching that?
