It's Going to take Time and Practice

Managing Moods is a skill that can be learned. Acquiring a skill usually involves time and practice. Overcoming obstacles is part of the challenge. Even the most skilled people can lose it without practice. Tiger Woods was the greatest golfer in the world. He got that way through raw talent, training, education and practice. Tiger's world came apart as news of his sexual addiction became public. He was on the receiving end of much criticism and controversy. As a result of this and physical injuries, his golf game was put on hold. It has been some years since Tiger, once the greatest golfer in the world, exhibited the skill and expertise that was formerly so routine for him. Without practice and training even the most skilled professionals lose their edge. The skills required to effectively and consistently manage your moods are learned through education, training and practice.

Learning to consistently and effectively manage your moods will require time. Time cannot be managed. You can manage yourself as you experience time. Time management is really "you management". Think about how you live now. Think about how you invest your life each day. You will need to allot time to learn and practice MMS (Mood Management Skills). Rather than suggesting you spend a certain amount of time each day, I would rather suggest that you make MMS development learning, education and practice a priority.You do everything possible to know more and practice more.

Control of your "inner machinery" (IM) is an  important part of MMS. What are your "insides" doing? Become aware of each part of your body. Feel and identify what is happening to you. For example, "I feel uptight inside!" or "My head feels like it has a band around it" or "I feel really calm inside." Your inner physical being can tell you many things about what is happening in your thinking. Controlling your IM is a skill that can be learned. The best method for this ability, that I have found, is meditation. There are different types of meditation techniques. Find one that fits your needs and get good at it. Please do not pass over this step. You will find that becoming proficient at meditation and doing it routinely, regularly and perhaps even religiously will make a world of difference in the way you manage your life, your thinking, and your moods.

Reading this without some assimilation, application and action (AAA) will be of little benefit for you. Move on, do something different. You can learn the MMS required for managing your moods.
However, it will take education, training,  time,  and practice.

Mood management Skills

May I recommend a great workbook? Mind Over Mood, Greenberger and Padesky. These guys must be reading this blog. Get the workbook. Read it. Study it. Assimilate it (thoroughly understand it) Apply it (make it personal to your life, think critically about how you can incorporate it into your life). Learn the written thoughts. This is education. Not memorization. If you do not learn something new, you are stuck only with what you know, and that is not enough. Your old thoughts need testing. Your old ideas may need changing. If you get a book and put that book on a shelf in your house, you have more stuff in your house. If you study that book and learn the lessons contained therein, you have become a different person. There is hope.
   
       When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
       When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
                                                                                                    St. Paul
                                                                                             1 Corinthians 13:11 NIV


     Words are thoughts which are spoken or written. When you read a book, you are reading someones thoughts. You are participating in their imagination or their research or their beliefs. This is important. In order to change your life, you must think differently. There is no other way. But, what if you do not know what to think? Books and workbooks can usually help. You have to read and think along with the author(s). You have to hear with your mind the thoughts that have been written on the page. This is important as we begin some intensive, life-changing work. The first step toward learning to manage your moods is getting education. We would hardly think of going to school, getting educated, without the help of teachers and books. We can learn Mood Management Skills.

Mood Management Skills (MMS).

You may feel as through you are being held hostage by a mood, a feeling. That is about to change. Your moods are yours. They belong to you. You own them. You created them through thought or chemistry. Never think it is the other way around, i.e. your moods create you. However, a state of mind can be very hard to "un-state" and a "line of thinking" can be hard to break into. It can and must be done if you are going to regain your power and your enthusiasm for life again. I own my moods. I own my beliefs. I own my thoughts. Therefore, I now take back my life and my affective (mood world). Learning how to do this is the first step of acquiring Mood Management Skills.

Chemical Thoughts

Everything is chemistry. A thought is a magnificent chemical interchange within the brain. Brain chemistry is part of the overall chemical body. Although everything is chemistry, PMS is not a thought. Diabetes is not a mindset. The need for harmone replacement is not a matter of stinking thinking. Research shows that thinking can effect our physical condition either positively or negatively.

All of the physical realities mentioned above can cause significant shifts in mood. They are conditions. An individual suffering from diabetes can be thinking the most positive of thoughts. Their mood is dictated by the illness, unless effective treatment is administered. Elementary. Basic. Incredibly important distinction.

This is not a either-or proposition. Everything is chemistry. Monitoring and managing one's chemistry is synonymous with practicing good health, whether mental or physical. Managing thoughts translates into managing moods, all of which is a basic chemical endeavor. Managing moods means managing chemistry. We are learning this important first lesson. We will need to learn how to manage our chemistry. Sometimes we need to take medications, eat food that is more healthy, drink more pure water and ingest less chemicals that are counterproductive.  OK. Managing Moods Lesson #1 is getting education. Learning how to manage moods, manage chemistry and think correctly.