You are not your moods
Parent Post
How are moods different
How are moods different than emotions?
Emotions are ‘action potentials’ because they alert and energize you towards taking some kind of action based on your appraisal.
Moods are the states of mind that are fed by continually thinking, problem solving, and ruminating, and they work to keep emotions in place.
How can you unhook
How can you unhook from a mood?
Start with creating space for reappraising the situation.
Mindfulness helps to de-identify with the experience. We see emotions and moods as moving and shifting over time.
It gives you space around your emotions, which can be very valuable for choosing to respond wisely.
Can you think your
Can you think your way out of a bad mood?
The short answer: no.
Do not try to respond to the mood with further thought.
You miss the possibility of stepping entirely outside of thought and experiencing what a mood feels like in the body.
What makes emotions or
What makes emotions or a mood?
Usually they happen in response to a trigger.
The trigger could come from food, caffeine, a stressful job, a kind word, sunshine, or listening to music. Triggers can also be extremely subtle because they’ve become automatic.
Besides mindfulness, what are
Besides mindfulness, what are some ways to support healthy moods?
Sleep is probably the ultimate reset. You can also do yoga, go for a walk, or do something that connects you to other people.
Eating healthier is another way to control how you feel.
The way you feel and the mood you’re in is not entirely out of your control.
How do triggers become
How do triggers become routinized?
When we identify our emotions as being closely related to our “selves,” there’s not enough space to notice them. Information that arrives, rests, and passes.
All emotions run through self because it’s the sense of self-relevance and self-reference that determines how strong an emotion is and how much of an alarm it’s going to send to you.