Love Lead Inspire

10 ways to boost your mood and raise your vibration when you can’t get out of your funk!

NUMBER 2️⃣

Make a cup of tea. Drinking hot tea boosts your mood due to L-theanine and caffeine, which promote relaxed alertness. The physical warmth of the mug stimulates the vagus nerve to lower your heart rate, while the cozy ritual of steeping and sipping signals safety to your brain, shifting you out of fight-or-flight mode.

Plus not to mention these seriously beneficial health advantages:

🫖 Drinking hot tea provides powerful antioxidants, supports heart and brain health, improves digestion, and offers a calming sensory experience.

🫖 Steeping leaves in hot water efficiently extracts beneficial plant compounds like polyphenols and catechins, which help lower chronic inflammation and reduce disease risk.

🫖 Tea is rich in antioxidants which fight free radical damage and protects cells.

🫖 Drinking tea protects your heart ❤️ by lowering your blood pressure and improving cholesterol levels.

🫖 Tea combines caffeine with with L-theanine for calm energy which helps you focus.

🫖 Tea soothes the tummy, especially herbal options like ginger or mint which eases digestion.

And have you considered that Dolly’s cup of ambition may not have been coffee? ☕️ Have you considered the secret to clarity, productivity, energy and a good mood is a regulated nervous system, triggered by relaxing the vagus nerve and signaling safety in your body and your brain? 🧠… and you can do that with a simple cup of tea? 🫖

Y’all I will never judge what you have in that cup, but seriously have you tried tea? 🫖

📸 Trent Broglin Photography

10 ways to boost your mood and raise your vibration when you can’t get out of your funk!

NUMBER 3️⃣

Connect to your breath, your heart, your body with breathwork!

🌬️ Breathwork instantly boosts your mood by switching your nervous system from the stress-driven “fight-or-flight” mode to the calming “rest-and-digest” state. Deep, controlled breathing stimulates the vagus nerve, which lowers stress hormones and slows your heart rate. This biological reset immediately sends signals of safety to your brain, making you feel relaxed and emotionally balanced.

Specific scientific mechanisms explain how breathwork enhances your mood:

🌬️ Autonomic Balance: Conscious breathing—especially extending your exhales—activates the parasympathetic nervous system, decreasing anxiety.

🌬️ Brain Chemistry: Slowing your breathing stabilizes carbon dioxide levels in your blood, which directly reduces excitability in the amygdala, your brain’s emotional alarm center.

🌬️ Optimal Oxygenation: Deep belly breathing increases oxygen and blood flow to the brain, improving mental clarity and combating stress-induced brain fog.

🌬️ Research from Stanford University even found that just five minutes of daily breathwork—particularly techniques emphasizing long exhales like cyclical sighing—is more effective at improving mood and overall well-being than traditional mindfulness meditation.

So my friends, it’s as easy as that:
INHALE
EXHALE

And if you are having a hard time slowing down to connect to your breath, I invite you with open arms ❤️ to my Restore yoga
class at Moonbird Yoga O’Fallon and Moonbird Yoga Troy at The Sanctuary where we will practice all the slowing down and breathing. 🙏

📸 credit: the beautiful Lara of LNK Socials | Styled | Well

10 ways to boost your mood and raise your vibration when you can’t get out of your funk!

NUMBER 4️⃣

Hydration station: Drink a glass of water.

Girl I know. It sounds so simple. But for real, how much water are you drinking? Is it enough?

I remember being a kid, and anytime something was wrong, like being upset or sick, my mom or grandma would bring me a glass of water.

I would think: oh like that is going to fix it? Gimme the strong stuff. 😆
But as I aged, I realized, how often drinking a glass of water alleviates so much for me.

🙏 It calms me down and recenters me when I’m upset (similar to our convo earlier this week about showering).

🤒 It keeps me hydrated when I’m sick which can be half the battle when your body is fighting illness.

😔 When I’m thirsty or deydrated, I feel run down.
And I confuse thirst with hunger and end up snacking.

✨Water makes your skin glow! And my fine and not so fine lines become real apparent when I haven’t had enough water.

The science behind it all:

🥱 Drinking a glass of water quickly boosts your mood by reversing mild dehydration, which can trigger fatigue, anxiety, and mental fog.

🧠 Proper hydration improves blood circulation and oxygen flow to the brain, while helping balance mood-regulating neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine.

🥤So drink your water, ladies. I know you have a cabinet full of brumates and stanley’s and custom cutie water bottles to accessorize while hydrating! 😘

10 ways to boost your mood and raise your vibration when you can’t get out of your funk!

NUMBER 6️⃣: Take a shower or a bath.

You know Rachel Hollis had a point when she told us: Girl, Wash Your Face. Still living by your words Rachel Hollis 🫶

🚿 Taking a a shower or bath triggers a neurochemical reset. Water temperature alters brain chemistry—cold water spikes dopamine and endorphins for energy and focus, while warm water lowers cortisol (stress hormone) and releases oxytocin.

🛁 Additionally, this sensory act promotes mindfulness and emotional cleansing.

These psychological and physiological lifts come from a few key biological responses:

🚿 Hormonal Changes:
Cold exposure activates the sympathetic nervous system, releasing norepinephrine and dopamine, which naturally elevate mood and alertness without a caffeine crash.

Warm water immersion releases oxytocin (the “feel-good” hormone) and triggers endorphins, which melt away muscle tension and anxiety.

🛁 Sensory Regulation:
The feeling of water on your skin engages multiple senses (touch, temperature, and smell). This sensory input forces your brain to focus entirely on the present physical sensation, interrupting negative thought loops and acting as a form of active meditation.

🚿 Symbolic “Reset”:
The simple act of washing away the day’s sweat and grime creates a mental boundary. Many people associate personal hygiene with self-care, triggering a feeling of a “clean slate” and boosting overall confidence.

🛁 Bonus!
Aromatherapy Benefits: Using scented soaps or essential oils (like eucalyptus for a morning boost or lavender for evening relaxation) directly stimulates the olfactory system to alter emotional states, reduce stress, and trigger serotonin.

If you are feeling a bit extra- sprinkle in Epsom salts to your tubby, which are proven to ease muscle soreness, reduce joint inflammation, and relieve mental stress. 🙏

Isn’t wild that your regular routine of being clean 🧼 can really makes such a big difference in your physical and mental well being?

Need a quick reset? Girl, wash your face!

10 ways to boost your mood and raise your vibration when you can’t get out of your funk!

NUMBER 7️⃣

Attitude of gratitude, baby! List out all the things you are grateful for. You can do it verbally, silently or in a journal.

Practicing gratitude boosts your mood by altering your brain’s biochemistry and physical structure. When you focus on appreciation, your brain releases dopamine and serotonin, which are neurotransmitters responsible for feelings of pleasure, satisfaction, and calm.

According to mental health experts, this simple habit works through a few key mechanisms:

⬇️ Decreases Stress Hormones: Gratitude activates the parasympathetic nervous system, lowering levels of cortisol and helping you feel relaxed. 👏 👏 👏

🧠 Rewires the Brain: Over time, intentional gratitude uses neuroplasticity to condition your mind to filter out negative thoughts and focus on the present moment.

👯‍♀️ Releases Bonding Hormones: Expressing thanks to others triggers oxytocin, strengthening social bonds which are essential for long-term emotional well-being.

Gratitude is a ritual for me and I look forward to it every day. My lists include my health, my family, friends, work that I love, my community, our home.

And things that can be taken for granted like appliances that make our lives easier, a reliable car, a breezy morning during a Midwest summer, birdsong, a neighbor giving a helping hand, and the first ripe tomato in the garden are now all a part of my ever growing list. 📝

The longer I’ve been in this practice, the more blessings I see. I look for them everywhere now.

The more you do it, the easier it becomes and bonus: it boosts your mood!

What are you grateful for?

Wanna know what makes this even more fun? Get yourself a notebook 📓 dedicated to your gratitude and watch all the goodness in your life fill the pages.

10 ways to boost your mood and raise your vibration when you can’t get out of your funk!

NUMBER 9️⃣

Do something for someone else. Being in service to others it triggers the brain to release a rush of “feel-good” chemicals like dopamine (which boosts pleasure), oxytocin (which fosters connection), and serotonin (which regulates mood). This biological response—often called the “helper’s high”—cements our social bonds and provides a deep sense of purpose.

I’m naturally a helper, fixer, a fairy godmother if you will, and love to bring joy so this comes easily to me. How about you?

What’s something easy that you can do to be in service to someone else that will guarantee to raise your vibration?

PS I saw this precious moment happening a few weeks ago, so I snapped their photo and shared with them. They were so tickled, which made me so happy!

10 ways to boost your mood when you can’t get out of your funk and raise your vibration!

NUMBER 🔟

Put your phone down. Doom scrolling won’t help, sister. And neither will that sleeve of Oreos (although they are damn good).

Scrolling tricks your brain into a quick high through artificial dopamine spikes, but it ultimately drains your motivation and leaves you emotionally exhausted. Because apps are designed for unpredictable rewards, your nervous system gets locked into a loop of low-effort stimulation that worsens anxiety, isolates you from real-life connections, and impairs restorative sleep.

Instead of scrolling, consider doing something else with your hands, like read a book, paint your nails, plant flowers, pick up a hobby like knitting or needle point, coloring, painting, or doing a puzzle.

What are some things you do to get away from your phone (or technology in general) and boost your mood?

Love. Lead. Inspire.

The words came so easily.
Whispered to my soul on an ordinary day, in an ordinary moment.

It felt like an A-ha…
but also like they’d been there all along.
Waiting. Remembered.

Love. Lead. Inspire.
This isn’t just my business name—
It’s my mission.

It’s how I live my life.
How I enter a room—
and how I leave one.

It’s how I want my clients to feel—
and how I want them to live.

💫 To Love.
💫 To Lead.
💫 To Inspire.

I believe this is how we get the most out of our time on earth.

It’s how we raise strong, resilient children.
It’s how we raise our own vibration.

And when we live this way—
we create more love, more joy, more abundance…
not just for ourselves,
but for everyone around us.

💌 Save this if it spoke to your soul.
💭 What’s your life mission in three words?

📸 and💄 how did five years pass that fast???? 💨 💋