Here’s an exercise suggestion –
1. Take some time today to figure out how much of the day you spend in a good mood
2. Next, for the parts when you are in a bad mood, figure out what caused it and what you could have done better.
Repeat this exercise for a few days and you’ll find that the patterns begin to repeat.
A couple of years back, I realized that most of my bad moods were external driven – something or someone upset me and sent me down a bad mood spiral. I’ve worked on that and that’s changed a lot. A recent health check on causes for bad moods have led me to the following top 3 causes –
1. A stress about something unfinished (60%)
2. A recent unpleasant external experience (30%)
3. An irritation at being unable able to help someone close to me while they’re in need (10%)
As you can see, the causes are largely internal. I’m figuring out how best to cope with the primary cause of a bad mood – stress about something unfinished. A big part of that comes with setting realistic goals – something I’m working to get better at.
A bad mood is a destroyer of value and happiness. It affects the people around us. Dealing with a bad mood deserves a separate series of posts so I won’t go there. Today’s post is about 2 things – first, figure out if you’re spending an unhealthy proportion of time in a bad mood. If so, figure out what causes these moods. And second, your mood is your responsibility. Fix it.
A Learning a Day 