Does Mood dominate people’s lives? Many say that whenever your mood is spoilt, it leads to anxiety, depression, etc ., What happens when you woke up in a bad mood? The entire day is gone. So, Moods are an internal measure of how we are. We do not express our moods directly, we express them indirectly in the way we think, communicate, behave and see the world. Moods are different from emotions but Moods provide soil for emotions to grow. The mood is the bedrock of our mental life. Bad moods give rise to bad thoughts, unhelpful emotions, and poor mental health whereas Good mood gives rise to positivity, enhanced creativity, and intelligence.
A good mood promotes good health, greater satisfaction, clear thinking, good behavior, better relationships, solid resilience, and the ability to overcome personal barriers. So how to understand what spoils the mood is very important. The factors are:
- External Criticism: Criticism seems to be harmful to some people while others remain undisturbed even in the fiercest attacks. When a person criticizes you, certain negative thoughts are triggered in your mind. These create emotional reactions and not what the other person says. Henceforth, when people criticize you if their comments are wrong, then you have no reason to be upset. In case they are right, acknowledge the error and proceed to correct it. Avoid being judgmental or defensive as you probe your critic. Whenever someone criticizes you, you have three choices at your disposal. The first is to resist and shoot back. However, this might lead to warfare. The second choice is to dodge away, this might cause humiliation. The final choice is to stay calm and skillfully disarm your opponent. This is by far the best solution.
- Knowing things that irritate you: There is something called the Irritability Quotient which refers to the level of anger that you tend to absorb in your daily life. To handle and maintain this, you need to know ways to manage your anger and identify its source. Anger is one of the most difficult emotions to modify because when you get mad, persuading you to stop is extremely tough. The desire for revenge consumes you and it becomes impossible to get rid of hurtful feelings. So, try to cool the hot thoughts that run through your mind.
- Inner Guilt: Many Philosophers, Psychologists, and spiritual leaders have grappled with the question concerning the origin of guilt. Guilt is an emotion you experience when you think about something that you have done that you shouldn’t have done or vice versa. The concept of labeling yourself as bad is the center of guilt. Due to guilt, you feel worthless or even inferior and this might lead to a bad mood. Once you begin feeling guilty, your thoughts and feelings get entrapped in an illusion that again justifies your guilt as valid. So instead of intensifying your guilt develop a coercive strategy to deal with your problems. One of the biggest disadvantages of guilt is that others may use the opportunity to manipulate you. If you feel obligated to please everybody including your friends and family, they may use this opportunity to push you into doing a lot of things that may not necessarily be in your best interest. Hence, just stop overthinking and stop being guilty.
- Negativity: Just like toxic chemicals are poisonous to your body, toxic thoughts, people and emotions are poisonous to your heart, mind, and soul. So, if you sense that someone is trying to pull you into their negativity, do your best not to take the bait. Always keep your mind and your emotions in the No Negative Zone.
After understanding all these factors which can affect your mood, ensure you have a good mood every day. A good mood can be achieved by increasing self-awareness which can facilitate you to face challenges and turn negative emotions into Positive. Taking control of your mind is also a way of living a more positive and happy life. Each second thousands of thoughts infiltrate your mind, some of which may be conscious and self-imposed while others may be subconscious. The sad reality is that most of these thoughts are distorted and filled with negativity. So, to prevent negative thinking, you need to know that negative obstacles that you encounter in life are merely temporary barriers and not permanent roadblocks.
Take every opportunity as a moment of learning something new and a chance to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. Every positive thought you experience will help you in empowering the negative ones.
