Here's the sixteenth in the series of excellent blogs by Lex covering the adjectives on the 20 Moodscope cards. Please don't forget we'd love you to add any ideas, tips, insights or advice you may have that you'd like to share with other Moodscope members that might be of help. Many thanks. Caroline.

Today it's the turn of the 'Upset' card. Moodscope defines this as: 'feeling sad and troubled about things'.

There's deep stuff to be said about being upset. But sometimes I'm just a shallow guy. To me, 'Upset' is an anagram of 'Setup'...and that's what life feels like sometimes – a setup. And that upsets me!

I think this is technically called, 'Paranoia' but everybody I've met is paranoid!

We wouldn't feel 'sad and troubled about things' if they didn't feel personal to us – like something was working against us – like we'd been set up. This, again, is a sign, I believe, of the intelligence and imagination sitting at the core of the depressed person. We're sad because we care. We care because we intelligently think about what matters. We have emotional intelligence. But sometimes we try too hard to push open a door that opens the other way. Our emotional intelligence needs fresh direction to escape the trap, the setup.

Trouble is, being 'troubled' isn't usually the best state to be in to make any positive difference. Action is required. If the journey of one thousand miles begins with a single step, then the journey out of the valley of sadness – where we were setup and ambushed – begins with a single positive step. This will start the process of righting us – balancing us – returning us to equilibrium.

One step at a time. One day at a time. One thought at a time. You know what? I believe we can change our world (and theirs too – whoever they may be) one thought at a time. Now there's a thought!

So if there was just one thing you could do today to take you higher – out of the valley of sadness where there is so much troubled thinking – what would that one thing be?