How to Remain Appreciative When You’re Everything but Happy

Think about the best moments of your life.

• What were you doing?
• Where were you going?
• Who were you with?
• And more importantly, what mood were you in?

You might describe the “best times of your life” as happy ones.

In being human we do our best to avoid unintentional negative feelings which include: fear, pain, sadness and the like. With that, we have become conditioned to believe that happiness is the only emotion that we should feel.

All of our actions are enacted upon with the hope of achieving happiness for ourselves. No matter what we are doing, the intent is to produce feelings associated with happiness, whatever that may entail.

Dr. Rottenberg, a professor in the psychology department at the University of South Florida, studies moods.

In an article he wrote, titled “Mood and Emotion in Major Depression”, Dr. Rottenberg makes the distinction between mood and emotions stating that, “Emotions are quick-moving reactions that occur when organisms encounter meaningful stimuli that call for adaptive responses. Emotional reactions typically involve coordinated changes in feeling state, behavior, and physiology, and last seconds or minutes.” And that,  “Moods, by contrast, exert their clearest effects on feeling states and cognitions (as opposed to behavior and phys- iology) and last hours or days.”

Furthermore, in an interview conducted with Dr. Rottenberg he made a powerful point in saying that, “From a societal perspective we need to become more aware of the things that are affecting or influencing people’s moods, because moods then influence everything about a person, they influence how they think and how they behave and even what’s going on inside their body.”

With that, it is both evident and crucial that we gain an understanding and an appreciation for all of the moods and emotions that we may experience. We often do what we can to avoid feelings that aren't positive, yet in being human we have been given the gift to experience an array of moods.

The reason why we are all seeking happiness in our lives is because we have gained an appreciation for it in the midst of all other moods that we have experienced.

Imagine living a life that only consisted of being happy, our human experience would be drastically different and unbearably mundane if we knew of nothing more than being happy.

Ways to appreciate all your emotions:

• Find time to cry
• Watch a movie that brings out any type of emotion: romance, horror, comedy, etc.
• Meditate or practice yoga
• Vent to a trusted loved one
• Write regularly in a journal about your feelings and review past entries
• Write a song or poem about your feelings
• Talk to a psychologist

Having the ability to experience different moods and emotions makes our lives more intriguing,the key is to understanding those emotions and consequent moods and seeking a professional, when we are feeling completely overwhelmed by them.

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Author: Marella Porter, junior at the University of South Florida, studies mass communications with a focus in broadcast news. Along with maintaining memberships within various campus organizations, she enjoys writing, along with being an intern for Slayed Magazine Online, she also contributes to Elite Daily. Marella's long term goal is to become a television anchor. Connect with Marella on LinkedIn.