The mood that you choose to place yourself in will determine
your dominant world view, your view of the future, and often your health. Think
about this for a minute to determine how the moods you choose to dwell upon may
be affecting your life.
Most people have a default mood that will determine not only
how they feel about themselves but also how other people react to them. You
should determine what your default mood is to determine if this is the
impression of yourself you want to be conveying to others. How you perceive and
manage your moods may offer opportunities to change the way you act and
interact with other people. Literally, changing your default mood may change your
life.
Moods are long lasting and tend to be based upon the way you
look at the world around you. If you look at the world around you as a hostile,
uninviting place then your moods will reflect those negative feelings.
Conversely, if you view the world as a cheerful place brimming with opportunity
to improve yourself and the people you share your life with then your mood will
reflect this sunny disposition.
Your mood at any given time can affect your health, impact
your body in many different ways, and can make your sense of well being soar to
great heights or crash it into smithereens. Moods can spread from person to
person. This is why it is important to be surrounded with positive-thinking
people and avoid negative promoting folks.
Having “doom and gloom” people around you will send your
attitude plummeting in a very short time while having positive, upbeat people
in your life will energize you to reach new heights.
Robert Dunham of the Institute for Generative Leadership
identifies four basic moods he calls resignation, resentment, acceptance, and
ambition. Staying in acceptance or ambition will help you maintain a positive
state of mind and remain open to new ideas and experiences. The difference in
improving your attitude occurs because of the way you perceive and react to
situations in everyday life.
Acceptance is the mood in which you accept the way things
are and deal with each situation accordingly to make the most of bad circumstances
while basking in the euphoria of good scenarios. Ambition is one step above
acceptance on the happiness scale. This mood allows you to always see the
possibilities of the future in a positive light so you can plan ahead and
leverage these optimistic visions so they work to your best advantage. Acceptance and ambition are moods that lead to
innovative ideas, spur action to attain important goals in your life, and having
constructive resolve leading to an increase in your life enjoyment.
On the opposite side of the mood equation lie resignation
and resentment, both of which may be described as being “dark” moods. The
resignation mood traps you into thinking there is nothing you can do to make
any difference in your life and you will never have the power to influence changes
with which you could direct your life in a more positive direction. The resentment
mood leads you to believe you do not nor will you ever have control of your
life, everyone else has a much better life than you, and it is useless
struggling to achieve more from life so you give up. Both the resignation and
resentment moods are negative moods leading to an inability to improve your
life. They both prevent you from making positive changes and foster an unwillingness
to take responsibility for yourself and your actions. This often leads to a
personal disconnection or detachment from other people and situations that
could be beneficial or enjoyable to you.
So what can you do to begin leading a more positive life to
improve your health?
It is not an easy process but you can consciously commit to
keeping yourself in acceptance and ambition moods while rejecting resignation
and resentment moods. This is a process demanding self-awareness, much time,
and the tenacity to stick with the course of action. Your progress will proceed
at an accelerated rate once you begin to recognize and experience small
successes then build upon them until new habits are ingrained in your psyche. This
condition draws you toward positive moods and shuns negative ones. However, this process demands daily practice
but will soon be learned and mastered as your self-confidence, vitality, and
creativity morph into a more positive and healthy future.
