Opponent Choice and Losing Streaks

I'm coming off of a recently losing streak that saw me drop about 150 points in the matter of a few weeks (I'm 1340 in live standard, not so good at anything quicker yet).  I'm slowly rebuilding, but one thing I changed which has helped me IMMENSELY over the last couple of weeks is that I stopped playing opponents that are less than 50 points below me and concentrated on only playing people that had a higher rating, and a couple of things happened:

 - I lost a lot in the beginning - but these weren't losses to chalk up to blunders, these were games that I was simply outplayed and they were well played games in my book (didn't feel so bad about taking the loss)

 - I started taking a second look at my games - I wanted to know HOW my opponent got me in that losing position and what I could have done to prevent it (maybe assimilate their play into mine)

 - I was much more on point while playing - if I was a 1280 rating and came up against a 1450, you could be sure I was paying CLOSE attention that entire game and choosing my moves wisely.  

If you're in the middle of a losing streak, I would highly suggest bumping up the minimum rating next time you play. You'll find yourself playing some great games (although some you might just get slaughtered) and learning a few things along the way.  Hope this helps.