Mood Mapping

Mood is a strange word! that applies to so much – music, art, atmosphere and most of all people. To be described as “moody” is not always flattering! However, we all have moods, and it is our personal responsibility to manage our moods, in the same way as it is our responsibility to keep clean, not sneeze in peoples’ faces and generally live a social, healthy and productive life.

From both a psychological and biological point of view, mood has two parts -

How much energy you have
How positive or negative, healthy or unhealthy you feel

This can be show as a diagram or map by putting energy up the vertical axis and wellbeing (health, or positivity) along the horizontal axis

This gives four basic moods

High energy, positive wellbeing –  Action – good healthy place to be where you can get things done!

Low energy, positive wellbeing – Calm – a healthy place to be, where you can recover, think and plan what to do next, meditate and  be at peace with the world

High energy, negative wellbeing – Stressed - a little bit of stress can get people motivated, but too much, over a long period of time and it becomes anxiety, which is not good!

Low energy, negative wellbeing – Tired – feeling tired after a hard day’s work can be good, but chronic tiredness leads to exhaustion and even depression, in moderation only!

 By understanding, monitoring and managing how you feel, you can spend more time on the positive parts of the map than on the negative
Energy and wellbeing are concepts rather than exact definitions. Biological systems need to be flexible because they have to cope with the unexpected and unpredictable, so their definitions are not exact but generally people know what is meant by them.

People tend to use words to describe how they feel, however words mean different things to different people, and depend on their context and what they refer to. It is difficult to improve something unless you can measure it, imagine an athlete training without a stop watch! Moodmapping is like having a stopwatch for how you feel. You  record your mood, from day to day even hour to hour. This record shows how you are feeling on a chart that can be used to make changes in your life that can improve your mood, that is increase your energy and improve your wellbeing

The vertical line represents your energy, +5 is the most energy you have, whilst -5 is the least
The horizontal line represents your health and wellbeing, +5 is the most positive you have felt and -5 the worst you have felt

The scores you record are specific to you. Scoring or measuring your mood helps you understand those things that help you feel better and those that sap your energy and leave you feeling bad.

Other mood charts use words with a single vertical scale. The benefits of moodmapping are that you can record more information, more precisely. This is not an exact science but the better your measurements the better your results!

Mood point is the point on the map that best describes how you feel at a specific moment in time. Your mood point depends on how much energy you have and how good or bad you feel at the moment you chart your mood, it records mood in an instant in time, rather than  how you remember it looking back

Score your energy and wellbeing to find your mood point

 
The mood point records mood at a moment in time. It shows how you feel then, rather than how you should feel, think you feel or want to feel.

How much energy do you have? could you go for a run now, a walk, sit quietly or do you need to rest?

How good or bad do you feel? are you so positive that nothing could make you feel bad? or hovering on the brink and one more piece of bad news send you over the edge?

Even if you have low scores it does not mean that you are stuck feeling negative, there are many simple things that you can do to help yourself feel better in the moment, from drink a glass of water, listen to a few minutes of music, or talk to a friend. Recognising how you feel, is the first step in managing your mood and mastering your destiny!

It does take discipline, looking after yourself, your health and your mood has to be one of your main priorities. Without good health, mental and physical it is impossible to fulfil your potential. Whether you are trying to survive from one crisis to the next, or whether you are looking to improve your performance and reach the top of your profession. Whether you are mother, an employer, a manager, a future leader, if you are not in charge of yourself, your poor personal mood management will affect your relationships with other people.

Mood varies. It can change in a moment, or stay the same for days. A person’s mood depends on what kind of person they are, what is happening to them, what has happened in the past. By recording your mood over the day, it is possible to see when you are at your best, most active and when is the best time for planning and quieter activities and when you can “go for it” all out!

Record mood over a day

Most people have moods they can live with. Some peoples’ moods become difficult to manage and in extreme cases, they are given the diagnosis of a “Mood disorder”. In reality that means large, often very creative but hard to manage moods. There are five main keys to understanding what affects mood. These are:

The five Keys to Mood:

Surroundings – what is going on around you, in your home and workplace
Physical health – physical health affects mood far more than most people, even doctors realise, diet and exercise are key
Social environment and relationships – nothing destroys people quicker than a bad relationship, whether it is with your close family, workplace, or social life
Learning and skills – what you have learnt from life experience, education, financial skills and health self management
Self awareness – we need to know our personality type, where our talents lie, be able to express our deeper self and be true to who we are

By regularly plotting your mood, you can understand more about who you are and how the five Keys to mood affect you and how to improve them