Good points, thank you for this article. I'd like to add one more reason to question whether we should measure mood: resilience.
As you pointed out, there is relevance to noticing our internal emotional landscape. However, sometimes when people observe a particular emotion or mental state, they become fragile because of it. They let that emotion or mental state become stronger than they are. Instead of realizing "I'm uncomfortable now but I can cope and it will pass", people get overwhelmed by that emotion.
There are so many people suffering from mental health issues now and I feel like we're stuck in a chicken-and-egg cycle: modern life creates mental health issues and mental health issues create modern life. But at some point, each person has to find their way to interrupt that cycle. I think that confidence in one's resilience is one part of that interruption. I'm not convinced that measuring one's mood helps build resilience but instead, solidifies one's sense of fragility.
Good points, thank you for this article. I'd like to add one more reason to question whether we should measure mood: resilience.
As you pointed out, there is relevance to noticing our internal emotional landscape. However, sometimes when people observe a particular emotion or mental state, they become fragile because of it. They let that emotion or mental state become stronger than they are. Instead of realizing "I'm uncomfortable now but I can cope and it will pass", people get overwhelmed by that emotion.
There are so many people suffering from mental health issues now and I feel like we're stuck in a chicken-and-egg cycle: modern life creates mental health issues and mental health issues create modern life. But at some point, each person has to find their way to interrupt that cycle. I think that confidence in one's resilience is one part of that interruption. I'm not convinced that measuring one's mood helps build resilience but instead, solidifies one's sense of fragility.