The claim that our emotions are basic determinants of what we can and cannot achieve in the domains of work, learning, relationships, sociability, spirituality, etc, etc is pertinent and important for those who are frustrated by getting the same results despite trying harder.
Raphael Echeverria, Ph.D makes this claim in his seminal paper on moods and emotions, a paper disseminated by The Newfield Network as part of the course material provided for their coaching students. Raphael Echeverria was a founding member of the Newfield Network and President of its international network he was also a student of Fernando Flores the man credited with inventing the term ontological coaching.
When we speak about our emotional life we can draw a distinction between two kinds of phenomena-moods and emotions. Emotions are produced whenever we experience a change in the flow of life. They are associated with what Newfield terms as breakdowns- i.e. an interruption in the transparency of life. Emotion is a distinction we make in language to refer to changes in our space of possibilities due to given events. Emotions are bound to certain events and we can normally pinpoint events that triggered them.
Moods are a different distinction. They are not specific and we normally cannot attribute them to particular event. They live in the background from which we act. This is an important statement because for many of us they become so familiar that we do not recognise them for what they are or for the significance they play in perpetuating the kind of results we get in life.
Another important distinguishing feature of moods is that they define a range of possibilities from which we will act rather than manifesting a different ranges of possibilities as happens with emotions after a triggering event. The point is that no matter where we are in life we human beings are always in a mood. Once in a particular mood we become what that mood allows us to be. This can be perplexing and frustrating in equal measure.
Are we damned by the mood we live? To a certain extent yes unless we deliberately intervene to shift the mood space and become a different observer of moods.
We have to first observe, become conscious and pay attention to the clues the domains of the body and language provide to assess our prevailing mood. We can for example observe the mood a person is living simply by paying attention to their posture. There is no innocence on our physical posture and the relationship between the body and the realm of moods is very strong.
Similarly the connection between moods and conversations or language is also very telling. Indeed the biologist Humberto Maturana noted that a conversation is not just a linguistic phenomenon but is a combination of two basic components –language and emotions.
This relationship is critical in helping us intervene in the design of a new mood space. If emotions and moods are predispositions for action is it not important to understand the mood you are living to see if it supports the kind of action you want in life? Easier said than done and I attest to that, but it is possible.
I know that as a kid I was very astute in determining the mood my parents were living in order to get what I wanted or to defer telling them something that I knew would contribute to a worse reaction. How come this knowledge eludes us for acting or intervening in our own mood space? The problem is that moods are often transparent to us. We can be swept along in a particular mood and somehow begin to believe that it is just the way things are or a function of the things that are happening out there beyond our control.
Raphael Echeverria makes the claim that with moods there is room for design. One way to change our range of possibilities and therefore our mood is through conversations. In fact in his paper Echeverria contributes some very definite guidelines for re-shaping our moods. He suggests;
a) Become an observer of moods, can you become proficient in identifying between the moods of Resentment, Resignation, Ambition and Acceptance?
b) On a lighter note we are not responsible for the mood we find ourselves in but we are responsible for staying in that mood
c) Listen to the stories you tell about yourself or your world
d) Listen too for the assessment that goes with your mood, how are you assessing the world, people around you, yourself, and your future? These questions will help you specify the mood you are in.
e) Build repertoires or courses of action that you can take to prevent a mood from taking hold
f) Choose the company you keep
g) Get physical, change your body posture or do some exercise
h) Sometimes we may need to intervene at the level of our biology if the language suggestions above do not help
In writing this piece I found it instructive to help me think of the various ways I can support my own mood change and intervene at the level of conversation or with my body for effect.
We cannot avoid moods but it is easy to forget that we live them and they often have us!