Usually in my weekly posts I present some information that I think will be useful to you, something I’ve learned that I want to pass on to you.  This week I want to reverse that process: I’d like your collective wisdom to educate me and everyone else who reads my blog.

The topic is moods.

This mental state first became an issue in my occurring courses where the participants and I were trying to identify all the factors that seemed to influence how reality “occurred” for us, in other words, what determined the meaning we gave events as we experienced them, moment by moment?

We realized that probably the major source of our occurrings was our beliefs and conditionings.  Other relevant sources included our physical condition and our “moods.”  But when we tried to state specifically what we meant by a mood and where our moods came from, we were stumped.

After a lot of thinking and a bunch of research, I came up with a few ideas, which I’d like to share with you in this post.  But instead of ending with my conclusion, I’m going to end with a request that you take a look at what I’ve presented and then tell me and my readers what you think, and let’s see if our collective thinking can figure out what moods really are, where they come from, and how to change them if they are negative.

 

What do the experts say?

I checked to see what Wikipedia had to say. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mood_(psychology)

“A mood is a relatively long lasting emotional state.  Moods differ from emotions in that they are less specific, less intense, and less likely to be triggered by a particular stimulus or event.

“Moods generally have either a positive or negative valence. In other words, people typically speak of being in a good mood or a bad mood. Unlike acute, emotional feelings like fear and surprise, moods often last for hours or days.

“Mood also differs from temperament or personality traits which are even longer lasting. Nevertheless, personality traits such as optimism and neuroticism predispose certain types of moods. Long term disturbances of mood such as depression and bipolar disorder are considered mood disorders. Mood is an internal, subjective state, but it often can be inferred from posture and other behaviors.”

Some of my thinking

Moods seem to be like emotions in some respects and different in other respects.  They both can be positive or negative. Moods tend to last longer than emotions.  Usually emotions are set off by a specific stimulus (in the case of stimulus conditionings) or by the meaning we give specific events at the time (in other words, our occurrings).  I’m not sure what creates our moods.

A mood colors one’s perception and behavior.  It is like a filter through which one views reality. Therefore it can affect the meaning you give to an event, which determines how events occur to us.  Although our occurring can influence the mood we are in, it seems more common that moods affect our occurrings.

I said earlier that our physical condition, such as being in pain or being tired, can affect our occurring.  It also can affect our mood.

In an earlier blog post on emotions I wrote: “Sadness, unhappiness, grief and sorrow are emotions that result from feeling powerless in the face of not having (or not being able to have) what we want, or losing what we had.”  (https://www.mortylefkoe.com/why-negative-emotions/) Now that I think about it, these four emotions have many of the characteristics of moods.

Could moods be affected by the same principles that determine emotions? (In that earlier post I explained the source of our negative emotions.)

It is possible that moods have a stimulus just like emotions, but it is usually easier to identify the stimulus for an emotion because we are aware of the emotion starting and thus can usually see what precedes it.  A mood is more diffuse and we can be in a good or bad mood for a while before we are aware of it, so if there is a specific stimulus it might be more difficult to identify it.

Emotions can be quickly and easily eliminated using either the Lefkoe Stimulus Process (if the emotions are caused by stimulus conditioning) or the Lefkoe De-conditioning Process (if they are caused by our occurrings, in other words, the meaning we give to current events).  I’m not sure how to get out of moods.

People’s moods are confusing

When I try to apply all that I know about moods to a specific situation, I realize how little I really understand about this topic.  For example, when I think about my two daughters when they were teens, I remember that they usually were in very “good” or “bad” moods.  When they were in a “bad” mood they would get angry very easily over the slightest thing, would yell at me and others seemingly without provocation, and would give negative meanings to almost everything.  On the other hand, when they were in a “good” mood, the opposite would happen.  They would be very loving and would put a positive spin on almost everything that happened.

Is a mood the way our life is occurring to us at the moment? And will a mood, like inertia, keep going once it gets started until something stops it? If a mood is the result of our beliefs then why can the same person with the same beliefs, such as my daughters, be in a very good mood and a very bad mood in the space of a single day?  What would determine which mood she is in as she has the same beliefs in both cases?  Could it be her occurrings that are determining the mood as opposed to vice versa?

What do you think?

I’ve given you some of my random thoughts and a little of the research I’ve done. Now tell me what you think.  Here’s what I’d like you to address:

1.  What is a mood?

2.  What determines our moods?  What is the source of moods?

3.  Once we have a mood, what can we do to dissolve it intentionally or change it from negative to positive?

 

Please write your thoughts on any one or all of these three questions.  And then come back to this blog in a few days to read what others have written, which might stimulate you to write more.

Maybe as a group we can come up with some good answers to these three questions.  I can’t wait to read what you have to say.

If you haven’t yet eliminated at least one of your limiting self-esteem beliefs using the Lefkoe Belief Process, go to htp://www.recreateyourlife.com/free where you can eliminate one negative belief free.

For information about eliminating 23 of the most common limiting beliefs and conditionings, which cause eight of the most common problems in our lives, please check out: http://recreateyourlife.com/naturalconfidence.

These weekly blog posts also exist as podcasts.  Sign up for the RSS feed or at iTunes to get the podcasts sent to you weekly.

 

Copyright © 2011 Morty Lefkoe

94 Comments

  1. Franklin Yahraus December 17, 2019 at 5:55 pm - Reply

    Good night sir, i like your news site ! Have a nice weekend

  2. Ellen June 1, 2012 at 8:51 am - Reply

    Mood: a reaction pattern to a series of occurings.
    The tone of the mood is determined by the perceived identity of the experiencer: victim or creator.
    I would add that physical sensations such as tiredness, hormone fluctuations, hunger, etc. are often interpreted as a mood…when they are a chemical reaction to a body condition.

    Changing a mood: (be the investigator Creator)
    1. Inventory physical body possibilities for causation:
    Eat clean, sleep, exercise, get a physical checkup.

    I experienced severe depression when I hit 50. I am usually a fun and happy person; regardless of the circumstances. My attitude had been, nothing can hurt me unless I agree. Then I found myself in the depths of despair. I decided that there is a solution to this and I would find it. It took 8 years, several doctors, hundreds of books, until I found the solution. The solution was NATURAL bio identical hormones, and diet (gluten free). This meant only as an example.

    I had to consciously decide (fight the urge) to not blame my fab husband, blame my doctors and hate myself for getting older. I believed there was a solution and I deserved to feel good and I would find a way. I promised myself at a very young age, that I would never ever give up on me.

    2. Examine your basic identity decision
    Are you a victim? Helpless, hopeless…
    Or are you the author of your life?

    I would suggest there are beliefs that support each.
    Morty’s method is absolutely elegant at removing the structure of victim.
    The Who am I Really? Process opens the door to Creator.
    Perhaps there are supporting beliefs that are specific to building a strong foundation for Creator?

    Some suggestions:
    If there is a will, there’s a way. I decide.
    I am my greatest fan.
    Life is an adventure.
    I can feel at peace, no matter what is happening or how I am temporarily reacting.
    All is going according to my Higher Self’s guidance for me to wake up and know that I am a Divine Being and ultimately it is impossible for me to be a victim.

    These are some that have seen me thru a violent childhood and abject poverty as a young girl scravbbling thru college on my own.

    I have a truly wonderful life; a fab husband (34 years), two awesome children in their 20’s ( with real jobs and on their own), true friends, and a beautiful home.
    My life has been an amazing adventure. I did everything I truly wanted to accomplish. Very little of it was easy. I had to constantly hit reset on my mood from victim to creator or none of it would have even been possible.

    I think victim mode is the default mood. It is unconsciously easier…poor me I have been treated badly. You don’t have to do anything. It takes great courage to say, in the face of much seeming evidence to the contrary: I am the creator of my life.

    Enough from me for now. I look forward to your thoughts and conclusions as you investigate this. Warmest regards, Ellen

  3. Symone May 25, 2012 at 11:20 am - Reply

    Dear Morty,
    Why are my moods so crazy my boyfriend hates me when i wake up.

  4. Almog January 24, 2012 at 3:05 pm - Reply

    Hey Morty,

    I know this is kind of late but I was fascinated by the article… and I have a god idea for your questions.

    When one of my friends was in a bad mood the other day, he said “I had the worst day ever”… I was surprised, because he definitely had no problem with self-esteem beliefs, he has a lot of friends and he’s got all the reasons to be happy. I asked him why and he said: “A couple of things happened today, which got me in to a bad mood”… Now reading this article, I think our moods are a function of multiple occurings which we experience in a short amount of time. The more good things that happen to us in a short amount of time, the better our mood is.

    To get rid of a bad mood, maybe it will be useful to dissolve each occuring, belief or conditioning that functionalize our moods.

    • Morty Lefkoe January 24, 2012 at 6:51 pm - Reply

      Hi Almog,

      I agree with you. I’ve come to think that a mood is the result of the meaning you give several occurrings. But once you have a mood it is not always easy to find the individual occurrings or the meaning you gave to them. So I’m still not sure how to dissolve moods.

      Thanks for your comment.

      Love, Morty

  5. George Manoj April 19, 2011 at 11:24 am - Reply

    Lauren and John,

    I am grateful to you both.

    Warm Regards,

    George

  6. John April 17, 2011 at 5:49 pm - Reply

    Hi George;

    May I please offer my perspective on this issue you are experiencing? If yes, thank you in advance.

    In reading your posts it is very evident to me that you are not dealing with a belief — at least not in the usual sense. In my understanding, what you are dealing with is a Command Phrase. A Command Phrase is any phrase that gives a command, an order, a directive, etc. and exerts incredible power over the individual. That’s a short version definition. But when anyone has a Command Phrase in place, it will rule their lives and thoughts and feelings and moods and in many instances even their biochemical reactions without rational explanation, even though they may be aware of it, though many people aren’t. In your case you happen to be aware of it but so far have been unsuccessful in dealing with it. Very common.

    I don’t like using this analogy because wrong associations can be made and concluded, but it is the easiest way to try to explain what I’m talking about. The analogy is that Command Phrases act similarly to post-hypnotic suggestions but they are NOT the same. To further clarify, I will give a real life incident of just one way a Command Phrase can be implanted that will explain the power of these phrases.

    I’ll call this individual Tom. Tom had to have surgery and while in surgery under anesthesia, the surgeon was talking like they usually do but, in my view shouldn’t, and said “I really like uniforms.” Under usual conditions that would not have been a problem but at the exact time he said that statement, a nurse dropped a surgical instrument on the floor creating a loud noise. To the reactive mind that meant potential danger, so the statement and the noise were recorded with great emphasis. I can’t go into all the ramifications and explanations of why this happens in the way it does, but that statement had an incredible impact on Tom’s life thereafter.

    After surgery and recovery, he had this unexplainable liking for uniforms. He in short order, he bought a whole new wardrobe of uniform looking clothes, joined the Navy because he liked how that uniform looked, etc, etc. This went on for 10 years or so without understanding why he all of a sudden liked uniforms. He could find no help or explanation as to what was happening until he was helped to get rid of that Command Phrase. When that was accomplished his life returned to normal immediately.

    That’s the power of a Command Phrase. As you can determine from the example, he did not adopt the surgeons statement as a “belief” but it nonetheless had great impact on his life just as the Command Phrase “I am not good at Maths” is having on you.

    So in my view and understanding of all that has been presented, you do not have a true belief nor a false belief but an implant that to the conscious mind seems like a belief. So in my view, you have a Command Phrase that is actually interfering with your ability to relate to math and no amount of tutoring, affirmations, positive thinking, or such will eliminate such a Command Phrase and the power it has on the functions of your mind.

    I will mention here that it doesn’t matter how it gets implanted into the reactive mind — or if you will — into the unconscious mind. The results are always the same. The reactive mind does not differentiate. It only records and takes literally what is recorded — and always in the first person. Thus Tom’s reactive mind function, in the above example, took the phrase in, in the first person, even though the surgeon said it, because the analytical mind was not conscious to make the distinction.

    So, to everyone who may be reading this post, may I please, please caution to never fall asleep in front of a TV or radio that is on!! The analytical mind is shut down and all it will take for some Command Phrase to be implanted into the subconscious/reactive part of the mind that happens to be said on the TV or radio, is a load startling noise or sound that occurs at the same time the phrase is made. This this type situation happens more often than I care to consider. Thank you for allowing me to make such a cautionary suggestion.

    So George, it doesn’t really matter where you picked up the Command Phrase you have, they are all eliminated in essentially the same way. Unfortunately I can’t really tell you how to do that here but I hope that I have given you some distinctions to help with your understanding. At the same time, I don’t want to just leave you empty handed so to speak nor really advise you directly, but what I will do is to offer a suggestion as to how to ground some of the energies impinged on the Command Phrase you have that give it such power.

    Here’s what I would do. I would immediately cease resisting it and everything associated with it — and that includes still wanting to be an engineer and even the depression. I would fully have all those feelings in present time, but remain neutral about them as if I was an observer. I would not make any judgments of good or bad, right or wrong, etc. about what comes up. I would just allow it all to express while just observing what is presenting itself for view. If I felt like crying, I would just allow the body to cry but I would continue to remain neutral about it and just be an objective observer. If I felt anger or some other emotion come up, I would allow those feelings to come up and out — not act them out, but just allow them to be. I would continue this procedure until the energies subside or until I felt it was time to take a break and resume the procedure at a later time continuing until they are exhausted.

    Since I know from direct experience in dealing with Command Phrases, there is never just one. So if during the procedure other feelings of un-worth or sadness or disgust or whatever come up, I would do the same thing. I would allow them there space and just observe them as they come up never judging or labeling them, just allowing them to be without resistance to them.

    In time, I should feel a lessening and a freedom from it all or at least some relief.

    Best wishes to you George,
    John

  7. Lauren April 17, 2011 at 10:15 am - Reply

    George,
    When you stated that you “saw” your belief in the world-your transcript-this is what I would call an “interpretation” of a grade/number on a piece of paper. You looked at a number and realized it didn’t correspond with the number that the Engineering school was looking for. You didn’t like that it didn’t measure up and ever since you’ve been thinking you’re “not good at mathematics”. In my humble opinion, it could be that this is not a belief, just a reality. In order to become an Engineer, your grades in math have to higher than what you had. You stated you had tutoring and it didn’t work. As far as getting rid of beliefs; I am 53 years old and I got rid of a bunch of limiting beliefs. It isn’t that you believe you’re not good at math, it could be that you’ve gone as far as you could in math and can go no further. That is reality, not a belief and your depression is due to non-acceptance of an objective reality. You can do other things in life that fulfill you, too.
    Love and Light,
    Lauren

  8. George Manoj April 17, 2011 at 7:35 am - Reply

    Christian , absolutely no problem . I am grateful to you for your kind words.

    Lauren,

    Thanks fo your note . I was ambigious in my previous post for which I apologize.

    As Morty states that most of us are “visual” people & so we know reality based on what we see.

    So in my case even if I do not give meaning to “I am not good in maths” when I see my transcript with poor grades in Maths I can say that I have “seen” the belief , which is my transcript.

    Therefore , what I am curious about is , whether it is my belief ( about Maths) that caused me to score poorly in that subject and if it is can I get rid of it .( Though I feel at age 31 it is probably late.)

    Regards,
    George

  9. Alexey April 16, 2011 at 11:43 am - Reply

    I think in general moods are habitual emotional paternal that are perceived as a whole. But, at the same time, everything has a degree and it is important to recognize degrees of moods simply not to regress immediately to the most dramatic case.

    I’d say, the following degrees are clearly distinct although they are grades on the same scale:

    – Some moods are just habits. They are not necessarily severe but they are present. Habits may be just that – habits, unquestioned believes that don’t have to be there but happened to form. These habits may have been copied from parents as a “normal way of life” and never questioned. Like in “people have moods” which is not true as a general statement but sounds like a “polite” statement.

    – Moods can be a sign of grossly undisciplined mind. Like an apartment that is in a severe need of a cleanup. Moods are expedient ways to refocus on something “important” and blank out the obvious. Like in “I am not in a mood for … at this time”.

    – Moods may secure a desired role. For example, a person extracts a benefits (in his mind) from taking up a victim role. So, a mood places a person to this role regardless of actual events. It is a “forward insurance”. In this stage mode is heavier since it serves an ongoing (hungry) strategy.

    – Lastly, mood can be a defense mechanism used by ego when it feels threatened.

    In all these cases moods are just long running habitual emotional patterns. That their source is somewhat different. At least, it is at a different level. Hence the way to deal will be somewhat different.

    I would start with just discussing a particular mood in neutral terms to see the size of an emotional charge and the level of freedom a person has with regard to his/her mood.
    I think that these stages or source of moods. In the first case, it might be just enough to demonstrate that moodiness is not a necessary trait of a human.

    In the case of undisciplined mind, I would looks for believes that cause it. I would expect that they cause not only the moods but lots of other things which may be a more meaningful context for an approach.

    In case of ego defense, I would not think or “removing” modes but rather about gaining trust of the ego. You might not prefer to be “ego-less” but the reality is that ego is there and it is in an active self-defense mode. You don;t necessarily what to make a power struggle here. Mood is just a mean to an end.

    I skipped the moods as means to secure a role. naturally, you need to work with role and why it is there.

    My two cents.
    Best
    Alexey

    • Lauren April 16, 2011 at 1:18 pm - Reply

      Alexey,
      Enjoyed your post; it relates to a mood I had this morning. I am in peri-menopause and my hormone cycle is basically not running uniformly. I was feeling bitchy and dispespected by my hubby and ripped into him when he was talking to me like a drill sargent(my occurring). Eventually, I went on the computer and really looked at my mood and decided to accept my feelings as being the result of my up and down hormones and not to take them seriously. At that moment, the “bitchiness” dissolved when I realized that I was actually using the tools of the Occurring Process to eliminate the mood. You say, ” Lastly, mood can be a defense mechanism used by ego when it feels threatened.” I realized that it was my creation leading me instead of me(consciousness) leading my creation.
      Love and Light on your Journey,
      Lauren

  10. Christian April 15, 2011 at 4:36 pm - Reply

    Hi George,

    Sorry, I did not read your previous comments very well, you already tried to remove your limiting belief. I wonder however like you, whether or not you where successful and truly removed the limiting belief of not being good in math. I’m curious to see what Morty has to say. Sorry for jumping the gun I tend to read from the bottom to the top.

    Don’t give up!

    Christian

    • Lauren April 16, 2011 at 9:47 am - Reply

      Sometimes “not being very good at mathematics” is a reality as George said above when he took a course to increase his skills. He stated that he didn’t hear from his parents that he was not good at mathematics and most limiting beliefs(though not all)get started between birth and six. George, did anyone in your first years of school say you weren’t very good in math? What were your experiences with math in those years?
      Love and Light on Your Journey,
      Lauren

  11. Christian April 15, 2011 at 4:13 pm - Reply

    Hi George,

    This sounds like the perfect opportunity to prove for yourself that you can get rid of a limiting belief (namely, I’m not good enough) Go to http://www.recreateyourlife.com/free/good-enough.php
    and give it a try. The most you can loose is 30 minutes of your time. The best possible outcome may be that you will become an engineer after all. If I had to make a bet I’d say chances are great you will succeed! You already have that strong desire to be an engineer.

    Best wishes,

    Christian

  12. George Manoj April 15, 2011 at 11:49 am - Reply

    Lauren,

    Thanks so much for the valuable input.

    I did go for Mathematics coaching in school , but it didn’t help . I think it was this limiting belief that I always have about not being good in Maths that prevented me from reaching my potential. Even today 15 years later I have this belief , of not been good in Maths and therefore I couldn’t become an engineer.

    Best,

    George

  13. Lauren April 13, 2011 at 5:27 pm - Reply

    George,
    It isn’t the belief that “I’m not very good at mathematics” that is the problem. You stated that you received poor marks in math meaning they weren’t good enough for you to go to Engineering school. I think you’re depressed because your intense desire to become an Engineer is blocked by your inability to do better in mathematics. I thought about being an anthropologist or an archaeologist, but mathematics is not a strong point with me, either. As you stated you need strong math skills to go to Engineering school. Have you looked for a tutor to do some one-on-one teaching? Do you have other interests you could develop that would fulfill you? What particular reason do you have for becoming an engineer?
    Love and Light,
    Lauren

  14. George Manoj April 13, 2011 at 7:15 am - Reply

    Hello Morty,

    Thanks for providing such a great information. I have used your system for removing a belief . In this regard I have just 1 question. I often remain depressed bcoz I believe I am not good enough in Maths.
    My parents never said that I am not good enough in Maths when I was young .

    However, by the time I was 14 yrs I was consistently scoring poor marks in maths in high school . I couldn’t secure a seat in an Engineering College bcoz of poor marks in Maths.

    I am 31 yrs now , remain very depressed as I couldn’t bcome an engineer and still believe that I am poor in Maths .

    Is their any possibility that this is a false believe and can I get rid of it ?

    Thanks so much.

    -George , India

  15. Joey April 11, 2011 at 3:59 am - Reply

    Hi Morty!

    My guess is that moods are signs of some unusual chemical balance in our body. This would explain for me why we tend to think or act in an untypical way when we’re “in a mood” and why it can be more challenging to quickly change our mental state if we’re in a “bad mood”…

    Keep up the fantastic work… Thank-you for everything,
    Joey

  16. kurt April 11, 2011 at 12:21 am - Reply

    Dear morty,
    Years ago I suffered from debilitating moods of depression that could bring me to a state that was difficult to live with. I felt like a prisoner of this condition that may last for days. Interestingly without instruction or help my own mind instructed me to work on
    only the present moment, their, there was peace.
    Later with help from books I read I began to understand my problem was with identifying with outside events. It could have been something someone said to me or something I saw which I gave my own meaning to and the suffering would commence. Through persistant thought watching ,in time the mood began to dissolve and have little to no power over me . Today I don’t suffer from these cruel thieves. Identifiying with an outside event will cause enormous occurrings that send you living in the past or some future nightmare. Your occurring course has given me fresh fuel to dissolve all my occurings . People need to decide wether they prefer peace over their pain!
    Yours truely, Kurt

  17. Caron April 10, 2011 at 7:14 am - Reply

    Hi Morty

    As I was reading your blog the following occurred to me. . .

    1. A mood is a state that triggers a specific response which is generally not a “normal response”. i.e. if I am in an angry or frustrated mood I will react very differently to a car cutting me off to what I would normally, and the same goes for if I was particularly happy. I agree with you that it is definitely a filter of sorts.

    2. I tend to agree with you that it is probably an emotion that triggers a mood. I would tend to say that an emotion or an event probably triggers something quite deep in our subconscious which does not produce an immediate emotion, but more of a pervading, indefinable feeling of happy, sad, thoughtful, angry or frustrated, and this feeling then acts as a filter for viewing anything that happens to us. Teenagers may be very frustrated about something at school and because they can’t or won’t define it, they sublimate the feeling and carry on as “normal” but when they are frustrated by something at home, even though they don’t relate it the feeling of frustration from school, they see the frustration through that filter and so their reaction is much more extreme than if they were in their “normal” state. Could we say moods are echo’s of other feelings?

    3. Awareness is the key to changing a mood – but how many of us are aware we’re in a mood until we’ve snapped at our child, flipped the other driver or gone off the deep end about something small. Those are all negatives, but the same goes for positives, because if we could understand what “puts” us in a good, happy, energetic or motivated mood, we could harness those triggers to change or alter the bad moods. NLP does this quite well, the Swish technique comes to mind. Listening to what I’ve just written here, I would say that a mood is just a feeling, and we know we can change feelings, so we can change our moods too. Answering where that feeling comes from is complex, but it is not always necessary to know where it comes from to change it.

    I look forward to seeing other peoples view points

  18. John April 9, 2011 at 10:14 pm - Reply

    Hi Morty;

    You have presented some very interesting questions about moods so to answer your questions, a little pre-explanation is necessary as a lot could be written on this subject. As you know, people usually go in and out of emotional tone levels when they experience different circumstances and events. The more fluid they are at doing this, the less fixed they are at any one given emotional tone level, and the better and healthier they are emotionally and the less moody they will be.

    However, if a person experiences any particular emotion and they repeat and perpetuate that same emotion over and over often enough, and/or are caused to have to experience an emotion over and over, or if they get agreement about what they are emoting about from others as well as any associated beliefs they have adopted, they begin to solidify — make more dense/solid/heavy — the emotion they are experiencing. It becomes a very solid energetic conditioned state of existence in the person’s Mental Body — or mind if you prefer though the mind is not the Mental body or the brain.

    In any regard, by the repetitious process, they in essence add more and more emotional energy (mass) to the original situation and the emotional tone becomes CHRONIC — a CHRONIC EMOTIONAL TONE. A mood. A place where they now live and experience and interpret life from, and therefore, express the same emotion on a longer term basis. It has become their acceptance level from which specific emotional patterns express — which are obvious to anyone outside of themselves. In essence then, they lost fluidity on the emotional tone scale. This is how moods are born so to speak. They are stuck emotional expressions and are therefore emotions but STUCK emotions. Fixations.

    The only way they usually get out of that chronic emotional state on a day to day basis is by outside triggers or influences of sufficient strength or affinity that they can be temporarily dislodged, so to speak, or unfixated from their chronic emotional tone level at which time they can then experience a different emotional level or emotion. But after the stimulus event is over, they will again return to their chronic state.

    Please Note: It is important to understand that there are gradient levels of fixation. Those that are not so dense or solidly conditioned allows for more flexibility. But when the situation becomes very chronic to the extreme, then we are dealing with some form of psychosis.

    So, once a mood has resulted, we really don’t want to change a negative one to a positive one or vice versa. That would be going from one fixation to another. The state we want to be in is a state of conscious fluidity where we can ideally change our emotions or emotional tone level to suit present time circumstances and events and then be able to change back to whatever other emotional tone level is required for the new set of circumstances that we encounter from moment to moment, day to day. This requires conscious intent and present time choices and relevancy. Not always an easy task given so much conditioning we have been subjected to from our inception but it can be achieved.

    As to what one can do about these types situations depends on the degree of fixation present. Very chronic situations are correctable but require a very skilled practitioner who truly understands the Mental Body and the different levels of the mind functions. No drugs/medications required if the understanding is present.

    Regarding handling the lesser fixations/moods, that requires listening to what the person is saying as that will reveal the basis/origin of the mood but very few people know what to look for and how to eliminate the basis behind the mood fixation.

    However, in lieu of the above, I can give at least one approach to handling an emotional fixation/mood and that is to listen to ourselves. Self-reflection. Choose a quite time and just listen to what our minds are saying and the feelings that come up when we sit in silence and there are NO distractions. That will reveal any chronic emotional tone we have and some of its surface content.

    Also, when we sit in silence and self-reflect, we must be certain to be non-judgmental about what comes up to our conscious awareness. If we start assigning significances to what comes up — good, bad, awful, etc., — we just add MORE mass and energy to the situation and resolution will not be accomplished. We must be neutral at all times. When we have listened enough to get a firm idea of what the mood is and what the associated thinking is — i.e. what is really really going on in our minds when it is not being bombarded with so much outside distraction and stimulus — and I must mention this is not a meditation exercise but active neutral listening and perceiving — then we are beginning to put our light and attention on the situation and becoming more and more aware of what is. Then, when we have finished the exercise and resume our usual activities, we must be very alert and aware — not fixated, but a gentle awareness for when that particular mood comes up and into our awareness and wants to express — so we can catch it as it begins to express so we can decide consciously and intentionally right then and there, if possible, not to go into agreement with it but choose another emotional tone level and emotion to express.

    Each time it is caught in action, even if after the fact, and if we remain non-judgmental when it comes up for view, we discharge energies from the original mass/fixation and those energies will go to ground. And as time goes on, it will become easier and easier to change emotional tone levels — which indicates we are becoming more and more unfixated and free to choose our emotional tone level in present time.

    Please note: That when doing the self-reflection awareness exercise, it would be a good idea to be barefooted or in nonsynthetic socks and not in shoes. Cotton is appropriate but barefoot is best. This allows the body to be more grounded so that when any energies are dislodged while doing the exercise they have a better path to ground and won’t circulate around in the field of the body possibly finding another place to rest based upon compatibilities. Rubber and synthetics block the normal grounding of the body whenever they are worn.

    Finally, and sorry for such a lengthy comment, but this is not a subject that can be addressed superficially though I have to a point. In any regard, there may come a time after we have put enough attention on the mood through present time awareness, that your system of handling beliefs may then be able to be applied as there are beliefs and conditionings behind every mood, but in a chronic state, they are buried deep in the recesses of the mind and are not often readily available for such methods until the mass the belief is buried in is eliminated bit by bit through conscious awareness, intention, and non-agreement. Then the truth can finally rise to the surface of awareness to be handled.

    Thank you,
    John

    • Caron April 10, 2011 at 7:19 am - Reply

      Your point about a mood becoming a chronic emotional tone is well made, I know a lot of people who thrive on sadness, anger or dis empowerment. I did not realise what I was looking at till I read your post. Thanks for the enlightenment.

  19. helpferals April 9, 2011 at 6:21 am - Reply

    just checking my id info

  20. christine April 9, 2011 at 5:48 am - Reply

    April 9, 2011
    Will these mood subject pages and blog comments remain available to me over time, or do they delete after a certain period of time? I would like to peruse this information over time if possible. thanks.
    christine

    • Morty Lefkoe April 9, 2011 at 9:25 am - Reply

      Hi Christine,

      I have no current intention to take them down. I’ve left up my posts for the past couple of years.

      Love, Morty

  21. christine April 9, 2011 at 5:44 am - Reply

    April 9, 2011

    I thank all of you for your comments and insights, and am having an increasing awareness of the truths that they contain. I will work with these ideas to try to improve my mood shifts (instead of just resigning myself to hopelessly being a victim to my moods.)! Thank you.
    Sincerely,
    Christine

  22. Boye April 9, 2011 at 12:22 am - Reply

    Some thoughts on my experience of moods and emotions

    I think perhaps moods are time-released emotions. Chemical reactions created nternally by thought/beliefs or through catalysts such as food, hormones, pills, allergens, mind altering substances, seasons, planetary shifts, sensory experiences – sounds, smells, light or lack of light – or physical environment (the difference between the mood created by a walk through aspens vs a wall through the mall – see Dr Bach).
    Emotions have an intense quality, it is their nature to rise and fall quickly, it our nature to cling to them and so prolong our experience of them. Emotions are like popcorn and our mind is the popcorn machine. Moods, although sometimes feel intense, they are not like popcorn, they are more akin to molasses.
    Moods are like seasons. They cycle through us in micro and macro cycles, bringing with them the opportunity of birth, growth, celebration, release and death. Can I accept my moods without the judgment of good or bad?or do I experience myself as their victim and fight for a sense of control ? Can I appreciate a mood for the gift of wholeness it offers me? A fuller experience of wholeness than I would have without it. The main element to changing mood is our willingness to let it go. If I am attached to the experience of a mood, the identity it gives me, the meaning I give, then life will show up as stuck and there will be no movement. What season do I choose to embody in this present situation? What season would offer life the opportunity of movement and which would shut life down? If I am mindful the choice is mine, unfortunately most people are not that practiced at mindfulness.
    I can start the process of finding the root of my mood at any time, but knowledge needs to be accompanied by the willingness to accept and release for the possibility of change to occur . We cannot change the seasons, but we can choose how we dance with them. We can choose which season we bring into life in any situation. We choose how attached we are. We can choose to allow ourselves freedom from giving a mood negative or positive meaning. We can choose to accept ourselves human, whole and home.

    Rev. Nano Boye Nagle
    http://www.eft2bme.com
    http://poetryfishing.blogspot.com

  23. Lauren April 8, 2011 at 10:10 am - Reply

    The other day I found myself in a bit of a euphoric mood which felt good. But I also noticed being in this mood caused me to not pay attention to what was going on. For instance, I bought some things at a local shopping center and wrote out the check for the amount, then the clerk said, “Are these things yours, too?” I looked over at the pile of little things and said, “Yes.” When I was writing the check I thought I was getting a bargain instead of realizing she hadn’t rung up all my purchases. And I was also walking off instead of signing off on a receipt at the grocery store, which normally I don’t do. So I’ve discovered whether I’m in a “really up” mood or in a “really down” mood(down moods are rare since I learned the LOP) I’m seeing the world through rose colored glasses or gloominess. Both seem to be through the lens of my occurrings. Like you, Ray, I’ve been at both ends of the spectrum and feeling really good is definitely better than feeling really awful. However, I noticed with the feeling euphoric, sometimes there is a definite let down, though like I stated not so much since I learned to dissolve them. In the Occurring Course, Morty said if having “no mood” felt empty, that we could create a “good mood”. Most of the time I actually enjoy the flow I feel when I dissolve an occurring.
    Love and Light,
    Lauren

  24. Ray April 8, 2011 at 7:53 am - Reply

    To sum all this up without going into any technical jargon, we all have choices
    We can nag and moan and fret and get angry at life and people to encourage bad moods or
    We can laugh and smile and spread humour and happines and help other people and charities and the more we do of this…… the more it lifts our spirits and rebounds onto us
    I have been at both ends of the tunnel where as I was so low that I wanted out but! now I’m the happiest person in the world and full of energy happiness, life and enjoyment so give a priceless gift to someone today ( a nice big smile ) and feel the happiness flooding back into you on recieving the same

  25. christine April 8, 2011 at 6:27 am - Reply

    for someone with bipolar disorder, a mood can occur for no other reason than a chemical shift in the brain. while these moods can definitely be influenced by external circumstances and our reactions to them, an external event is not always needed to trigger a mood. medications are absolutely essential when dealing with various forms of mental illness.

    • Christine,

      I agree with you and I would even go further and say external events (happenings with no apparent meaning as Morty would say) NEVER trigger a mood. It is all done internally.

      Looking at it structurally chemical shifts in the brain are caused by internal thoughts. Thoughts are how people handle (manipulate) energy and everything is made of energy.

      Every thought creates chemicals to shift that is how one tells the difference between feeling good and feeling bad, it is a chemical shift.

      You are accurate medications are absolutely essential when dealing with mental illness that haven’t discovered the cause of chemical shifts in the brain and they become unessential for those who control the chemical shifts through training how they think. So medications are useful until…

      To Your Best,
      Houston
      Dr. Vetter
      DocResults.com

      Numerous bi-polar clients have balanced or gotten control of their chemical shifting by learning techniques to manage their thoughts and thinking.

    • Lauren April 8, 2011 at 10:23 am - Reply

      Christine,
      Since my husband’s SIL is bipolar, she has to take medication. However, sometimes talking to her helps her to not express herself in a way where most people were wondering what she was talking about or why she was taking something so personally. She has the tendency to obssess and when she shares these issues, she actually listens and considers that what she may be thinking or feeling is not that “big of a deal”. Then, her mood balances out….as least for awhile.
      Love and Light,
      Lauren

      • Erdal April 8, 2011 at 11:19 am - Reply

        Hi Lauren,

        I think bipolar is just a label psychiatry has attached to an observable emotional pattern. The following video series states that there is not an observable physical cause for bipolar labeled behaviour and the chemical imbalance argument for psychiatric diseases has never been actually proven:

        http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/04/06/frightening-story-behind-the-drug-companies-creation-of-medical-lobotomies.aspx

        Even though I can’t prove it, I have certain experience that eliminating associated beliefs and conditionings will get rid of the so called bipolar disorder. And I think that medication just suppresses the sharpness of emotional swings which might be useful to give the patient some control on the situation but does not actually get rid of the problem..

        • Lauren April 10, 2011 at 5:19 pm - Reply

          My aunt, whom I mentioned in my original post, had anger issues since she was a little girl; I don’t know what conditionings and beliefs she could have picked in so short of a time that would make her react so violently to not getting her own way. She had five siblings and though they were eccentric in their own way, none of them was diagnosed with bipolar disorder or displayed the behavior she did. I haven’t seen anything in the literature I’ve read that there is a “cure” for bipolar disorder though I will certainly read what Dr. Mercola says.
          Love and Light,
          Lauren

          • Train Your Thinking-Dr. Houston Vetter April 10, 2011 at 5:47 pm

            Lauren,

            I ask you to consider bipolar (the new label for manic-depressive) while it may be chemical thing, the chemical thing is rooted, grounded and created by the energy of thinking. There is no chemical cure for something that really isn’t rooted in chemicals or nutrition. It’s cause is before chemicals and before nutrition it is energetic which is what a thought is made of.

            As an example a phobia is simply a one time mental learning. And an allergy is simply a one time learning of the body. They can both be corrected or reversed using proper energy techniques and technology.

            Oh and btw modern medicine no longer goes for cure. In fact doctors no longer talk about curing or healing anything. The politically correct term is “manage symptoms”. It works for the continuation of monthly money spent for medication, which keeps the money flowing to those who design the PC terminology. That way the stay in control.

            To Your Best,
            Houston
            Dr. Vetter
            http://www.DocResults.com

        • Lauren April 10, 2011 at 8:06 pm - Reply

          Erdal,
          I did indeed watch enough of the video to understand the gist of it was getting to; not the whole 2-3 hours, however. I then read probably over a hundred of the 400 plus responses both to Dr. Mercola’s comments and advice and to the video itself. I am a big advocate of self-help as my participation in Morty’s Occurring Course and working through my own limiting beliefs can attest. In fact, you could call me a Renaissance woman because of my many interests! Big Pharma is a problem in this country and like you stated limiting beliefs can be the heart of many of these mental problems. For me it boils down to what works. Medication helped my 80(at the time) year old aunt: her whole attitude changed for the better. Having gone through the LOP and LBP, I think your suggestion has a lot of merit though as you say you can’t prove it. I was making a comment on two people I knew and how their problem(whether it is a result of limiting beliefs and/or something else) affected their moods. Personally, I wish everyone in the world knew about Morty’s methods. There would be more of “getting to the heart of matters” rather than the indifference I see in the people I talk to about it. It’s the same with mental problems: a lot of people want a quick fix and this keeps the pharmaceutical complex as well as allopathic medicine busy and profitable. Great discussion.
          Love and Light,
          Lauren

  26. Michael April 7, 2011 at 12:21 pm - Reply

    Morty, here’s a way I’ve been using to dissolve moods that I’ve pieced together from a few of your previous processes. After dissolving it you can construct a positive mood to replace the previous negative mood. This process seems to work for overall moods and moods about specific things or situations.

    One caveat though, I suspect this way of dissolving moods will only really work well with individuals that truly get that events have no inherent meanings.

    Steps:

    1. What is my mood? -or- What mood am I in?

    2. How do I know I’m in that mood? What evidence do I see or feel?

    3. Did I ever really see that I had that mood or was in that mood? What does that look like? Does it really have a shape, color, or location like how a physical object has them? Does that evidence have to mean that I’m truly having that type of mood?

    [Note: If you having trouble going right from #2 to #3, try to work in some alternative interpretations for your evidence. That evidence could have just as easily represented some other specific negative type of mood than the label you gave it.]

    Now your negative mood should be dissolved. To put yourself in a positive one, try the following:

    4. Choose a specific positive mood that you want.

    5. Imagine supporting evidence that could naturally accompany that type of mood.

    6. As you imagine yourself experiencing all that new evidence, ask yourself what type of mood you would have or be in if this evidence was happening?

    • Michael,

      Useful process you offer. Here is what I teach students.
      Using Awareness and dealing with the structure of how it works…
      1) Notice what mood you are in
      2) Notice if you like the way the mood feels
      3-A) If not, ask yourself
      a) What is the opposite mood from this or what mood would I like to be having instead? When you recognize what mood you would like…
      b) Ask yourself, “What thoughts must I be thinking foundation-ally to have and feel this mood?
      3-B) If you do like the mood you are in ask the (b) question about and begin the process of thinking those thoughts on purpose with intent.
      4) Remember it all works this easily as everything is energy and energy is either flowing in the direction one wants or it is blocked from flowing in the wanted direction. By using Awareness once can shift energy flow direction easily, quickly and anytime one chooses.

      Or one could use both the Lefkoe methods to move from perceived reality to actuality which will remove the charge which is what the individual wants anyway. Whatever process one can use to remove the energy charge of the mood, emotion or beliefs (3 different levels of structure) is always a useful tool.

      To Your Best,
      Houston
      Dr. Vetter
      DocResults.com

  27. Michael April 7, 2011 at 11:55 am - Reply

    I think our moods are determined by a few things. I think they are largely determined how reality is occurring for us. I think our occurrings and moods are largely governed by the collective influence (and interactions) of all our beliefs and conditionings. If you want to change your mood (a negative one mind you), keep finding more beliefs and conditionings and eliminate them.

    Now it does seem that certain beliefs and conditionings will play a role in determining our mood at specific times whereas they have a negligible effect on our mood at other times. For example, when you find yourself dealing with a situation that you have specific beliefs about, those specific beliefs will activate and work on top of your general beliefs about yourself and life.

    I also think it’s important to point out that moods can be categorized into two big groups: general and specific. From a general standpoint, you’ll have an overall mood. Conversely, you will also have moods that are specific to certain things and situations.

    I think our mood does affect how reality occurs for us. Moods seem to be a type of filter (or lens) through which we view and interpret reality. I do think that how we view reality can affect our moods as well. So in that way, moods and occurrings feed into one another like a feedback system; however, I think it sometimes takes a lot of occurrings to change a mood.

  28. Michael April 7, 2011 at 11:22 am - Reply

    I think it’s important to what a mood is before you try to figure out where it comes from or how to dissolve it.

    Given how a mood can last long time as Wikipedia mentions while at the same time they can be short or change quickly, I would propose to use a simple definition for mood instead of using Wikipedia’s description.

    Dictionary.com lists different definitions from a few dictionaries. I think a number of those dictionaries have a good working definition for mood. The best definitions are listed as the number 1 definition position for the word from each dictionary.

    Dictionary.com: 1. a state or quality of feeling at a particular time

    World English Dictionary: 1. a temporary state of mind or temper

    Merriam-Webster’s Medical Dictionary: a conscious state of mind or predominant emotion

    The American Heritage® Stedman’s Medical Dictionary: A state of mind or emotion.

    • Michael,

      I agree it can be useful to define what a mood is and yet since the 1st Forgotten Fundamental of Life is “The individual Is The Meaning Maker”, each person will have a meaning for the label ‘mood’ that works for them.

      What I suggest is valuable and practical is to come to a personal understanding of the structure of how a mood is created (however one defines a mood).

      It’s like knowing how to build a building then you can use the tools you have to build, re-build, construct, demolish any building on the planet.

      It seems the same way with moods, emotions, beliefs, etc. Once one knows the structure of how it is created one can play with the structure and dis-create, change or shift any mood, belief, emotional response in time or through time.

      Now that seems a useful thing to me and Morty’s tools are very useful tools to accomplish just that.

      To Your Best,
      Houston
      Dr. Vetter
      DocResults.com

  29. The Librarian in Purgatory April 7, 2011 at 10:59 am - Reply

    I would recommend reading

    The Feeling Function: Level Three
    http://www.tap3x.net/ENSEMBLE/mpage3f.html

    The Place of Feeling in Life
    http://www.mentalstates.net/feeling.html

    for a more nuanced view of the relation between Jung’s feeling function, emotion, and mood.

  30. Lauren April 7, 2011 at 9:32 am - Reply

    Just read through the new replies and I’ve discovered a treasure trove of thoughtful responses. Like Dr. Vetter, I use the the tools of the LOP to change my moods. This esp. works when I first wake up in the morning. I also like the discussion about imbalances and the different ways of balancing our feelings. Renee, I am intrigued by your experiment and how you used it to “bring you back to the present moment”. Vanessa, your take on the energies is interesting as well since we do live in a Universe of energy and it makes sense that we balance mind, body, and spirit. Tiffany, I, too, believe that our moods can be traced back to beliefs and once they are gone, they are not influencing us to be in a “bad” mood or “good” mood. I look forward to more offerings.
    Love and Light to all on the Journey,
    Lauren

  31. Beautiful, Beautiful comments from all and well thought out. Thank you ALL.

    I’ve noticed that for me, how I feel as I am waking in the morning (what thoughts are tumbling through my mind) determine the overall mood for the day. I can also feel if the “mood” is going to be less than useful and I begin removing the charge that is attached to the meaning of the thoughts and the direction they are going in my mind. (You could use any of the occurring tools at this point as well.)

    Some times, I’m not sure if it is the amount of sleep so much as the part of the circadian rhythm I am waking up in (going up or coming down) that brings the tiredness that contributes to a mood of irritable. I do know when I address my charge around tiredness and or irritable it moves me to a place of inclusion where I can actual choose the mood I want to be in.

    I’ve noticed that using one’s awareness first thing in the morning to set the tone or mood for the day makes it fairly easy to move into that mood even when something occasionally happens that could move one out of a chosen mood.

    When it comes to everything being energy, for humans the expression of energy is in the power of thoughts,as thoughts determine feelings and a mood is a feeling. A cluster of thoughts going in either direction (+/-) are power thoughts that is why it is valuable to train your thinking by using things such as The Lefkoe Belief Change Method or the Lefkoe Occurring Method.

    To Your Best,
    Houston
    Dr. Vetter
    DocResults.com

  32. Renee Maxfield April 7, 2011 at 6:56 am - Reply

    Evolution of mood… The question I’m looking to answer next is – is there a process that could be built out of this?

    I’m noticing that, like a lot of other people are expressing, my mood is significantly impacted by the current state of my physical body. I started the day out yesterday in a “bad mood” – I was physically tired. Because of the physical tired, I noticed I then didn’t feel capable of handling the challenges I had set for myself for the day. I also remembers that when I’m in a “good” mood, I feel that I can tackle anything that comes my way. So, does it all start with the state of your body? That’s the tentative hypothesis for me.

    Because Morty’s post was floating around in the back of my mind all day, I decided to try an experiment. Normally I would try to just keep pushing through my day and attempt to accomplish the things I’d set out to do even though I in no way felt up to the tasksat hand. Instead, I stopped and decided to do something that required nothing of me, no pressure to do or accomplish, to wait out my mood. I went and climbed into my hot tub, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY (on no, bad girl, not working, striving, accomplishing, heavens no!!) and just sat with me and my mood with no expectations of it or me.

    Slowly, I started hearing the birds singing, noticed that patterns in the tree branches, enjoyed how pretty and tidy the shed my husband had just fixed looked, etc, etc. I let the dog out and watched him play while I just sat there, being. And an amazing thing happened, my mood bubbled up.

    I went in the house and slowly and deliberately got cleaned up, slowly and deliberately went to the grocery store – started feeling even better b/c I was being in the present moment more and more.

    Then I fed the growing mood. I put on music that I knew would help me feel happier. And finally I was feeling like I could tackle anything at all in the world. I was actually on top of the world feeling – I had gone from a to a 10.5 mood wise. My normal set point would be around a 7, just for comparison.

    In the past, I’ve also noticed that I can get my mood to shift by slowing down and really attending very deliberately and intentionally to the one thing that I’ve CHOSEN to do in that moment.

    I can also get it to shift by tapping into ideas that I know tickle me – if I think about times and places or ideas that have always stirred my imagination and play with those thoughts softly, I can start to shift.

    What if, like NLP, an individual could create a particular sequenced script that works for them that moves them along the scale from negative to positive mood. Along with a diagnostic – eg if you didn’t get enough sleep, the “prescription” is to take a short nap or get to be earlier, whatever works best for that person. Just to bring those types of issues to the forefront of the mind so that you become aware of what you already know to do in a lot of cases. But then an individual process that helps you to move from negative to positive mood.

    As I write this, I realize I did a very similar set of steps this past summer that took me from a flat mood to near euphoria.

    Morty, thank you so much for throwing this question out there – it’s been rolling around in my thoughts ever since the occuring course.

  33. Magdeline April 7, 2011 at 5:29 am - Reply

    I think mood is directly proportional to one’s hope. The less hope you have the worse your mood. That is why when you are in a “good” mood you can encounter a negative experience and not be overwhelmed by negative emotion, even if you feel it.

  34. Vanessa Roff April 7, 2011 at 5:25 am - Reply

    I like your mind, body, spirit perspective!

  35. Karina April 6, 2011 at 11:54 pm - Reply

    I’ve been thinking about this same question the past few days because of y fluctuating mood. I noticed my mood is worse when I am tired and not eating properly. After a good night’s sleep, it’s amazing how sweet I can be again. Ha!
    When I am tired and in a bad mood, I imagine something like having just hit the lotto, or being in the same room as someone I have a huge crush on! You can’t ever be in a bad mood in either situation! My mood goes back up but as soon as I can get rest and good food, I do!

    So I would say mood is tied to energy. Mental, spiritual and physical. It can be elevated for me either through physical energy (good food and rest), mental (imagining something that raises me like hitting the lotto, being around a crush, watching a good film) or spiritual (meditating, prayer, sharing a good time with friends and family) activities. This recharges my battery and I am back up and I can attract good things more easily.

    Let’s see what everyone else says! :)

  36. Vanessa Roff April 6, 2011 at 8:31 pm - Reply

    1. Mood is the embodiment of a field of energy that rests along a continuum from healthy to toxic. It colors how one percieves life in the moment. Moods are in a constant state of flux. Uninterrupted, the mood can go from bad to worse or from good to better or any combination of the above. Unresolved life experiences that were emotionally disturbing can keep one tipped toward the unhealthy mood side of the continuum. Fortuante for most, moods are maliable. Blessed is the person who is aware of this.

    2. Balancing out our brain chemistry helps alot. I am not talking about taking mood altering drugs. I am talking about doing things like getting enough hugs in a day to keep your brain bathed in happy hormones or eating in such a manner that your blood sugar levels stay even (I am so much friendlier after a good meal) or taking time to play (play tells the brain that you are safe and less of the nasty stress hormones get released). I guess managing moods has to do with knowing what works for you personally and staying aware of the stress generating factors that often fly under the radar that can throw one out of kilter.

    3. If moods are a comalgamation of several emotions and emotions are messages transmitted through the body (sensations) in order to insure our survival, it may be profitable to center one’s awareness on the mood and invite each emotion to identify itself without applying judgement as one might do in practicing mindfulness. I believe the act of respectfully listening and discerning the message cloaked in the emotion allows the emotion to serve its purpose. Once served, the emotion can disapate. The mood is then freed to move toward the healthier, less distressful side of the continuum. This is best achieved in the context of a supportive relationship. Being the social animals we are, from the point of birth we are very dependent on one another for mutual regulation. For example we replicate the attachment relationship we had with our primary care giver with our intimate life partner.

    Thanks for the questions. It was fun answering. I am wondering what type of program you have developed to clear unhelpful moods!

  37. Sean April 6, 2011 at 6:34 pm - Reply

    1. What is a mood? What determines our moods? What is the source of moods? I think a mood is the sum total of current chronic emotions combined with other physical influences, such as sleep deficits, pain, the emotional state of those around us, and drug side effects. I think chronic emotions are ones we encounter regularly, or once encountered regularly, so they get fused into our thought patterns and are easily re-surfaced. I think the extent to which one is friendly towards oneself also plays a role in creating chronic emotions (do you hold yourself to a different standard than others whom you respect?) .

    3. Once we have a mood, what can we do to dissolve it intentionally or change it from negative to positive? I think part of the trick may be to look through one’s memory at recent events, or older memories triggered recently, and see if any of them hold a negative response similar to what we’re feeling.

    • Vanessa Roff April 7, 2011 at 5:23 am - Reply

      I like your use of the term chronic emotions. Unresolved negative emotions over time can leave a negative imprint that kind of pollutes our interactions with self and others.

      This especially makes sense to me. A most recent experience highlights this notion. Somenone I know goes on a yearly vacation with close, close friends who are not able to see each other on a regular basis because they live miles apart. After this person recently returned from this yearly trip, there was a marked change in their mood. I noticed the change right away. Their chronic negativity lifted and it has been much more pleasant to be around them. Maybe the combination of hanging out with people who love us, eating and laughing with them is a good elixer for chronic negativity/mood or as you say chronic emotions.

  38. James April 6, 2011 at 5:42 pm - Reply

    1. What is a mood? Actually, I tend to agree with your definition of mood. I think my mood is the general sense of feeling I am in at any given moment. They are like the backdrop of my experience. Even though it seems moods last for awhile, they can be changed in a moment, which leads to the next question.

    2. What determines our moods? What is the source of moods? Just from observing my life it seems that my thinking is ultimately the cause of my moods and that is why they can change so rapidly. However, the body’s energy seem to also affect my mood. Some times I wake up in what some may call a “bad” mood. I feel tired and irritable. Other times I wake up raring to go. These moods do not seem to come from my thinking. They seem to come from body energy, which then begins to affect my thinking. However, regardless of how tired I have been, there have been times that I enjoyed the way I felt and so was in what could be classified as a “good” mood.

    3. Once we have a mood, what can we do to dissolve it intentionally or change it from negative to positive? The million dollar question. In my thinking, I believe do nothing, because my mood like all things will change. The best advice I can give is learn to be with and enjoy whatever mood you are experiencing. It will not last. Just notice it. Allow it its space to just be. I think that this idea does not just go for our moods but for life in general. I know that in so many situations I have resisted what is and I suffered. I wanted things to be different. They should have been this way and not like that. Or that should not have happened, even though it did. So, I can continue to fight the way of it, or I can realize that this too shall pass. It isn’t easy and I have been searching in vain for the magic pill that will release me from the troubles I thought were happening, but I have not found that pill and I think even if there was a magic pill, I would not take it. There may be some serious side-effects. Truth: the more I see that my suffering comes from my perception and from nothing else, the more joyful I have become. We can be in immense pain but still not suffer. I know because it happened to me. Moods, feelings, events they will all pass away, but who we are will always be, so let’s not get caught up in temporal when the eternal is here now and available. Much Love

  39. Meera Sharma April 6, 2011 at 4:48 pm - Reply

    I think moods are more subtle than emotions. In my experience any emotion that is overwhelming is a sign of being out of balance. As we live in dual reality we fluctuate between past and future and both cause us fear and anxiety, whereas, living in the present is the only way to be balanced. All our fears are associated with ego mind and lack of love for self. It is not possible to be present in the moment in the absence of love for self. Origin of So called ‘bad mood’ can be associated with the feeling low self worth and a ‘good mood’ can mean feeling grounded and assertive, unless you are feeling euphoric, which could mean delusion. Unlike feelings and emotions our moods are reflection of our state of being ness.

  40. Lauren April 6, 2011 at 1:14 pm - Reply

    What is a mood?
    A mood is the precursor; a feeling at a primitive level that something is “not right” or “right” and we feel uncomfortable or comfortable whether we label it positive or negative and the emotion is the expression of that feeling we call bad or good. Like the Wikipedia definition says “a vague feeling”.

    What determines our moods? What is the source of moods?
    Some mornings I wake up feeling confused or in a bad mood from either lack of sleep or having a lot of detailed dreams. I believe what determines our moods is our outlook on life both internally and externally. I also think it is determined biologically at the start and, depending on what we absorb from our parents from birth to six, how that is expressed.
    It reminds me of one of the characters on “Steel Magnolias” who says “I’m not upset; I’ve just been in a very bad mood for the last forty years!” My husband’s sister in law is bipolar and subject to mood swings. When my BIL was alive, he kept her from “going off the deep end” when she was in the “negative” cycle of her disorder. My aunt went undiagnosed with bipolar until she was 80 years old; I heard stories growing up of her rages. Two of my nieces are both “moody” with a caveat: one is extraverted and the other is introverted. One tends to express herself outwardly by yelling and other by having a “grouchy” attitude.
    Once we have a mood, what can we do to dissolve it intentionally or change it from negative to positive?
    Of course, I learned the LOP and it is a invaluable tool for changing a bad mood to a positive mood or dissolving the mood altogether. In that state of “no mood” or “flow” I am not defining anything as “bad” or “good”; because in the end, no situation has an inherent meaning. I neither commiserate or get angry or upset. Everything just “is”. It we are free-flowing consciousness, then it makes sense to eliminate that which is blocking us from it: negative moods and in a lesser sense, good moods if we are uncomfortable with “no mood”.
    Love and Light,
    Lauren

  41. Alex April 6, 2011 at 1:03 pm - Reply

    I’m thinking that, in a way, a mood is a way to obtain pleasure. When I sulk, I kind of enjoy it. It’s like, I’d rather sit there all pissed off, enjoying how angry I am at everything, than do nothing and feel nothing.

    If I’m having the occurring that being all pissed off will make me seem important, I will want to be in a bad mood.

    I guess we are in certain moods because we care about stuff. Our real self, the creator, is just consciousness and cannot care about anything. The only reason Alex the creation could have a mood is because he cares about stuff. He wants that rush, that feeling that comes from having a mood.

    I don’t know, I’m just pulling random thoughts out of my arse.

  42. Max April 6, 2011 at 11:16 am - Reply

    I think that it has to be with what we fell about what is happening with uor life, what we feel about the course our life is taking, what we are felling about life and what we will have to do or live in the future. Something like that. With me it works like that, it depends of what i expect to accomplish in future. Take my future away and i drop in depression. Give something that could be useful im my path, in what i can believe, and i get joyful. In this case, looks like my moods have to do with what i want to my life, with my “life’s mission”, or even to my survivor beliefs. I think that moods are highly influencied by the circuntances of life and the feedback of it, if the plan goes wrong, mood changes… It also depends of what we are focusing in the moment, someone can talk us out of the good mood doing we focalize things that our good mood was ignoring. It could be some kind of box, like beliefs. It could also be cultivated meditating in it, like buddhists do, meditating, cleaning the mind (of beliefs and conditionings) and practicing (first in imagination) the compreensions, thoughts, behaviors, emotions, situations.

  43. Carol Harris-Fike April 6, 2011 at 9:48 am - Reply

    I love all the responses… and I have something to add. As an ontological (transformational) coach, I have studied and “played” a lot with moods and emotions. To add to what has been said… we live within a mood and sometimes do not even know we are in one. We may live in one predominate mood at work and another within our relationships and, of course moods change over time. Do we have a choice as to what mood we are in? Ontological coaches know that we do and we have an understanding from the brain/body science that our bodies, emotions, and thoughts are connected. (This is why Morty’s method works!) Our bodies are energy that is motion. If we shift the direction and velocity of that moving life energy, we naturally shift our emotions (& moods) and our language. So, if I am in a mood of “anxiety” around my life work, I can observe that, name it, and then if I so desire… choose another mood. Within a mood of anxiety, my life energy is moving forward and up… I’m focused on what I’m worrying about and all the negative possibilities keep rolling into my body and mind. However, I may choose “wonder” as in “I wonder what is the next (exciting?) step for me in my life work?” To go there, I shift my energy and my physical body back and up (arch my back slightly and lean slightly back) and my emotions/mood will shift to maybe excitement around all the possibilities that come into my thoughts. Whatever mood we are in limits our possibilities for action and even our awareness of certain emotions. The mood certainly limits our thoughts in one direction or another. So, being aware of what mood we are in, then choosing where and if another mood would serve us better is the first step. After that, we can shift our energy and feel what happens. We may feel a small shift at first, but if we continue to observe ourselves and make another choice, we can invite a different mood of choice into our lives. Comments?

    • Vanessa Roff April 6, 2011 at 8:55 pm - Reply

      I like how you brought to the light the mind/body dynamic. For example, you mentioned how a change in posture can shift a mood. I just finished reading the book, Love and War in Intimate Relationships: Connection, Disconnection, and Mutual Regulation in Couple Therapy (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology). The authors of this book make use of the wisdom of the body in their couple therapy sessions. It is a very fascinating read and throws light on a therapeutic modality (mind/body) that most folks have not had exposure to.

  44. scottrod April 6, 2011 at 9:27 am - Reply

    I read the majority of the posts and I think everyone has great comments regarding the questions.

    I feel that our moods are controlled the same way everything else in our life is… by the powerful tool we posses between our ears. A mood may be considered as an extended emotion. Emotions are controlled by our thoughts. I went through a depressing time in my life and I came to realize that everything thing I felt was a by product of my thoughs… Such as my moods, emotions, etc. I personally believe that if we have control of our thoughts, we control our moods and emotions. Do not allow your negative thoughts the have control, dismiss them as soon as they enter your head and you will forever be in a positive state of mind. Therefore affecting you mood and emotions.

  45. Wanda Riehl April 6, 2011 at 9:26 am - Reply

    Understanding my moods and that of others has been something I have been thinking about for some time now. My thoughts on this are a little scattered but maybe you will be able to get the gist of what I’m saying.

    When I am in a bad mood it’s usually because of something I have done or said, that produced a perceived or real negative consequence for me. I become angry, frustrated, want to give up, etc and then my mood goes from good to bad. It can also be because I have not yet achieved what I am wanting in life such as a promotion and pay raise at work, a closer relationship with a child or spouse or anything that I “hope” for in life. It could also be triggered by a negative circumstamce such as losing my job or not getting something I wanted or also by negative comments from others either perceived or real.

    When I’m in a good mood it is always because I like the things I am saying and doing and the good or pleasant consequences of those actions and life is moving along fairly smoothly and my hope for the future is good.. It’s about my perceptions of my life both present and future and may be based on past successes or failures.

    I believe this is one way we learn what to do or not do in life to get the pleasant life we desire and maybe it is based on what we “hope” for and receive or not that determines our mood. If that is the case then maybe when we have wallowed in self pity long enough we renew our hope and our mood changes again. Sometimes I believe that the emotional act of wallowing in self pity may be perceived by us as a feel good thing. Don’t we usually induldge ourselves in things we would not usually do like eating taboo foods, shopping, venting, etc? Kind of a time out from the real world until we can reboot and start again.

    This all seems to be how it works with me. My belief and faith in Jesus Christ seems to be the pivotal point for me as I am aware of a bad mood either forming or while I’m in the midst of it I spend time worshipping and praying and my mood usually changes but the key here is it changes when “Im” ready for it to change because the amount of time that passes from the time I start into the bad mood and the time when I start to pray varies greatly.. The “mood” I;m in and how long I stay in that mood always seems to be up to me.

  46. Kitty April 6, 2011 at 7:37 am - Reply

    I find that when my mood is slipping downhill there is a problem to resolve. To me, its similar to pain that signals the physical body to make a change (move your finger away from the heat source). A bad mood that won’t lift off means there is something unresolved that I need to change. As soon as I identify the heat source, I make the change and the bad mood immediately disappears. In fact, I usually enjoy a high, great mood for a while after I make the change needed. I think that if you stay awake and alert, moods allow you to make healthy adaptations in your relationships before things get too out of whack. That’s how I make them work for me.

  47. Paul April 6, 2011 at 7:31 am - Reply

    I agree with many here who attribute moods to a base-level emotional state that seems heavily dependent on physical states.

    Being emotional states, I believe moods are therefore subject to the same inputs as other emotions. Our beliefs can drive them, intensify them or reduce or eliminate them.

    Due to being tired, hungry or in physical pain someone may start with a base mood that is negative. I think this precondition can interfere with one’s ability to identify occurrences in addition to making one more susceptible to lingering negative beliefs.

    However, my experience is that eliminating negative beliefs has helped to overall elevate my moods. This demonstrates to me that they are emotional states subject to all the same determinants as other stronger emotions.

    Waking up with physical pain sometimes sets me up for a bad mood, but becoming conscious of the mood and recognizing the cause from my physical state helps to mitigate it. The pain itself may still continue to be an irritant and compromise my overall cognitive functioning in some ways, but I can maintain my mood and deal more directly with the world without being further clouded by the mood.

    If we see moods as a base-level emotional state we can see that we also have the ability to mitigate bad moods through recognizing causal factors (physical or belief-driven) and addressing them. We can address physical states by means such as getting enough sleep, good nutrition, exercising, hugging and laughing, and address beliefs through means like the Lefkoe method. Addressing moods I believe then reduces their significance and ability to color the rest of one’s day or life.

  48. Francis April 6, 2011 at 7:18 am - Reply

    moods are like general assessments we make about ourselves. We operate like a car mechanic that believes certain car parts are made better then others and use those parts to maintain or rebuild our engine. We all think we know what we are doing but when the car does not work properly we create a “mood ” until we get it fixed.

    I think it comes down to control. When we lose or gain our sense of control, whether it’s physical or mental, we create a general assessment about our self called a mood

  49. Holly April 6, 2011 at 7:07 am - Reply

    I think you hit it on the head when you asked:
    Are our moods caused by the way our life is occuring to us at the moment?

    I think it is just that… our moods are based on ‘the meaning’
    we hold at the moment for what has happened to us so far in life,
    and what we ‘expect’ will happen to us in our future.
    Moods are not based on reality.. they are based on our occurings.

    I also think that it becomes a cycle.. if we become in a bad mood then our new ‘meanings’ are tainted with our bad mood – thereby keeping us stuck in the bad mood… if we find ourselves in a good mood then they are colored by our good mood and things look better to us thereby keeping us in the good mood.

    Each time we find ourselves in a bad mood it is a signal to work on our wrong unhealthy beliefs.. and remind ourselves that it is only our interpretation of the situation that we are responding to.

  50. Vesna April 6, 2011 at 6:49 am - Reply

    I have solved the problem of my moods in a hilariously funny way. About a year ago I decided to play. I chose to assign each day to one chakra, starting with the first chakra on Monday. Tuesday belongs to second chakra and so on, finishing on Sunday with seventh chakra. As each chakra is responsible for certain part of our personality, it automatically affects the mood for that day. Add the respective colors for each chakra and it becomes a ritual. So, every morning I choose my clothes and my moods come with it. It`s enormous fun, and it is very effective.

    • Elena April 6, 2011 at 8:35 am - Reply

      OK, I love this answer! Whatever moods are, by facing them lightly, by playing with them, you were able to transmute them! Tell us more!

      • Elena April 6, 2011 at 8:46 am - Reply

        As a follow up: moods (like their more well-formed cousins, emotions) are just INFORMATION.

        Awareness, rather than labelling, gives us choice on what to DO with the information.

        Good mood? That’s nice. Make sure to take advantage of it, but don’t do anything foolish.

        Bad mood? That’s nice. What does it tell me I need: food? rest? recreation? social contact? creative expression?

        Not discounting moods which can be paralyzing, for which one should seek help. But otherwise: respecting, noticing, becoming fascinated by, even loving your mood–best way to use it no matter WHAT it is.

  51. mwende mwendwa April 6, 2011 at 6:40 am - Reply

    I think for someone to have moods he/she must be suffering for a long time without knowing how to end it because no one is willing to listen or give a positive guidance.Having a listening ear will help.

    One should be able have a balance spiritually, mentally and physically.Be in good relationship with God always.

  52. Ray Thorp April 6, 2011 at 6:29 am - Reply

    What are moods, well! When someone upsets you or says something that annoys you it is a state of mind that does two things 1 annoys you 2puts you in a huff or state of anger and these moods can be in addition to depression or sulking
    When things start going wrong in the day such as missing the bus or spilling tea then this also adds to moods through a state of anger also going to work can set off an unhappy mood
    But hey! When the sun is shining and your walking in the park looking at the beautiful flowers or you going on holiday and looking forward to an exciting time or your having a party wow! The good feel factor sets in and your in a good or happy mood

    So moods are a state of mind that can be influenced by either bodily functions (Pain or depression)
    Or other people (saying something or hurting your feelings)
    Or by outside influences (Good being happiness, enjoyment, security, nature sun sunsets etc) or bad ( late for work, spilling tea, tripping up, traffic problems etc)
    But because moods are a state of mind then they can be controlled and changed by ones way of thinking and other peoples influences
    An example to this would be ( had a rotten day and everything gone wrong = bad mood )
    Your family greet you with love kisses and laughter= good mood
    Two sum up ….. It only takes one situation in a day to set you off in a bad mood so forget it and enjoy the rest of your day
    Being the happiest man in the world, I’m always in a good and happy mood

  53. Tiffany April 6, 2011 at 6:16 am - Reply

    1. What is a mood? Mood is simply a sustained emotional state.
    2. What determines our moods? Our unconcious core beliefs about ourselves and the world.
    What is the source of moods? The vibrational/emotional response to our beliefs.
    3. Once we have a mood, what can we do to dissolve it intentionally or change it from negative to positive? First, become aware of the underlying, unconcious, irrational, core belief sytems through which you are perceiving the events occuring in your life. Most often we are completely unaware of what we are truly believing and what is driving our feelings and behaviors. Next, deeply question the belief system. Too often we simply ‘buy in’ to what we are told and never have permission to inquire for ourselves whether the belief is true for us or even valid at all.

    Our beliefs determine how we see the world. Our feelings are a direct result of those beliefs. The feelings are the manifestation of the vibration created by the belief. “Good” mood vs. “bad” mood is determined by the sustained emotional state created by those beliefs. The underlying emotion of a “bad” mood is always fear.

    If we are believing a core belief that “I am not good enough”, then we will filter everything we see through that belief; this includes the present event as well as how we interpret what the future will look like. If we are unaware that we truly believe our identy (I am) is based on “unworthy,” “unlovable,” “inadequate,” etc., then our mood would seem strange and random. Especially if we do not know that our concious thoughts are not what determine our feelings, moods, and behaviors. Our unconcious, core beliefs are always the ones in charge. That is why awareness and questioning are so key to shifting those feelings, moods, and behaviors.

  54. Angie April 6, 2011 at 6:04 am - Reply

    I haven’t read all the comments already made so I’ll just plunge in with my own, spur of the moment thoughts.

    I feel that, for me, moods are mostly physical in nature but are expressed emotionally. Blood sugar fluxuations is a big one for me and others, even when they don’t realize they may be prone to it. They might not be diabetic or diagnosed as hypoglycemic, but blood sugar fluxuations can still greatly affect anyone. A severe blood sugar drop while on the freeway in traffic can lead to the anxiety many people feel as this low is in play. But the person can interpret this as a fear response to traffic and soon start experiencing panic attacks anytime they drive under those conditions. For others, a milder blood sugar drop can make them feel anxious, a little angry or out of sorts or “moody” and because we tend to eat the same way most of the time, they may feel this “moodiness” frequently.

    Also, guys may not feel it but many women sure do know how hormone fluxuations affect their mood on a daily basis. The feeling that you may burst into tears at any moment when inside you are arguing, “What is your probelem? Everything is good today!” has happened over and over to us. This “mood” can really have the staying power and color everything in our life for days or longer.

    Another big one for me can be tiredness, over or under activity, low physical resources such as vitamins and nutrients and just a feeling of “I feel off today”. I found I have an autoimmune disease but for many years this feeling was a “mood” I couldn’t describe or find an answer for.

    SAD is another “mood” that would happen in the winter with not enough sun or Vit. D. I solved that one but no amount of reasoning, positive thinking or extra rest could replace the sunshine my “mood” needed.

    On the other hand, a “mood” caused by a sadness that day or real problem in my life, generally can be helped for me personally with some extra rest, TLC, feeding my brain with brighter thoughts and solutions and “eye food”. “Eye food” appeals to the artistic in me and is usually artwork or photos with vivid colors or working with flowers and animals. Helping others also can lift this kind of mood for me.

    I guess what I’m saying is that, for me, a “mood” under your definition has a physical basis for it. A mental sadness or depression can be lifted and lightened but the “mood” is a symptom of an underlying physical problem for me.

  55. Josh April 6, 2011 at 5:26 am - Reply

    1. What is a mood?
    From what is seems from my personal experience, mood is your body in flight/fight mode (negative state) to a healthy high energy mode (positive state).
    2. What determines our moods? What is the source of moods?
    When my body is in tip top condition (exercise a few times a week, lots of rest, lots of food (non processed, whole foods) I tend to be in a great ‘mood’. If I’m overworked or tired, my mood is generally negative, and my thoughts can turn very negative. Often me wanting to get away (THIS PLACE SUCKS) or get everyone away from me (THIS PERSON SUCKS RIGHT NOW). Flight and fight.
    3. Once we have a mood, what can we do to dissolve it intentionally or change it from negative to positive?
    Sleep, food and exercise are three things that normally clear me right up.

    • Josh April 6, 2011 at 5:27 am - Reply

      And by sleep, I meant rest :P

  56. Erdal April 6, 2011 at 5:05 am - Reply

    If a mood is an emotional momentum, an alternative to dissolving it is transmuting it into another mood. The emotional energy can not be immediately made to vanish but quickly directed to become slightly different in nature. Passion can turn into anger, sadness can turn into depression, resolve can turn into hopelesness, apathy can turn into boredom, boredom can turn into curiosity, grief can turn into elation, lovingkindness can turn into joy… We are the transmuters…

    • Erdal April 6, 2011 at 6:07 am - Reply

      To transmute an emotion or mood, perhaps one needs to become aware of the driving occurring behind it. If one experiences the mood consciously by feeling it, without escaping from it, then the causing occurring might be better discerned especially in kinesthetic people. After this, one can create another meaning to transmute the mood, having acquired a greater understanding of it both mentally and emotionally.

      • Erdal April 6, 2011 at 7:15 am - Reply

        Often times, the mood of people seem to be colored by the physical sensations such as tiredness or hunger they are having. I think this is because they happen to have beliefs and conditionings also related to the sensations they are having that would cause an occurring to form that would support the mood they are in. being tired is leads to a negative occurring for many people because they might be believing they wouldn’t have the energy to do whatever makes them feel good enough or important. This in time may turn into a conditioning of feeling bad about being tired which will support a bad mood persisting as long as the person has tired sensations.

  57. Justin | Mazzastick April 6, 2011 at 4:57 am - Reply

    Moods are created/affected by outside circumstances like other people, physical health, jobs, traffic.

    Emotions are the result of the moods causing energy to become stuck.

  58. Erdal April 6, 2011 at 4:41 am - Reply

    Hi Morty,

    I think what we label as moods are generally certain states of our emotional body. I havent seen our emotional body but some people can do it and there is a reference to it in spiritual texts.

    Just as there is a physical momentum for physical objects, meaning that if we apply a force for a certain duration to a certain mass, this mass keeps on going faster and faster in the direction we apply the force, I think there is a certain momentum behaviour related to emotions. This might be related to the meanings we hold within our minds which is analogous to the force applied to a physical object. Our occurrings create a force within our emotional body by causing emotions to arise and if an emotion is held for a certain duration, it grows in magnitude and we call this a mood. The mood persists for some time even if the occurring it is supported by is not especially given energy by its holder. The meanings we give to our emotions can feed them also. For example if we have beliefs that make us feel bad just because of we happen to feel a bad emotion, then just feeling a bad emotion can start a growing negativity/ a negative mood until we decide to change the supporting occurring and observe the gradual dissolution of the mood.

    So, we can model a mood as an emotional state carrying a certain momentum and the force behind it as our occurrings, and our beliefs and conditionings about feeling emotions.

    I think that our beliefs are chosen by our Soul and that is why we are not consciously aware while they are being formed. Our incarnate consciousness after some time can become aware of the beliefs, and we can elimine them if we know how to. This means we have an encompassing identity that is bigger than our incarnate consciousness is fully aware of. This is the source of our deeper desires and the actual driving and creative force behind the forming of our belief system and emotions. I believe it too has an identity and preferences and that is why one person chooses a certain meaning as a child under the same circumstances while another person chooses another meaning. We are more than this Soul but we are also this Soul. There are infinite ways to know ourselves as our Souls and more.

    See you later Morty..
    Love
    Erdal

  59. Ellen April 6, 2011 at 4:17 am - Reply

    My moods seem to have always been connected in some way to hormone fluctuation. When I went through menopause, I was in a bad mood for about two years! Before that, I could definitely connect my moods to my monthly cycle. Whenever this got talked about among my friends, it was usually to deny what was happening as it seemed to be anti-feminist to recognize the reality of biology. And nobody was talking about the fact that men are just as moody as women.

    Whatever they are, moods can definitely be changed. If I’m experiencing a mood I don’t like, I can read, take a walk, eat a little dark chocolate, meditate, go shopping, talk to my sister, play golf, see a movie, play with my pets, or take it out on my husband. All of these work, although the last one might be the most effective….

    What I’m not sure about is how seriously to take moods. I’ve never really thought of them as being in the same class as emotions, and now that I’m an old lady, I don’t experience them in the same way I did in my youth. Looking back, I’d say that the awareness of moods and the strength of moods have become less and less as I’ve aged. Less hormone change? More wisdom? (Probably not that one, although I can certainly tell you that it helps not to take myself as seriously as I did when I was 12!)

  60. richard April 6, 2011 at 4:06 am - Reply

    I can get in a bad mood if i dont get enough fresh air or i havent eaten
    Properly for a few days. You think about your brain to function properly
    It needs good nutrition, plenty of water and enough sleep. I know if
    Im dehydrated, tired and hungover my mood can be different sometimes. Also
    If my life is repetitive every single day i begin to feel fed up. I need to be stimulated.

    For me the following factors can be detrimental to my mood;
    Lack of sleep
    Everyday tasks is the same becomes mundane
    Lack of exercise- opposite exercise creates natural endorphins
    Lack of results over a long period of time gives
    You a feeling of powerlessness, burnout and low mood.
    Lack of good nutrition.
    Could be environmental factors such as electricity, mobile phones,
    Air waves, radio waves, mobile phone waves, radon gas,
    Could be invisisble things in the air we cant control.

  61. Jose April 6, 2011 at 3:59 am - Reply

    @H.the Lord

    I agree with the focus concept, but it is a focus you can not control in a conscious way when the emotion is strong. If you are in love you can not “decide” not focusing on the person you are in love, even if you want to.

    The first talk I gave as a kid in front of 3.000 people terrified me, my legs and teeth shake, my voice tembled. I did not wanted to shake!! but my body did not followed my orders.

    Going freeride mountain biking my body “knew” I could not descend a hill like my friends did and did not let me go, if I go down my body reacts so slowly that I crash for sure.

    So maybe if the emotion is strong you need to dissolve it so you can act consciously first, and if you need to change a mood you need to design a dissolution method or routine for the specific mood.

  62. Awna April 6, 2011 at 3:48 am - Reply

    Hi everyone:)
    I think mood is more superficial than emotions. Moods can be affected by your mental and physical health. It is a sign of imbalance in the body. Moody people are unstable, very easy to change from one mood to other which make them unpredictable because at the end, I think, they are trying to protect themselves.

  63. Francesca Gordon-Smith April 6, 2011 at 3:47 am - Reply

    Hi Monty,

    I’ve thought about moods and emotions quite a bit myself.

    I believe that both our moods and emotions are signals to suggest whether we’re on the right track. When the emotions are negative, they have their roots in fear. Fear has no power in itself. It is only by ignoring the message that your body is sending you, that you empower it. When you confront it head on and interpret themessage it is so admirably sending you, the fear often dissipates. I use a method that I call the ‘Personal Inventory’ to achieve this:

    This involves you asking yourself a series of questions:

    – how do you feel?
    – what does this mean
    – if the emotion is negative: what do you need to do to change this?

    If you still feel fear, it’s likely that you have a limiting belief. A limiting belief is a belief which conflicts with your desired outcome making it impossible for you to achieve. The words ‘I can’t are often limiting beliefs. In. This instance, turn this into a realistic positive; such as ‘I can learn to…’

    Write this new positive sentence down 10 times or until you really believe it. Repeat the process as and when necessary.

    Moods are no different from hunger. They are merely signals from your body to suggest that you need to change direction. Sometimes it can be as simple as changing or letting go of a belief that no longer serves you.

    • Lauren April 6, 2011 at 1:33 pm - Reply

      I like your method for discovering a limiting belief. However, when I used the method of writing down a “positive” belief to replace the old one, the belief already entrenched inside just dug in deeper. It’s like when my husband will say, “That actor’s name is Little Joe” and I’ll say, “His name is Michael Landon; Little Joe is just a character he played.” Then, he’ll reply, “I just got done saying…..” as if saying it over and over will change it. The only method that worked for me was the Lefkoe Belief Process in that I didn’t have think up a positive alternative; I eliminated the limiting belief altogether. As adults, we’re adept at clinging to limiting beliefs; in my experience telling ourselves that “we’re now going to believe the opposite by repeating or writing down a phrase over and over” very rarely works. The only time it worked for me was using hypnosis for a very strict situation and that took 21 days of listening to a recording twice a day.
      Love and Light on your Journey,
      Lauren

  64. Jose April 6, 2011 at 3:28 am - Reply

    @man: Emotions do not have to be strong, you can feel the same emotion in a mild or a super strong way: You can like something or someone in a mild way or you could be in love so much with this thing or person you feel you can not live without it.

    You can “fear” talking to someone, you can piss or sh*t yourself for talking to someone that holds a gun and you know they he kill you. Same emotion here too, different degrees.

    Some people moods hold a strong emotion(he who lives with a depressed person knows), some kids are really happy by default.

  65. H. the Lord April 6, 2011 at 3:28 am - Reply

    1. What is a mood?
    From what I know and have experienced is that a mood is just a focus. You can be with friends all having a good time, but your mental focus, that in the back of your mind you are still focusing on something negative, like how what they want to have happen in their life looks like is not going to, feeling powerless to change it. My moods are pretty somber when I feel like my future is getting bad. A good mood is when my mental focus is on what I can do, what I will create, what is awesome and inspiring in my life.

    2. What determines our moods? What is the source of our moods?
    I think it is many things: What we believe to be true about ourselves and life (good or bad), our rules for what has to happen in order to feel good or to feel bad (some people made it impossible for themselves to ever feel good).
    But the SOURCE of moods is the only way we can feel anything:
    -Physiology (Slumped over etc, or energetic and moving)
    -Focus/belief (“why is life so hard??” vs. “what is great, and how can I improve?”
    -language (which is what we say in our heads)

    3. Once we have a mood, what can we do to dissolve it intentionally or change it from negative to positive?
    One quick way I think is to just go DO something, like go swimming, go play tennis with a bunch of people, go to a great theater show.
    But a more lasting way I would say is to deal with the real issue. The mood is a sign that something isn’t right, and if you change that, you change the mood. If your future looks bleak and hopeless: Find out what you really want, what you CAN do, set some inspiring goals that are realistic, get rid of those crap beliefs with the Lefkoe method and you’ll feel more empowered and inspired.
    If you feel bored with your life, go do things that make your life more fun. If you feel so lonely then you need to go out with friends, talk to people. If you don’t you will feel more and more lonely.
    If you are afraid of your future, find ways to get more certainty that you can control: Learn things about life and people, get informed, make a plan, develop faith or some beliefs that will help you be more certain about the future no matter what happens…

    I would really recommend Tony Robbins’ Creating Lasting Change cd’s as they really explain human behavior, why we do what we do and why we feel what we feel. It is really helpful.

    And thanks Morty, I’ve gotten rid of some problems of which some damn moods that were caused by beliefs which were just pulling me down. The Lefkoe Method is real, works, and is just awesome.

  66. Jose April 6, 2011 at 3:12 am - Reply

    1. I see moods as the cruising speed modes for emotions, the default emotion modes your mind could sustain in a continuous way for long. The same way anybody can run a little but not so many people could run a marathon because you need your body to get used to it, your blood vessels, your lymph, your heart and lungs to adapt, your brain is programmed by the neurotransmitter levels they are used to, too much or too less makes the body to react.

    For me when you go from “good mood” to “bad mood” fast you are changing between one default emotion state to another, but they are default, the “good mood” of today is very similar to yesterday’s.

    I have changed moods in my life a lot by interesting myself in psychology and making continuous conscious effort and work to change. I only notice when I met someone I’d known for a long time, and he notices I have changed, but I see the same person.

    I can “get depress” today because something bad happened(no sun light, bad job, bad relationship…), but it takes years of “get depressed” days to create a depression, and years(or at least months) to go out of this “mood”.

    2.a Continuous effort or the path of least resistance?
    2.b habit?

    3.Are they “positive” or “negative” moods or emotions. If they exist they are because they are useful and positive in some degree or another.

  67. Man April 6, 2011 at 3:03 am - Reply

    1. Mood is the degree of openness of a person. People in good mood would probably less guarded/more interested to the surrounding.
    2. Mood is the residue of emotion or something is not as strong as emotion but more than neutral. Something stuck you or arise you may be the source.
    3.Just like the way to treat emotion since mood is an internal effect which all depend on our desire or you can say conditioning.
    All comes my idea only without research, hope this make a bit help.

  68. Liz April 6, 2011 at 2:59 am - Reply

    I think moods are different aspects we have in ourselves and the one that wants priority comes out now and again. We have many aspects to us and in us and maybe they get out of balance sometimes although I don’t know what sets a mood off as it can be confusing to other people and also the person in the mood.

  69. Laura April 6, 2011 at 2:57 am - Reply

    Do you think that it’s a conscious thing Marilyn? I’m not sure people deliberately decide to be immature, I think sometimes this could be the case, but mostly people are sleepwalking, not really questioning what or how they are being. And maybe sometimes it becomes a habit, and almost defines the person.
    When I get into a depressed mood I remind myself of how lucky I am, I thank God for all I have, this instantly lifts me.

  70. Sam April 6, 2011 at 2:54 am - Reply

    Q1: A: To me a mood occurs as a consequence of one’s outlook regarding the weeks or months ahead. The general tone is set for expectations. If facing jail time one is likely in a bad mood. An obsessive thought line will bring on a mood because it is an interim belief. It’s held tentatively. Moods can be brought on by biochemical changes in the brain from physical things. Emotions are like color is to a painting and the mood is the background or general theme color. Emotions as we think of them are the foreground of a picture. The contrasting objects. A depressed persons picture would be a deep blue background with dark black objects and splashes of red. Not a pretty picture. I have painted a picture of a picture here with words as an example of what I feel emotions and moods are to me. 10k words in two paragraphs. That was fun. : )

  71. Meri Lähteenoksa April 6, 2011 at 2:49 am - Reply

    It is very clear to me that moods are fluctuations of energy (gestalting as biochemical and electrical fluctuations in our biological terrain, our body). It is like we had different channels in ourselves (like TV-channels).

    It goes like this with me:

    Channel 1: eat mostly raw vegetarian food, drink alkaline water
    Nice mood and nice beliefs; no stagnations in emotions

    Channel 2: eat badly, drink whatever
    Bad moods and not so nice beliefs, stagnation in emotions

  72. Marilyn April 6, 2011 at 2:33 am - Reply

    I would like to put forward the idea that moods are manipulative tools we use to try to effect someone else’s behaviour. Instead of asking for something or stating how we feel, we take on a ‘mood’ which we hope will make someone change how they respond to us or behave. Basically it is being too immature to ask directly for what we want. When we are alone we don’t have moods. Would this sound feasible?

    • Lori April 6, 2011 at 10:20 am - Reply

      Marilyn,
      I was starting to think about this great question, when I read your post I thought “Brilliant!” It sounds very feasible and true to me. I think I will pose this question to my class next week and see what they think.

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