What are moods? Well everything what we become aware of when we leave our mental automatism; That is, when we stop acting or reflecting and limit ourselves to simply feeling.
We could define moods as mental contents – conscious or unconscious – in which states of the body, subtle emotions and automatic thoughts are mixed.
The role they play and its influence on who we are and what we do It is immense and yet we give it little attention. But we can approach them, because they offer us very valuable information; you just need to stop: stop working, running, cursing the world…
Our moods are always there, like background noise, but to perceive them it is necessary to stop and listen; as if we were walking through the forest and stopped to listen: we would then perceive the sound of the wind, the sound of the trees moving, the chirping of the birds…
Moods and emotions: differences and how they influence
Now that we know what a state of mind is, we can ask ourselves what distinguishes them from an emotion. The answer could be that mood is a kind of evolved, civilized cousin of emotions that have become more obsolete; They are, so to speak, subtle emotionsin contrast to the great emotions called “primary” or elemental.
Let’s give some examples.
- The anger It would be an emotion that would correspond to the mood of the resentment or bad mood.
- He fearan emotion, gives rise to a state of mind concern or concern.
- The sadness translates into that state of mind that we know as melancholia or anguish.
- The shame translates into culpability.
- The happinessin humor…
Moods, unlike primary emotions, They are less intense, but more lasting and influential; They may seem weak, discreet, easy to forget, but we underestimate their power and influence, capable of ruining our day…
The moods they do not necessarily have a precise object like emotionswhich does not imply that they lack a cause, but rather that it is not so obvious. In general, emotions are a “response” to something that “comes” to us from outside; moods, however, They can also come to us from within, be self-produced.
Emotions radicalize and simplify our perception of events; Moods complicate it, but make it more subtle. Emotions drive us towards external action, and states of mind, first of all, towards internal reflection.
Emotions are “social agitators” that modify our relationship with others and with the world; Moods are, rather, “internal agitators” that modify our relationship with ourselves and our vision of the world. –which can push us to change many things, but more slowly.
Moods can persevere in the wake of strong emotions (the state we find ourselves in after great joy or great disappointment). And they can also represent the terrain that facilitates them.: lateness, which favors bouts of sadness and melancholy; the resentment that prepares the waves of anger; the panic that explodes against a background of anxiety.
First the gray clouds come and then the storm breaks out… But The essence of our mental meteorology is based more on moods: After all, we spend little time under the influence of anger and much more time under the influence of our irritations. More time with nostalgia than with true despair. More time with worries than with major anguish crises…
How to learn to listen to our emotions?
Stop to listen to the murmur within us It is usually enough at first; If we want to go further, it will be necessary for us to learn to listen and observe our moods better, using, for example, the meditation.
Zen meditation, precisely, offers us a beautiful metaphor. We can observe our moods by staying close to them, like a hiker entering a waterfall. and remains sheltered, between the rock and the water that falls strongly, shaking a little, a little wet too, but protected and in a privileged place.
One of the objectives of meditation called “mindfulness” is precisely to step aside for a moment and see the moods pass, break them down, understand them… but without trying to stop their flow. Can someone stop the water from a waterfall?