Fig 2
World’s strongest man pulling a truck
Because hell is no place to stop.
Widely attributed, this is one of the themes of MoodMapping. Whatever happens, keep trucking, never give up, persistence pays and remember to remind yourself ‘This too will pass’. And if this sounds a bit deep for you, we all have hidden depths, talents we don’t use and resources we might better deploy.
We all have moods, some moods are easier to manage than others. For example, good mood = great day`; bad mood = not so great. Some people find their moods so difficult to manage, that, encouraged by the medical profession, they resort to medication. MoodMapping is not intended to be a fix-all for all serious mental health problems or a substitute for the proper use of medication or expert counselling. Nonetheless, there is a lot that you and I can do to make life easier for ourselves, and help make life better for ourselves and the people around us.
Being positive takes energy, it is also a great way to generate energy. However some days, that is easier said than done. We may know what we need to do but cannot get out of bed to do it. Road rage, tube range, bus rage – when someone pushes ahead of you in the queue at the bus stop are harder to manage when you are already exhausted and frustrated. And if you don’t urgently change your mood, your whole day is going to be wrecked.
Yes, there are rude b**** out there! Get over it, and don’t waste your energy because that is what they want. They need the row, the fight that gives them the shot of adrenaline that keeps up their campaign of harassment. Take a breath, step back and understand that you choose to live on a higher plane.
The same strategies that help someone who struggles to get up in the morning, can also help someone looking for peak performance. MoodMapping has been read and studied by people who are so depressed they are in a hospital, by people who simply want life to be a little easier and by Olympic level sports people and their coaches.
Moods affect our performance from day to day, week to week If you positively manage your moods, then you can improve your performance from moment to moment, week to week and year to year.
For example,
I know that my mood is very dependent on my physical fitness. Much of my self-esteem, my energy, and my general well-being depends on being fit. I need to be able to go an extra mile and draw on reserves when life gets most difficult. I am not good at asking for help or relying on other people for support. I generally rely on myself, and this is hard if I don’t have the physical strength and stamina to back it up.
For the last five years or so, my physical fitness has taken a real dive. If I had not personally been a doctor, I would have thought I had generalised arthritis, got medication from my doctor and resorted to a walking stick.
However, swimming is my ‘Go To’ exercise, A good physiotherapist is worth her weight in gold (and mine is ‘not frail’ rather she has an infectious enthusiasm that takes no prisoners, all of which makes her very valuable indeed!). A year or more ago, I finally acknowledged I had a real problem and started to fix it. More than a year later, I finally feel more like my ‘old self’, albeit, with a new, more wrinkled skin and greyer hair, my energy is returning and I can see the start line!
Some people may depend more on having a network of friends and support, others on their creative strengths, their surroundings and so on. Knowing what works for you, helps you stay ‘on the rails’ in difficult times.
For me, finally reaching the point where I can get fit again means that I can get back on track, contribute to making the earth a better place to live, and helping humankind fulfil our destiny.
Exercise
What is your ‘Go to’ Strategy that keeps you sane? Do you write a journal? draw, paint, write – and if you don’t have one, what might it be if you did have one? Because these strategies are important and in an increasingly mad world, they keep us sane!