What Is a mood?

Our mood is always in the background of our minds, like a sunny sky or an ominous rain cloud hanging over us. It can be hard to express in words, but you know it when you feel it. Unlike emotions, which are brief reactions to specific events like stubbing your toe or receiving an unexpected compliment, moods last longer, ranging from hours to days. It's usually unclear what specific factors cause your mood in any specific moment, but from our personal experiences, we all know that our mood can roughly range from a ‘good mood’ to a ‘bad mood.’  

Moods are complicated mental states. It’s not simply the case that a ‘good mood’ is the opposite of a ‘bad mood.’ In reality, our moods are an overlapping combination of lots of different emotions. We can feel generally positive or negative, energetic or tired, motivated or dispirited, content or frustrated, confident or insecure. This cluster of emotions represents our mood, and it’s shaped by numerous external and internal factors. From a biological perspective, scientists have shown that our sleep schedule, our diet, and abnormalities in brain chemistry can have significant influences on our mood. And from a social and psychological perspective, we know that acceptance or conflict with others, self-esteem, and stress from life changes and external situations all deeply affect our mood.

Behind all of this complexity, our moods play a consistent role: They shape how we interpret the world around us and thus how we interact with it. To put it simply, a negative mood tells us that something bad is going on in our life, leading us to see more danger and uncertainty. On the other hand, a positive mood tells us that things are going well, making us feel more confident and comfortable and allowing us to see more opportunities for growth. This is essentially how our moods are supposed to function; they guide us to avoid negative outcomes and to take advantage of opportunities in our lives. 

However, we’ve all experienced that our mood can sometimes run amok in our daily life. As an emotional system that operates subconsciously, our mood often reflects implicit beliefs we have about ourselves and the world around us. For example, let’s say a bad performance review at work has put you in a sour mood. This event may cause you to feel anxious about how your coworkers perceive you, or make you doubtful about your abilities and your career. We tend to fixate on these negative events and beliefs, even if they aren’t entirely true, and these patterns of thinking can reinforce themselves, leading to a vicious cycle in one’s mood. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a popular therapy treatment aimed at helping people challenge and overcome these negative patterns of thinking.  

Researchers are still working out the details on how moods work, but for the purposes of our day-to-day life, it’s helpful to know that in spite of their ambiguity and unpredictability, our mood is in our control. Through a practice of mindfulness and reflection, we can better understand how our mood works and how it can go wrong for us personally. When we’re able to put our mood into the context of a bigger picture, we’re able to see it for what it is: just an emotion that will pass. Moods are hard to understand, which is why we made Sitrus — to help you understand how your own mindset works and to help you gain a little more control.

We’re aiming to continually improve Sitrus, and we still have a lot to learn. We welcome any feedback or thoughts you might have! Feel free to email us a team.sitrus@gmail.com.