Did you know that there is a simple way to beat a blue mood that is easy, free, takes no time at all and can be done by yourself in the privacy of your own home?

We live in a world that is obsessed with the pursuit of happiness. Magazines, radio programs, television shows all push the idea that we deserve to be happy, that we should be happy and that there is something wrong with us when we are not.

Of course people suffering deep depression of the sort that interferes with their daily lives need to seek medical advice but the milder form of depressed mood that many of us experience from time to time can easily be cured. We need to get over ourselves and ask

Is Happiness a false God? Have we elevated happiness to a status far above its real importance?

Is being happy useful to us?

It might not be. It seems more likely, and makes far more sense in evolutionary terms, for the normal and natural emotional disposition of humans to be a slight sense of dissatisfaction and a feeling of wanting more, or something different.

After all, contentment and happiness wasn’t going to get our early ancestors up off their backsides and out of the cave in search of food.

Often those who have been the movers and shakers of history have suffered from depression. Alexander the Great had black moods when he sought solitude, Sir Winston Churchill had his “black dog” and both Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin showed signs of having periods of depression. Feeling miserable didn’t stop any of them making their mark upon the world.

People generally report that they are happiest when they are busy doing something they enjoy and maybe the cure for simple blues is as easy as keeping busy. Alternatively, ancient Ayurvedic medicine’s cure for depression was to see a sunrise and a sunset every day. (Perhaps in other words, simply staying alive as in the saying “Every day above ground is a good day”)

If that doesn’t work for you then here is:

A surefire way to make yourself feel happier

When we are feeling sorry for ourselves we usually, quite unconsciously let our faces drop into a sad expression. You can fix your mood by simply raising the corners of your mouth into a smile. Try it. You won’t stay sad for long and your mood will definitely lighten.