Melancholy, happiness and neutrality
-
Melancholy—it comes during times for introspection, thinking about things in life, and making or going through change within and without.
Sure, things like diet and light affect mood. Consider the context. If a person’s diet is terrible, it would probably benefit them to start eating healthier. (That is a change, too, born from the recognition that change needs to be made.)
I’m not against supplements either if a person is really struggling and they need the support. However...
If a person thinks that low mood is always itself the problem, and if they think that supplements are the solution to the problem, then they may never make the change they had an opportunity for—a change that would have been more beneficial in the long-term.
It seems like when people have an elevated mood, they are more stuck in their own view of the world and have decreased clarity of perception/thought even if it doesn’t feel like it in the moment. I think I’ve had hypomania twice, so I’m partially drawing from my (in retrospect) observations of myself during those times, but I’m also drawing from my other observations of myself and of other people. It also makes sense in the larger context of everything.
People can have increased creativity while in a hypomanic state, and that might at first seem like it contradicts what I wrote earlier, but it really doesn’t. A person can have plenty of creative ideas without fundamentally changing their view of the world, and it’s not necessary to have great creativity to make a drastic change in one’s view of the world.
Thinking and perceiving is clearest when neutral.
There’s a certain kind of calm happiness to the neutrality I’m referring to, and it’s still totally possible to enjoy things, like the beauty of everything around oneself.
It seems like the only times I feel like I want to have a higher mood are some of the times when my mood is neutral without neutral happiness, and at those times I’m not really experiencing the beauty of the present moment. If I then choose to let myself experience that beauty, my desire for a higher mood disappears and I feel what I call neutral happiness.
Maybe experiencing beauty is necessary for neutral happiness. If it isn’t necessary, it’s at least helpful.
-
You might be able to figure out everything you need about moods and emotions by observing yourself and others.
If you want to understand them better, you can think about them in a larger context, possibly including an evolutionary context (asking about what purpose the emotion or mood might have served) or more. The amount of context you need depends on how well you want to understand them. Knowing about neurotransmitters and hormones isn’t necessary for a good understanding.
Neurotransmitters and hormones can add to understanding, but they aren’t necessary. It’s better to start from experience and from a bigger picture, and then the smaller details can be added in if wanted or needed for a specific purpose.
Just focusing on the small details too much and too soon is likely to mislead.
