I’m having an off day. Ever have those? (Hint: the answer is yes. Yes, you do.)

Symptoms: Crabbiness, mild headache, antsy feeling creeping in. Irritated and somewhat edgy.

There’s no apparent rhyme or reason for why this suddenly came on. Nothing happened, nothing changed from yesterday – and yesterday, I was on top of the world. But here I sit, annoyed and feeling ‘off.’ Irritated at my guy because he’s not doing anything to FIX IT – and yet, even I don’t know how to fix it. Because I have no idea what “IT” is.

So what do you do when you find yourself in a funk that doesn’t make sense?

First of all, stop looking to anyone else to fix it for you. It seems like we – as women – get angry when our menfolk can’t just read our minds and instinctively KNOW what to do for us. The truth, however, is that if they *could* read our minds, they would be as dumb-founded as we are. Because even WE don’t know what we want or what’s really wrong.

Really, then, that’s the key…isn’t it? Let’s see if we can figure out why we’re so…blah.

So…close your eyes and take a few deep, centering breaths. Stretch your arms waaaaaaay up, above your head, reaching toward the sky, inhaling deeply. Breathing in love. Exhale as you bring your arms down. Feel that? Movement, stirring up your soul a bit. Clearing out some of the dust.

Now, how are you feeling? Put a name to it. Not just angry, or annoyed, or something vague like “I’m just feeling off.” Is it frustration? Is it loneliness? Is it disconnect? For me, it’s almost always that I’m feeling disconnected. From my guy, from my kids (when they’re away, at their dad’s), from my family, from girl time, from the things I love to do. It just leaves me feeling a bit hollow, sort of off balance, and very uneasy. Which leads to edgy and crabby.

Once you know what the feeling is, and you’ve pinpointed it, how do you fix it?

Recognize that if nothing outside of you, no specific event or person triggered this exact emotion…it’s actually directed at yourself. This means that for me, if I’m feeling disconnected, it’s actually because I am disconnected – from me, from my higher self, from Source, from the Universe, from God. (Spoiler alert: If you’re feeling icky and crabby for absolutely no good reason, it’s almost ALWAYS THIS.)

The best part of all of this? It’s SUPER easy to plug back in! It can be literally as simple as shoving a cord in an outlet.

The trick is finding out what your shortcuts are. What makes you feel connected again, immediately? I guarantee you’ll find you can create a whole list of them. (I recommend you actually do this. Have a list on hand, in a journal or in a note on your phone or a sticky note by your computer. Where ever you’ll find it.)

Here are some of the things on my list:

• Go for a walk. The fresh air, the movement, being outdoors. It’s alllll good.
• Kitchen dance party. Instant feel-good – the loud music, the silly abandon, the movement.
• Grab some color. Whether I doodle with markers or play with watercolors, getting color out on paper soothes my soul.
• Take a picture. For me, photography is in my core, so I grab a camera and just have a bit of fun. Polaroid, iPhone, medium format, digital SLR…whichever camera speaks to me. They all work.
• Write it out. A journal entry…or this blog post.
• Treat myself. Starbucks always makes me feel better. Or dark chocolate. Anything delectable.
• Do the deed. You might laugh, but seriously. If I’m feeling disconnected, there is NO quicker way to feel connected again than to feel on this level. It’s the ultimate connection.
• Meditate it away. Sometimes it just takes some good breathing to get the flow going again.
• Stretch it out. Yoga is a beautiful way to reconnect and recenter.
• Call on my inner child. These little playdates can be whatever you imagine – blowing bubbles, sidewalk chalk art, you name it. Abandoning the ego to play like you did as a child is always powerful!

What is on your list of instant plug-ins? What can you do to feel reconnected? I’d love to hear some of your ideas!

xo