Ever have one of those dreams that just stay with you the whole day? The kind leaves you with an uneasy feeling that you can’t seem to shake. I’m not talking about nightmares per say, but dreams that are just very disturbing. I had the not so pleasant experience of waking up from one of these dreams the other day. Laying in bed confused and disoriented as my alarm was going off, wondering what the hell was that all about?

Dreams can effect your entire nervous system and this one had certainly gotten to mine. I felt anxious with an underlying feeling of gloom and doom. Not the best way to start your day.

I attempted to shake off this dream with meditation and yoga, but it wasn’t doing the trick. Even my favorite radio morning show couldn’t make me smile. I felt anxious, overwhelmed, and depressed for no particular reason at all. Why am I so down? Was it just the dream? The approaching full moon? Am I PMS-ing? I didn’t know what was going on with me, all I knew was that I was officially in a funk.

Naturally, as I was in a funk, most of the day pretty much sucked. Everything seemed to go wrong, my energy felt scattered, and I had a really hard time focusing. By the afternoon I was fatigued and developed a really bad headache. I hated feeling this way and just wanted the day to be over already.

When I got home at the end of the day I collapsed on the couch frustrated, cranky, and still down. Now it’s been a long time since I’ve been in a funk but I knew I could get myself out of it. I have years of reading self help books, going to seminars, studying nutrition, etc…I had all the resources I needed to turn myself around.

I could Meditate with a smile on my face, signaling my brain to release some happy endophins

I could put on some fun music and dance around my apartment.

I could go for a sunset walk on the beach, taking in all the beautiful nature around me.

I could read one of my hundreds of self-help / inspirational books.

I could listen to recordings of some of my favorite motivational speakers like Tony Robbins and Gabrielle Bernstein.

I could read from my archive of The Daily Love emails that I’ve saved throughout the years.

I could call a good friend, one who I know would cheer me up.

I could write a gratitude list to remind myself of how great my life really is.

I could even just put on a funny movie.

But I didn’t do any of that, instead I just went to bed. I gave up on the day and decided to sleep off this funk. And you know what, it worked! I woke the next day feeling like a new woman, and my funk from the day before was completely gone.

Now I could have reached into my bag of positivity tricks and I’m sure something would have worked to turn me around. But the truth was, I just didn’t feel like it. I was tired and I didn’t have the energy to fight my feelings, so I surrendered to the funk. And what I found was that sometimes surrendering is the best strategy to take to turn yourself around.

I think the reason why this worked for me was that for one I accepted how I was feeling without judging it. So often we can be so hard on ourselves for not being happy 24/7. Is a perpetual state of happiness possible? I highly doubt it. This life is about contrast. You need the dark to better see the light, just as you need the lows so that you can truly appreciate the highs.

Secondly, I intended to feel better in the morning. Our intentions are powerful! Even though I went to bed in a funk, I stated out loud that I would wake up feeling better and back to my normal happy self. By stating this intention I made it very clear to my body, mind, and spirit that I would not tolerate another funky day.

Now my “sleep it off” strategy worked great for me, but if for some reason I did wake up feeling funky again I would have definitely turned to one of my self help tools that I listed above. And I would have dug deeper into my feelings. When we are stuck in a funk for days for no apparent reason, there is usually something you’re not seeing. You have to start poking around and find the source of your funk. It may be that you’re not happy in your relationship anymore and have been too scared to admit it. Or maybe your feeling unsatisfied and complacent in your job. And many times something can be nutritionally off for you. You could be eating something that you are allergic to which is throwing off the biochemical balance in your body. The bottom line is that if you’ve been feeling off for a week for no particular reason, don’t ignore it, get curious and explore it. You may find that it’s a simple fix, such as getting more sleep.

Funk’s are an inevitable part of life, everyone has them from time to time. Sometimes you can fight them and sometimes you just have to let it be and ride it out. And never underestimate the power of a good nights sleep.

How do you get yourself out of a funk? Any tricks or techniques that have worked well for you in the past? If you feel moved to, share and post in the comments below.