The Courage to Stay in a Good Mood
//Summary - Level-B2//
The text explains that managing your own mood is key to living well. You can’t control others, but you can control how you feel. Staying cheerful requires energy and conscious effort, especially since other people’s emotions can easily affect you. At first, it feels hard, but with practice, you can build resistance. Others may react negatively when you try to stay positive, but this shows your change is noticeable. Instead of aiming for constant cheerfulness, start small—focus on one minute at a time. Gradual persistence helps you extend good moods and live more positively.
1)
Managing your own mood:
Managing your own mood is the most crucial thing in life.
It's a phrase often heard in self-help circles.
People whose lives are not going well often try to control others. Since you can only control yourself, managing your own mood makes life easier.
People notice immediately when others are in a bad mood.
2)
Furthermore, expecting others to manage your mood can lead to your life being controlled by others.
You can surprisingly gauge people's emotions through their tone of voice, expressions, and mannerisms.
However, your own personality is often too close for you to notice its changes.
Only when you ask yourself, ‘Why am I so irritable?’ do you realise you're irritable.
Without conscious effort, one cannot even become aware of one's own emotions.
3)
Maintaining a good mood also requires energy:
Right! Today I'll consciously try to keep myself in a good mood!
Even with this resolve, one might find oneself feeling down or swayed by others' emotions before realising it.
Being easily influenced by those around us, it's common for one's own mood to be instantly shattered and retreat into a shell if, say, one's boss at work is in a bad mood.
Staying cheerful requires a firm resolve not to be swayed by others.
And you have to maintain it all day long.
4)
The solution is to recognise that everything requires energy initially.
Suppose you approach things with the expectation that they should come naturally. In that case, the gap between expectation and reality will overwhelm you, leaving you more exhausted than usual or feeling utterly disheartened.
So resolve from the start that it will take energy.
Cultivating an immunity to others' influence isn't easy either.
However, after about three days, you gradually get used to it.
You only need to be conscious of it at the start.
5)
Reasons why you can't stay cheerful immediately:
Let's consider why you can't always maintain a cheerful disposition.
When those around you look gloomy or angry, it feels as though you're experiencing it yourself, dragging you down into the same mood.
Become aware of this phenomenon.
6)
You realise it's not your own emotion now, but someone else's that's taken hold...
Their feelings are stirring within you.
You don't know why, but you feel sad. Irritable.
That's how people often get disrupted by the emotions of those around them.
Even if you thought you were in a good mood just now, your emotions can become unstable all on their own.
The reason most people struggle to stay in a good mood is likely because they find it very difficult to maintain.
7)
Reasons maintaining good cheer are complex: Reactions from others:
Trying to maintain good cheer often brings drawbacks.
Namely, the reactions of those around you.
5)
‘What's up? You're on a high! Something good happened? You seem different.’
People will react like this when you resolve to be in a good mood.
Some might even appear slightly mocking.
These are what you might call your dream killers.
Spiritually speaking, they become entities that try to stop you from changing.
6)
Ideally, you could maintain your cheerful mood even while responding to each one. However, the desire arises not to want reactions to your attempts to change, or to avoid being told strange things.
This countermeasure might be resolved by telling yourself:
You are succeeding in changing yourself to the extent that those around you are noticing.
It only seems like you're changing at first, so get used to seeing yourself in a good mood.
Choose the words you speak to yourself carefully, so you aren't affected by others' reactions.
Having words to defend yourself is also a skill that helps you stay in a good mood.
7)
It's better to spend more time in a good mood throughout life:
Within a 24-hour day, I believe it's better to be in a good mood for even one minute longer.
If you consciously aim to extend it from one minute to two minutes, bit by bit, you'll find yourself gradually cultivating the ability to be in a good mood for 24 hours.
8)
A characteristic of those who falter is setting the first hurdle considerably high.
Attempting to be cheerful for 24 hours straight from day one borders on reckless.
First, try focusing intently on yourself for just one minute.
Then, reflect on how you felt during that minute.
Reviewing 24 hours is a battle with memory, but recalling what happened a minute ago is easy.
9)
There's no need to try changing suddenly.
It is through persistence that results are achieved.
The Courage to Stay in a Good Mood
https://note.com/atsunote/n/nacc79340a335
I'll teach you how to live a life of good mood and not be swayed by other people's emotions. For those who get too excited or upset by other people's words and actions, imitating this will make your life much easier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhsXYSYVHjQ
The balance between good mood and compassion is important.
https://note.com/ak19841127/n/n4160cab11f7e
Riding the Waves of Emotions: How to Live a Life Without Being Swayed by Yourself or Others
https://note.com/hidemaru1976/n/n90ed166e479e
