Have you ever been in a crummy mood?

You can't see it, but I'm raising and waving my hand vigorously. Sometimes it just hits us from seemingly out of the blue, or traffic was especially terrible ( in Los Angeles it's always terrible), or your co-worker did that annoying thing that gets under your skin. I find that during those crummy times I feel less motivated to do something about it. Because crummy creates more crummy!

How can you flip that crummy mood upside down? Mini interventions. I've found that oftentimes the simplest of things can have a powerful affect on my mood. Here are 5 mini interventions you can try right now to lift your mood:

1. Listen to an upbeat song.

This can be done most anywhere. Pump up the volume at home, in your car or plug in your headphones at work, in the restroom, on the train, on a walk, this is your time to groove baby! The more the song makes your body move (even if you just bop your head or tap your foot) the more you'll shake that crummy mood off. Just like shaking out a dirty rug.

Extra Boost: Sing out load with the song!

2. Write 5 things you're grateful for and why.

Most of us are REALLY good at thinking about the negative stuff or what is lacking in our life. "Why don't I have more money??!", "Ugh I look fat today", "If only my biceps were bigger", "Those darn rabbits ate the flowers again!!?".....you know how it goes. When we constantly look at things in the negative we just expand that feeling and create more of what we don't want. Take a few minutes to actually write down, yep pen to paper, what you are grateful for and why. For example; "I'm grateful for having a stable job that supports my family and allows us to take trips and spend quality time together".

Extra Boost: Slowly read each one and allow the feeling of gratitude to sweep your whole body as you visualize what you are grateful for.

3. Get outside.

Take a walk down the block, sit under a tree, or go for a bike ride. You don't have to do anything else but breathe and absorb nature. This can be done for 2 minutes or 20 minutes. Quality time with nature is what counts here.

Extra Boost: Leave your phone at home!

4. Repeat "I Am At Peace".

You can use either hand or both hands; start by touching the pad of your thumb to the pad of your pointer finger and silently to yourself say, "I", then touch your thumb and middle finger together and say, "Am", next touch your thumb and pad of your ring finger and silently say, "At", and finally touch your thumb and your pinkie finger together and say, "Peace". Repeat this 5-10 times.

Extra Boost: Inhale on one whole round ("I Am At Peace"), and exhale the next round ("I Am At Peace). Keep repeating as needed.

5. Watch a cute baby animal video

Research has actually shown that watching a video or staring at a picture of cute baby animals releases the "feel good" chemicals in your brain. Here's one for starters: https://youtu.be/EH7D5hjvG44

Extra Boost: Spend time with an animal in real time. Don't have a pet? Call up a friend that does or volunteer at an animal shelter.

Give these mini interventions a try and see what happens. Sometimes it takes a little shift in perspective to get over that crummy hurdle.