Three Mood Cycles

A little known fact about myself revealed to me very recently is that I am a man of dual emotions. Two emotions that’s it. No fewer no more, contrary to the commonly held notion among friends that I know only one emotion – laughter!

The two emotions are extreme happiness and mild sadness and as a corollary there are three moods one can find me in - extremely happy, mildly sad (it doesn’t show) and busy. Yes, there is no typo in the last sentence the third mood is busy. The mood cycle again flows pretty er cyclically. The mildly sad mood lingers for some time before I make myself busy and then once I am exhausted the extreme happiness mood takes over.

The more I think about it, the three mood framework seems applicable in increasingly more kinds of situations. Or may be it is similar to the tendency to detect symptoms when one suspects to be suffering from a disease, a force fitting tendency that is. Assuming that there is no force fitting bias at play, another interesting observation comes out – the three mood cycle has meta-versions as well.

It’s the existence of meta-versions which probably establishes the validity of three mood cycle hypothesis, because they are observed over a longer time period and therefore are free of local stochasticity#

Since the above mentioned revelation, I have tried reviewing my life events to understand this unique psychological hardwiring. With little success. The main reason being as far back I can remember (all the way back to when I was three years old) is that the duality of emotions has been pretty much there. No evolution/life changing event whatsoever! Perhaps the following additional facts hold the key:

1. Both the mildly sad and busy states are marked by extreme inertia*
2. Mildly sad state is characterized by outward calmness but a high degree of internal unrest
3. All Ideation happens during the early phase of busy mood
4. Busy mood begins on its own and is not assisted by any inspiration acquired in the mildly sad period
5. The transition from extremely happy to mildly sad mood is quite sudden and yet the change is almost unnoticeable
6. The intensity and more importantly the time period of busy stage determines the time duration of mildly sad period. Much like the excesses of the Government during boom time determining the intensity and duration of recession.

Every once in a while one of my friends would ping me to inform he/she read some of my blogs (for the first time) and that he/she thinks I am different person when I write, especially only the serious kinds. The humorous ones are fine with them they concede. The three mood cycles therefore may shock those who know me well. To be honest I was also shocked a bit. But I think it’s a good discovery, it’s interesting to know there are so many things I don’t know myself about!

#One such meta cycle fitting neatly with the hypothesis has been observed in the wake up moods for the last couple of years with the second cycle starting some time in January last year. The mildly sad mood has continued for more than a year now and it seems to be making way for the busy mood, hope this state continues for a long time – in the previous cycle it lasted for only 4 months or so.

*For those who are puzzled – a body is in a state of inertia if it’s resting or moving at a constant speed