You know that weird, fuzzy feeling when things just start clicking? It’s not just luck. Honestly, when you say i feel a good mood starting to bubble up, you’re actually describing a physiological shift in your brain’s chemistry that scientists call emotional momentum. It’s subtle. You might notice it because a song sounds better than usual or the coffee hits different. But there is a massive difference between a fleeting "high" and the genuine, sustainable state of wellbeing that keeps you going for days.
Most people wait for happiness to hit them like a bolt of lightning. They’re wrong.
The Biology of Why I Feel a Good Momentum
When you start thinking, "i feel a good day ahead," your ventral striatum is already hard at work. This is the part of your brain responsible for "reward anticipation." Dr. Brian Knutson from Stanford University has spent years studying how our brains react not just to rewards, but to the expectation of them.
It turns out, the anticipation is often more powerful than the event itself.
Dopamine isn't just about pleasure. It’s about "wanting" and "seeking." When you feel that spark, your brain is essentially dumping a chemical primer into your system, making you more observant of positive opportunities. It’s a feedback loop. You feel a bit better, so you notice a stranger’s smile, which makes you feel even better, which leads you to take a risk at work.
It’s messy. It’s non-linear. Sometimes it’s just about your gut microbiome communicating with your brain via the vagus nerve. If your gut is producing enough serotonin—and about 95% of your body's serotonin is found there—your brain gets a constant "all clear" signal. This is why "gut feelings" aren't just metaphors; they are biological status reports.
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The Problem With Toxic Positivity
We have to be real here. You can’t just "manifest" a good mood if you’re dealing with clinical depression or genuine life trauma. The "good vibes only" crowd often ignores the necessity of the "lows."
Psychologist Susan David, a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and author of Emotional Agility, argues that suppressing "negative" emotions actually makes us less resilient. If you force yourself to say i feel a good vibe when you actually feel like garbage, you create cognitive dissonance. This internal conflict is exhausting. True emotional momentum comes from acknowledging the grit and then moving through it, not pretending the grit isn't there.
How to Trigger the Upward Spiral
So, how do you actually get to that state where you can honestly say, "i feel a good shift happening"? It’s usually a combination of small, almost boring habits.
- Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT): This is just a fancy way of saying "fidgeting and walking." You don't need a marathon. Just moving your body tells your nervous system you aren't stuck.
- The 2-Minute Win: Accomplishing something tiny—cleaning one dish, sending one email—triggers a micro-dose of dopamine. This breaks the "freeze" state of procrastination.
- Light Exposure: Getting sunlight in your eyes within 30 minutes of waking up sets your circadian rhythm. Dr. Andrew Huberman, a neurobiologist at Stanford, talks about this constantly. It’s probably the single most effective free "drug" for mood regulation.
Sometimes, it’s just about the music. We’ve all felt that. There is a study from the University of Groningen that suggests certain songs with a specific tempo (around 150 beats per minute) and lyrics in a major key are scientifically more likely to trigger a "felling good" response. Think "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen. It’s cliche, sure, but the math checks out.
Why Context Matters
Your environment is a silent script for your emotions. If you’re sitting in a dark room with a pile of laundry and "doomscrolling" on TikTok, your brain is getting bombarded with cortisol and blue light. You aren't going to feel "good" there.
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Change the variables. Even moving to a different chair can break an emotional stalemate.
We often think of emotions as things that happen to us. In reality, they are things we construct based on internal signals and external context. If you want to feel that "good" coming on, you have to provide the brain with the raw materials—hydration, movement, and a lack of digital noise.
The Role of Social Contagion
You are not an island. Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler, researchers who looked at the Framingham Heart Study data, found that happiness is actually contagious. If a friend of yours becomes happy, your own chance of happiness increases by about 15%.
Even a friend of a friend—someone you don't even know—can influence your mood.
When you say i feel a good energy, you might just be picking up on the collective mood of your immediate circle. This is why "protecting your peace" is more than just a catchy Instagram caption. It’s a neurological necessity. If you spend all your time around people who "vent" (which, by the way, often just rehearses anger rather than releasing it), your brain stays in a state of high-alert.
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Turning the Feeling Into Action
A good mood is a terrible thing to waste. When you feel that surge, that’s the time to do the hard things.
- Make the Call: Call the person you’ve been avoiding. Your heightened empathy will make the conversation smoother.
- Creative Output: Write, draw, or build. High-dopamine states are linked to divergent thinking—the ability to see connections between unrelated ideas.
- Physical Training: Use the adrenaline. You’ll likely have a higher pain threshold and better endurance.
The "Afterglow" Effect
Eventually, the peak will fade. That’s okay. The goal isn't to stay at a 10/10 forever—that’s called mania, and it’s not sustainable. The goal is to raise your "baseline."
By repeatedly accessing these "good" states through healthy triggers rather than cheap dopamine (like sugar or social media likes), you rewire your neural pathways. This is neuroplasticity in action. You’re essentially building a faster highway to your "happy" state so it’s easier to get there next time.
Immediate Steps to Shift Your State
If you’re not feeling it yet, don't force it. Instead, try these specific, evidence-based shifts:
- Physiological Sigh: Inhale deeply through the nose, then take a second "sip" of air at the very top to fully inflate the alveoli in your lungs. Exhale slowly through the mouth. This is the fastest way to lower your heart rate and signal to your brain that you are safe.
- Cold Exposure: Splash ice-cold water on your face. This triggers the "diving reflex," which slows the heart and can snap you out of a rumination loop.
- Externalize Your Thoughts: Write down everything bothering you. Once it’s on paper, your brain stops using "working memory" to loop the thoughts.
Next Steps for Long-Term Mood Stability:
- Audit Your Feed: Unfollow any account that makes you feel "less than" or anxious.
- Prioritize Sleep: No amount of "mindset work" can overcome a brain that hasn't cleared out its metabolic waste through deep sleep.
- Watch Your Language: Stop saying "I'm stressed." Start saying "I'm feeling a lot of energy right now." It sounds cheesy, but the cognitive reframing changes how your body processes the arousal.
- Connect Locally: Go to a physical third space—a library, a park, a cafe—and just be around other humans. Even without talking, the "co-presence" helps regulate your nervous system.