Mood is an odd concept. The term applies to how we’re feeling in a given moment; it’s attitude and a general approach or outlook. Mood is vague, personal, and constantly changing. It colors our world and often seems to have power over us, so we seem to become victims of our moods.
I can’t figure out where moods come from. Everything can be just fine and yet I’ll be in a bad mood; and conversely, bad things can happen yet my mood remains calm. It’s not traceable to what’s happening outside me, at least not all the time.
Why do I wake up some mornings in a happy mood, and some in a funk? Why am I blue on a sunny day and glad on a rainy one sometimes? There’s little rhyme or reason to moods.
But they’re real enough and certainly influential. How often do you change your schedule because you’re not in the mood? When the mood comes over you for an ice cream, how much do you resist?
Since moods have so much power, I think it makes sense to establish diplomatic relations with them and not just let them have free, unquestioned rein.
For instance, why not keep a mood journal? Explore in it this thing called moods. Let it be the place where you do nothing more than mull your current feelings and attitudes, focusing carefully so you can describe the mood with great precision and detail. Indulge it with total attention and care.
Right now, my mood is one of those early afternoon sleepy lazy ones. Want to take a nap and kind of resentful that I can’t. It’s like a big soft hazy yellow cloud has come to settle on me and my mind is dreamy, slowed way down. There’s a soft melody playing quietly in the back of my head and the sunshine outside my window feels sweet and loving. I sense my own breathing and love the rhythm of it; I want to follow it like the Pied Piper, let it carry me to its home, a place of no worries, no fear …
As you write, do your best to stay in the mood, keeping it intensely in your awareness. Let this research be as thorough as possible.
If you journal much, you know that such close attention to your mood through writing will eventually cause the mood to dissipate. Writing out your experiences brings understanding, and once you understand something, you move on to the next thing.
But then you’ll experience a new mood, perhaps one that’s completely different.
I’m so mad I want to scream. I’m shaking. This is horrible. Ooooo that makes me so angry. I feel like punching somebody, I’m so pissed. My muscles are all tense, and I can’t sit still. I know why they say you “see red.” It’s like I can’t see anything but how mad I am, how offended, how downright hurt. Yeah, it’s so hurtful, I can’t stand it. My breathing is raspy, and I’m pacing the floor. Yuk! Yuk yuk. Damn!
There are wonderful benefits to developing a mood journal like this. The writing itself powerfully comforts and guides us. And reading over your entries from, say, the past week will infuse your awareness with new comprehension and confidence. You persevered through all those contrasting moods and even learned from them: you must be a lot stronger than you thought!
#
In the mood to find out more about your moods? Create Write Now has an eworkbook, "Who Are You? 7 Days Self-Discovery Journaling Challenge"
Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/therichbrooks/3664235162/
Leave Comment