Mercurial- I Am Not!

Someone once wrote, 'Smile if you want to feel happy'. Louis Armstrong sang the same message: 

  

"When you're smilin' keep on smilin'

The whole world smiles with you."

The other day I was attending a meeting of our condominium board. I must admit I was in a bad mood and I am sure it was evident to everyone present. Now I believe that I am usually in a good mood, in fact, I will go as far to say, in a happy mood most of the time. The reason for the bad mood was a recent cataract operation. Unfortunately, there were problems and the treatments resulted in a selection of  daily eye drops and a series of prohibitions such as: no driving the car, no gym, no T.V. or working on my computer. What in the hell was I to do? I did not prepare myself for that setback. Everyone I talked to said a cataract removal was a piece of cake! So these multiple remedies were driving me crazy. Obviously, I was worried about the eye and even more frustrated with my current immobile life. So I tried putting on a smile! Ask Maureen if it worked!

I don't have a lot of experience with negative moods but I do know that health and a major disruption in ones daily routines leads to frustration. This got me thinking about moods. We all know there are  so called good moods and bad moods. In fact I realized there are literally over a hundred moods that we describe such as: crappy, disappointed, exhausted, giggly, infuriated and so on.

The problem with moods is that they can influence how we interpret and translate the world, which in turn influences our behaviour. Cognitive distortions make things seem worse than they really are. Thus, my negative influence at the board meeting! These low-intense moods affect almost everything we do, but serious bad moods can even lead to the inability to function. If they become chronic they fall into the category of Generalized Anxiety Disorders or GAD.

Most of us learn how to deal with the bad moods of others. Difficult people who are constant whiners, bullies and the very short-fused. Often these people provoke us and can even humiliate us at times. We can, if necessary, just walk away from those emotional traps. But, when it's my own bad mood...I can't just walk away so I have to learn to 'smile'.

According to FORBES (11/29/2012) millions of Americans take pills to temper their moods.  In 2012 drug makers sold $11 billion worth of antidepressants and anti psychotics. Apparently another $18 billion to deal with bipolar disorders and hallucinations! Sounds like bad moods are good moods for the drug companies.

On the other hand being in a good mood make it a lot easier to get things done. I remember, during the Second World War how Churchill had the ability to inspire a nation and to steer public thinking from fearing about a bad ending to the war. However, he like everyone else did lose his cool, especially when the war was not going well. He was big enough to take ownership of his bad moods and apologize to the person he unloaded on. I believe he even had a small sip of something to boost his good mood along!

The story is told that after a long and difficult day, tired and perhaps a bit wobbly he was leaving the house of commons. The Labour Member of Parliament, Bessie Braddock saw him leaving and accused him of being disgustingly drunk. Churchill replied, "Bessie, my dear.....You are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly." He may have been in a bad mood, but, if this story is true, he knew how to elect a smile on some faces.

Epictetus (a Stoic philosopher) once wrote, "People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them."

I got good news from the doctor this morning. My eye is greatly improved.....and my good mood is back on track! I'm smiling' again and I hope I can keep on smiling'.

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week