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How do you react to suggestions when life gets you down and you're feeling miserable?  Does your world brighten after someone recites a laundry list of shoulda', woulda', coulda', when nothing seems to cooperate with your well-laid plans?  I don't always react well, nothing gets brighter, the overall effect is generally a shut-down.

In my head, I know what to do, but in my head is where the problem is and the dumpy feeling often kicks the crap out of the wonderfully positive answers.

Since it's unlikely that I'm alone in this positive vs negative head game, I've come up with a few alternative suggestions.

1-- Keep compliments where you can find them.  Somewhere along the line everyone has been given a compliment.  For bloggers, this is probably easy; just go to the comments page and look for the ego-strokers.  For non-bloggers, call your Mom.  Old compliments are just as good as new ones to soften the face and help drop those tightened shoulders.

2-- Go to the dollar store.  Well, why not?  You're already feeling miserable and a trip to the mall could be expensive enough to push misery into depression.  Instead, take that need to get something new to the place where you'll get the most bang for your buck.  This is satisfying, especially when you buy something you want but don't need and it cost next to nothing.

3-- Watch TV for the commercials.  This can be a double-edged sword, so be careful.  Take notes during the commercials and see what you can do with a re-write.  Most likely, your version will be a better one.  Ok, now you know you're that good.  Smiling is starting to return.

4-- Imagine yourself today with your high school hair-do.  Unless you graduated within the past few years, this one should really bring a few chuckles.  Go ahead, dig out the yearbook and get a good look and maybe even a good laugh.

5-- Nail jello to a tree.  This has an extremely high degree of difficulty.  Actually, truth be known, it can't be done.  It does, however, give the neighbors a good laugh as well a something to talk about.

Ok, take these suggestions however you will.  They might sound silly at first glance; hell, they are silly -- about as silly as shutting down when someone tries to bring us out of a funk.