I read in the paper recently some advice which was given to someone who felt awful but on the face of it had a lovely life and it wasn’t obvious to anyone except herself that things were not as they seemed.

The advice was to stop focussing on how she felt, on her mood but on what makes her happy and what is important to her.

This struck a chord with me because I always focus on my mood on waking up and this determines what my day will be like.

The advice (by a fairly well know psychiatrist) was that we forget what is important to us by thinking that we are wrong and are responsible for our unhappiness or feelings of unease. We only think of how we feel each day so instead of looking outwards, we look inside us to try to correct how we feel.

I started to do this with surprising results although I must admit I’m not consistent.  I still focus on my moods.

But when I thought of what is important to me, I realised that really I ought to try to make some changes to my everyday life if possible because what is important  to me actually doesn’t figure in my life any more. If I did more of what is important to me, I might not feel low.

I like modern art, clothes, interiors, nature, the sea (I get plenty of sea), nice people who do not judge, coffee, reading a print newspaper daily, novels, the sun, the Mediterranean and property searches here and abroad. 

These things may sound very superficial and privileged but I’m being  honest here. It did me good to think about what is important to me.

I wonder if Moodscopers would like to tell us what is important to you and what you think about the advice given about not focusing on how we feel.

Julia

A Moodscope member