Feel Blue? 100 Ways to Perk UP

We've all felt it, some for longer periods of time or just a bleep throughout the day and then gone. But at some point, the blues crawl into our space of happiness or contentedness and as I am sitting here, watching the massive clouds cover the sky, knowing a few thunderstorms are cited to land here in the NYC area - on a Saturday which means no beach today -  I want to offer 100, yep, I'm being that ambitious, and letting Divine Energy reveal to me 100 ways to feel brighter, better, and less blue.

Here we go:

1. Get a bowl of tomato soup and crackers and watch your favorite movie, curled on the couch with your beloved best blanket.
2. Grab your umbrella and do chores, hoping for rain as you walk.

3. Bake brownies and give them to the snarliest neighbor.
4. Buy a cup of coffee and have them put a shot of one of those syrupy flavors you never allow yourself to have. Drink it all with a gusto.
5. Put a handful of nickels into your pocket and go outside and drop a few every block.
6. Give a quarter to the person who asks you for it every time you pass by where he or she stands.
7. Write a love note to yourself and mail it.
8. Close your eyes as you stand in front of a map of the World and point your finger and touch the map, open your eyes, and then ask the Universe to show you signs as to how you will get there.
9. Wash all your windows and bless each part of your residence.
10. Go to the library and let your fingers light on a book. Check it out and read it. All of it, even if you hate it, read it clear through.
11. Now go back to the library and do this until you feel like you can read anything, understand anything, digest anything.
12. Take a walk, not knowing where you are going.
13. Whistle, "I am Woman, Hear Me Roar." Even if you are a man :)...
14. Buy a bag of marbles and play with it on the sidewalk.
15. Buy a candle with a saint on it that you don't know who this is...
16. Go to a thrift shop and buy the cheesiest thing you can find. Put it somewhere where you see it everyday and it makes you giggle.
17. Rearrange all the pictures hanging in your home.

18. Sweep your front walkway.
19. Buy a couple packets of seeds and sprinkle them onto vacant lots with grass.
20. Brush someone's hair.
21. Wash someone's feet.
22. Write a poem to God (Source of Love, Divine Intelligence, however you want to address).
23. Paint your ugliest wall.
24. Wear a different shade of lipstick.
25. Wear the biggest hoop earrings you can find.
26. Wear high heels to a casual event.
27. Wear tennis shoes to a fancy one.
28. Plan a dinner party.
29. Cancel a dinner party.
30. Attend a dinner party.
31. Write down all of your angst and then burn it in a coffee can, singing "This Little Light of Mine".
32. Go to a mall and sit and stare at the people for two hours while sipping your favorite drink.
33. Sign up for a working service vacation.
34. Volunteer for an organization who helps an affliction or problem that terrifies you.
35. Eat something healthy. Eat it all.
36. Eat something terribly unhealthy. Eat it all.
37. Go to the dollar store and buy a handful of toys. Give them out to children most deserving.
38. Go to work without underwear.
39. Go to bed without underwear.
40. Go to church without underwear.

41. Go out on a windy day without underwear and wear something billowy. Men, go out wearing an undershirt if you would NEVER consider doing such a thing. Or go to get something out of your car, men, without a shirt on...
42. Get on a train or drive to another area by yourself - for an entire day - without any plans.

43. Women, go without a bra for one day and take notes on how you feel.
44. Chew gum and try to make that annoying popping sound.
45. Buy a lamp that makes you light up every time you see it.
46. Laugh when that person who makes you crazy at work says something to you. Laugh and clutch your stomach.
47. Fake sneeze whenever that person is near you after your laughing attack.
48. Go to a wild party and don't drink a thing.
49. Dance at that wild party and let yourself go.
50. Hug everyone you see today.
51. Make eye contact with that person who intimidates you. (See #47.)
52. Buy the most expensive item on a menu.
53. Walk into the most expensive clothing store and try on the most expensive item there.
54. Make a vision board with outrageous requests.

55. Buy Outrageous Openness by Tosha Silver.
56. Splash in a rain puddle.
57. Pray, really pray for everything you need.

58. Stop biting your nails.
59. Sign petitions you believe.
60. Wash your dishes with love.
61. Wash your dog with love.
62. Wash your babies with love.
63. Wash yourself with adoration and love.
64. Read Rabindranath Tagore.
65. Read Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
66. Volunteer at a nursing home and just listen.
67. Invite the most obnoxious neighbors over and just listen.
68. Sit at a park and just listen.
69. Sit in your quiet living room and just listen.

70. Set your clock for 3 am, get up and just listen.
71. Listen.
72. Feel your breath running up and down your chest.
73. Give your breath a name and call on it as a friend.
74. Give your critical voice a name and put him or her into Time Out when necessary.
75. Have an imaginary love affair with the man or woman you are sitting beside at the dentist's office.
76. Read Rumi.
77. Go into a Music Store and claim to be a pianist and sit down and play.
78. Do this with a guitar, drums, flute, trumpet, and violin.
79. Put a $20 bill into a card and mail it to the relative you know is most in need.
80. Walk into random churches and sit down. Listen.
81. Attend a musical concert you normally would not consider.
82. Do this with a play, movie, dance performance.

83. Make a theme for your next birthday and throw a huge party.
84. Say "I am love," whenever you feel unloved or unloving.
85. Stream Hay House Radio when you feel pissy.
86. Join a running group.
87. Write about three random memories that come to you only when your pen touches the paper.
88. Pray on your knees.
89. Pray while walking.
90. Pray while fighting.
91. Pray before sleeping.
92. Pray while making love.
93. Read sacred books.
94. Go to events alone.
95. Go to events in large groups.
96. Invite someone to an event and pay for him or her.
97. Cook for the loneliest person on your block.
98. Listen to music with headphones on and take a walk and sing out loud.
99. Put butcher paper onto your front door and keep a rolling gratitude list.
100. Do all of the above.

I love you!






Sheela Wolford is a scrappy enthusiast who knows her purpose is to encourage. A writer, starry-eyed mother, good daughter, and better sister, she is working on a grief journal, a book of poetry, a memoir about her mother and her, and a book about the years she spent in brown adidas shoes, figuring out her life. Like her on Facebook on Workshops by Wolford.