Mood swings

Have you noticed how does your mood literally swing from one side to the other with  an almost precise regularity? You are happy, everything seems to go your way for some time (it could be hours, days and even longer periods) then – often with no apparent reason –  you start feeling not so good, sadness creeps in,  you experience a kind of dissatisfaction, a sort of lack (you usually don’t even know “of what”). Why does this happen? Hard to say. You only know that it’s highly distressing, it makes you feel totally out of control of your feelings, which is not a pleasant consideration. Can you do something about it? I believe you can. Your usual ways seem not to be working. You try to ignore the feeling, you try to oppose it, you might try to replace it with something else. Do you succeed? Hardly. Could a possible way be “acceptance”? You acknowledge the feeling of sadness, of dissatisfaction, without identifying with it: this is the trick. See, accept that it is there BUT, rather than saying “I AM depressed”, say “Right now I am experiencing this feeling of depression.” Then add: “But it will pass.” Magic words? Not really, but they might help, if you persist in re-programming  your belief in your power to change “stuff” (thoughts, convictions, pre-conceived ideas, feelings…), which – believe it or not – you actually possess.