It's been a grim day; the kind of day when the bright sunshine is bitter personal betrayal because the whole world needs to be covered in a shroud of dark nimbostratus in order to reflect my mood. It's been the kind of day when I contemplate giving up the business I love just because I can't cope with its demands. The kind of day when all my enthusiasm has drained away somewhere far far away and I just want to cancel tomorrow – and the next day – and the day after that...

I guess this kind of day is not unfamiliar to most of us.

And it's always tempting to travel the route of "Why?" Why am I feeling like this? Is it that I haven't had enough fresh air recently? Had too much alcohol, too much junk food, not enough this, too much of that and nothing of the other.

But even if we come up with a probable answer it's not always helpful.

I think it was the Personal Development Coach Peter Thomson who said "The quality of the answers you get depends on the quality of the questions you ask."

Very wise. So the question I need to ask myself is not why I am in this state, but what I can do to get out of it?

That question reaps a far more positive harvest of answers. I can do some meditation. I could get outside and take a brisk walk; I could ring a friend whose upbeat nature always makes me laugh. Instead of pouring that glass of wine I can make a mug of herbal tea and spend some time doing something really rewarding which will give me something to show at the end of it (hey – I could write this blog!).

I'm not naive enough to think this always works. But it's nearly always more positive than shouting "Why?" at that indifferent nimbostratus.