Spring is just around the corner (we promise), but it's still a little while yet before you'll be able to notice that the sun is coming up earlier and you can start to have your morning cuppa in the fresh air.
Just because the weather is a bit grey, doesn't mean that you have to be. We've put together 5 simple and easy tips on how you can lift yourself up on a gloomy day whilst you await the return of the sunshine:
1. Get Outside
We think the hibernation is a thoroughly good idea, but every now again it's important that you connect with nature - regardless of how wet and cold nature might be at that point in time. Go for a short walk, stand on your back doorstep and have a cuppa, just experience the different feelings, sights and smells of the outside world... then hunker back down in the warmth.
2. Dress Yourself Happy
Whilst it might be quite hypocritical of us to issue this advice (as we love nothing more than hiding away in our comfies), pick out something colourful to wear. A bright dress, a summer shirt, anything that makes you smile.
3. Feed The Mind
Salad for Summer, Soup for Winter, right? Wrong. Mix it up. Just because it's cold and wet outside, doesn't mean that you can't create a Summer picnic in your front room, or enjoy a tropical fruit salad for lunch. You are what you eat after all, so eat fun and happy.
4. Give Yourself A Blooming Chance
Fresh flowers are an instant mood changer and brighten up every the gloomiest of rooms. Hellebores, Fritillaries, Anemones, Hyacinths and Narcissi are all in season right now and there are some great deals to be had from the likes of Bloom & Wild.
5. Smell Happy
Does happiness have a smell? Apparently so according to a team of European researchers, happiness may actually generate chemicals that get secreted in sweat and that sweat signal gets sniffed by those around us. But that is kind of hard to replicate. During our research for this post we were particularly interested by this article from CNA Lifestyle which says:
'Taking in a scent associated with happier memories and emotions can miraculously alter a person’s mood' - Dr Perpetua Neo
Well this is something we can certainly help with. We've got a few recommendations of how you might be able to sniff yourself into a better mood: