Mood

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

Feeling good about the market rebound yesterday, I cautioned myself. It is important not to let our emotions determine our mood. What? Our emotions are our mood, you say. Not so.

Our mood may be a reflection of our emotional state, but our mood, it seems to me, is much more complex than that. Mood and attitude: our stance with regard to ourselves and our world is an aggregate of thought, feeling, behavior, and core beliefs. Our mood, then, is a dynamic reflection of our core beliefs, our core selves.

Mood. I really do not like that word so much. I prefer not to be in a mood or moody. I prefer to be present. If I am happy, I am happy; if angry, angry. An overflow of feeling into mood is not comfortable, nor is it good for us.

One of the best ways to make our mood stable is to recognize that thoughts and feelings are not us; they are transient reflections of our core beliefs. Our brains produce thoughts, we respond with feelings, and the whole complex filters through our core beliefs. I am of the opinion, that our core beliefs can be changed, can be "watered" as Thich Nhat Hahn points out and grown into magnificent flowers of loving-kindness, balance, and beauty, thus allowing us to be at peace even in the midst of unhappy circumstances.

When we practice to nurture the seeds of compassion, we become compassionate. When we water the seeds of loving-kindness, we become loving-kindness. And when we water the seeds of equanimity and non-attachment, we become balance itself.

The skeptics might say at this point, "No, actually, you become all wet!" But in truth, we can never get enough nurturance. We are social beings who grow through love.

So, if I am not my mood, my thoughts, my feelings, or my core beliefs as these are in constant flux, then what am I?

Be well.