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  "description": "The deeper in you go, the quicker you fall… but change is just one thought away 💡",
  "path": "/the-gravitational-pull-of-a-mood/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-14T06:00:34.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gilespcroft.com",
  "tags": [
    "what mood you are currently in",
    "real and true",
    "under attack",
    "mirage",
    "relationships book",
    "Do you know what mood you’re in?Because if you do, you’re winning 🙌🏻The Daily RemindersGiles P Croft"
  ],
  "textContent": "A while ago, I wrote something about the power of realising what mood you are currently in, especially when you’re interacting with someone else.\n\nBecause there’s this annoying, somewhat destructive paradox that when we’re _in_ a low mood—cross, fed up, taking things personally—it really, _really_ looks like that’s the time to be making some changes.\n\nAfter all, we can see what the problem is—it’s this situation, or this person!—so it would be negligent of us to just ignore that, wouldn’t it? We’re _obliged_ to try and change it/them, surely? In order to make things better?\n\nAnd of course, as you know from experience, lashing out, or ‘making rash decisions’ in the heat of the moment has a tendency to just make matters worse.\n\n## Why does this happen?\n\nIt’s another somewhat frustrating aspect of this being-human thing, that when we get hoodwinked by the outside-in illusion (i.e. the false belief that anything _other_ than thought-in-the-moment could make us feel a particular way), we’re quite likely to get sucked even deeper into it.\n\nIt has a gravitational pull of its own.\n\n🪐\n\nThe __further__ into the outside-in misunderstanding we go, the __easier__ it is to make it worse.\n\nWe will _never_ be able to think or reason our way out of a low mood… **_because we’re in a low mood!_**\n\nA low mood—being cross, fed up, taking things personally—is simply a signal that we’ve become innocently attached to thought. The _content_ of that thought doesn’t matter (I can recommend _**not**_ digging around, to try and figure it out, because that’s another sure fire way to make it _much_ worse!) – the mood is just telling us that this is what’s going on.\n\n  * Thought has solidified into something more true than it is…and we’ve not noticed\n  * Ego identity has become ‘real and true’… and it’s going unquestioned\n  * It _looks_ like we’re under attack and we need to defend ourselves… when it’s just a mirage.\n\n\n\nWhich is why the key is to be aware of our feeling state—you can depend on feelings!—and step away when we need to. Give all that apparent solidity a chance to dissolve again.\n\nWe’ll see the situation with much more clarity, once it has.\n\n🔑\n\n****Key Message**** : Feelings are the best, and ONLY guide you need.\n\nAs Linda & George Pransky put it in their excellent relationships book:\n\n> _“Arguments can be tricky because they can feel constructive, like you’re working through a difficult situation or solving an issue. But, when you feel your intensity rising and feel compelled to make your point, or get the last word in, this is a built-in warning system, that you need to do the opposite, stop, and take a break from the conversation.”_\n\nThe good news is that as soon as you spot this happening, you’re already on your way out of it.\n\n🚀\n\nGiles\n\nSIGN UP FOR THE DAILY REMINDERS newsletter\n\nWant to start __every__ day with helpful, insightful content like this? The Daily Reminder is a quick, lighthearted email that arrives in your inbox every morning, to help keep you grounded in reality, so that you get to __‘Think less, and live more.’__\n\n __“They feel like a moment of stillness in a world of madness.” ~__ Neil, UK\n\n __“One of those small things with big impact. Honestly, just sign up!”__ ~ Paula, UK\n\nGET YOURS NOW\n\n### Related\n\nDo you know what mood you’re in?Because if you do, you’re winning 🙌🏻The Daily RemindersGiles P Croft",
  "title": "The gravitational pull of a mood",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-14T07:17:17.479Z"
}