Читать книгу Emotional Confidence: Simple Steps to Build Your Confidence - Gael Lindenfield, Gael Lindenfield - Страница 26

A mood is a long-lasting emotional state which can be identified by specific patterns of biochemical and hormonal change. It is experienced as a much less intense sensation and sometimes we may not even be aware of what is going on. A mood can last for hours or it can stretch over a period of days. An emotional state which persists for longer than a few weeks is often called an affective disorder. (This is the general term which doctors use to describe a sad or black mood which has developed over time into a depressive illness.)

One of the differences between a mood and an emotion is that, when we are in a mood, our feelings and biochemistry do not necessarily correspond with any easily identifiable trigger. This is why we sometimes think that moods arise from ‘out of the blue’. In fact they have always been induced by one or more of the following factors:

1. very deep emotional experiences which have not been expressed (e.g. through ‘soldiering on’ as though nothing has happened after a big disappointment and then finding ourselves in an ‘unexplainably’ snappy mood)

2. a number of quickly repeated emotional experiences (e.g. a series of frustratingly ineffective phone calls leading to a despairing mood; meeting a succession of inspiring people at a conference or party leading to a motivated mood)

3. changes in internal chemistry due to, for example, lack of sleep, menstruation, food deprivation, weather conditions, etc.

One of the dangers about moods is that they can change the way we start viewing the world in general without our even realizing it. We start unconsciously selecting opportunities and people that fit in with our mood. So if we are job-hunting in a foul mood we tend to see only the jobs we are not likely to get, and to seek advice or consolation from cynics. The consequence being that our life can drift into becoming as genuinely ‘foul’ as our mood.