Emotions

Capitalize On Your Good Mood

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I read a pretty funny Onion article recently entitled ‘Man Has No Idea What To Do With Good Mood’ and I couldn’t help thinking what I’d suggest to him if he were my client, saying to myself “I know what he should do, he should capitalize on it.”

Our bad moods usually have a pretty negative effect on our lives. The psychoanalytic reason why is that we don’t want these feelings inside us so we attempt to project them onto those around us, treating others badly and blaming them for things in a misguided attempt to try to transfer these unpleasant feelings away.

We don’t always treat others better than usual when we’re in a good mood though, perhaps because we feel no discomfort, no need to project pleasant emotions, and in fact unconsciously we might jealously guard them, hoping to make these pleasant feelings stay with us as long as possible.

When you’re in a good mood you’re usually at your best, which means you should be capitalizing on the state by putting yourself out there, being social and trying to make new connections while furthering the ones you already have. This attitude acts as a counterbalance for the times where your bad mood compels you to say or do things that you end up regretting. When the good mood wave is there you might as well surf it, getting the most you can out of your state of mind instead of just regarding it as normal, going about business as usual.

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