of the editorial page staff
published by the StarTribune
February 28, 1959
IT SEEMS ODD that the human animal is so torn, twisted and intoxicated by moods. There are days when all problems seem trifling and days when they seem insurmountable, days when life is an exhilarating experience and days when you hate to get out of bed to face its stern obligations.
Why is it that your spirits soar like the eagle on Wednesday and lie wilted and prostrate on Friday? Being a creature of sharp ups and downs, I have given years of thought to the question, probing assiduously for reasons. I have charted my moods on the calendar, seeking a cyclical pattern. I have tried high protein and low starch meals and even eaten rutabagas, hoping to find a happiness diet. All has been for naught.
I HAVE consulted a preacher, a doctor of medicine and a psychologist, asking them what caused these contrasting moods and how, for Pete sake, I could retain an uncurdled outlook for more than a day at a time.
All gave some credence to the proposition that moods come in cycles. Often for as long as a week, barring untoward events, you may operate on a smooth, unemotional plateau similar to that enjoyed by a Guernsey. Then, for no reason you can fathom, you are in the clouds, even though beset by athlete's foot and threatened with eviction. Suddenly you are a gay and back-slapping extrovert.
There follows gloom and despair and depression, conviction that life makes no sense, that your being here is a tragic mistake and that the proper course is to surrender yourself to science and be launched into orbit.
THE DOCTOR, however, was less swayed by the cyclical theory than by physical influences and events. Your health and what happens to you, he said, largely determine your moods, sometimes without your awareness.
"Nobody can be cheerful with a bellyache,"he elaborated. "Neither can optimism survive a salary cut or a dead battery. On the other hand, gloom can be chased by as small a thing as a woman's smile or by your neighbor returning the snow shovel."
The preacher said that more gloom was manifest in the world today than ever before, even though we were neck-deep in material possessions. Such possessions, he declared, were a major contributing factor, breeding not only greed, but envy, installment debt and a keep-up-with-the-Joneses psychosis.
"Too many people nowadays," he continued,"have the notion that life owes them a perpetual thrill. This is patent nonsense. Since life is as much heartache and disappointment as thrill, they are repeatedly disenchanted. And, lacking stability and a right sense of values, their only way to combat the blues is to buy something--a new hat or coat or car or house. Theirs is an endless and unrewarding quest. If it weren't, the only happy people would be the rich ones."
THE PSYCHOLOGIST was little impressed with my question. I thought for a minute he would pat me on the head and tell me to go back to my building blocks. He gave me a lofty yet benign smile and dredged momentarily for words he deemed sufficiently simple.
"Since everyone is reasonably human," he said, "everyone has moods. Many moods perhaps defy rational explanation. Their sources may be glandular, digestive, emotional or economic. There also is an association factor. If thrown with people you enjoy, the chances are you'll be happy. Conversely, of course, you sometimes must endure promoters, politicians and bores. Then distress is your portion. But if you have more low moods than high ones you might as well blame your ancestors as anyone."
DOCTOR, PREACHER AND PSYCHOLOGIST agreed that the best way to dispel a low mood was not to fight it but to forget it, not to grope for reasons or condemn yourself as a Sad Sack but to dismiss your woe and throw yourself into your job.
I wasn't at all satisfied. The formula would never do for me. I find nothing more depressing than
work.
Copyright 2014 StarTribune. Republished here with the permission of the StarTribune. No further republication or redistribution is permitted without the express approval of the StarTribune.
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