Moods change by the hour. Values don’t. Learn which one is making your decisions.
STILLNESS
WHAT THIS MEANS
A mood is weather and a value is a map, and trouble starts when the weather does the navigating. Decisions made inside a bad hour are usually about ending the hour, not about what you want from the year. The test is whether you would choose the same thing tomorrow morning, since moods will not survive that question and values will. Neither is bad, they simply have different jobs.
Before anything that matters this week, ask whether you are choosing or reacting. If you cannot tell, wait a night, because almost nothing real gets worse for the delay. Keep a short list of what you care about somewhere visible.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Was your last decision made by a value or a mood?
MORE IN SOLITUDE & SELF-KNOWLEDGE
- The kid eating alone might be fine. The kid eating alone might not be. Asking once costs you nothing.
- When the power goes out and the phone dies, notice what you reach for first. A book, a person, a flashlight, a nap.
- The story you tell about yourself at parties might be five years out of date. Update it.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.