Mood Check

“Becoming aware of mood gives you a chance to shift or generate moods rather quickly.”

[Note to readers: Mood Check is the second in a series of posts I’m writing as I study at the Strozzi Institute for Embodied Leadership. My hope is that these posts spark curiosity and encourage you to explore even more. The first one introduced somatics and the way that I am learning to understand what somatic leadership means.]

Every day, several times a day, during the workshops at the Strozzi Institute, we did a mood check. All twenty-eight of us quickly shared our mood at the start and end of the day and after any practice that might have changed our moods. While I’ve used mood checks as a facilitator before, I had never done them this consistently. I got more curious about this practice–why it was so foundational and how it could be brought into our daily lives.

In a previous course I attended, one of the Strozzi instructors shared a two-part question about mood that I use frequently in my coaching:

• What is your mood?

• What’s telling you this is your mood?

I’ve discovered that when I ask these two, related, questions of myself or my clients, we naturally notice our bodily sensations. Turns out that we name moods based on what our senses are telling us. A mood check, then, is an embodied practice. It gives as a moment to ask ourselves: “What is happening right now? And how am I making that assessment?”

So, why is that useful? First, if you are convinced, as I am, that “somatic literacy” is a good and important thing, the beginning of being able to shift, this is a way to start developing that literacy. It’s not something that we are likely to have learned growing up so we need to educate ourselves. Simply noticing and naming what is happening to us at the level of sensation and how a collection of sensations creates a mood has been powerful for me. I am observing my somatic literacy grow–the range of moods I name expands, the granular awareness of what makes up that mood is more accessible to me–I feel less awkward with the exercise.

Once you name a mood, a few things become possible. First, you have more choice. Given this mood, what actions do or don’t make sense? Is this the right time for a challenging conversation? If I don’t stop to check in with myself, I am much more likely to plow through reflexively than act consciously, reflectively. I am more likely to drift “below the line” in the language of the 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership. (For more on that concept, here’s the link to one of my favorite short videos of all time.)

As part of our practice at the Strozzi Institute, we would do a mood check and then, right away, engage in an activity that was physically vigorous for a couple of minutes. We’d then do a second mood check. The words we chose to describe our moods would, more often than not, change. Becoming aware of mood gives you a chance to shift or generate moods—and, as this exercise demonstrated—rather quickly. A quick walk, a tiny bit of physical activity, a few breaths–any of these can be enough. My personal go-to between coaching sessions practice is either to take a 3-5-minute walk with the dogs or, during this past rainy Los Angeles winter, doing one of the online Zumba routines I’ve discovered. The latter, especially the Bollywood ones, have turned into a rapid, fun way to shift my mood (and no one has to see me!)

Another benefit of a mood check is that it’s a way to expand your emotional vocabulary. When I lead this process in a group, I “forbid” the moods “good” and “tired” and insist that people dig deeper, search more. I do this for myself as well. Naming emotions is a powerful way to build one’s emotional intelligence—in Daniel Goleman’s model it falls in the quadrant of self-awareness. And, it allows for a granular, ground-level self-awareness that supports our capacity to move from awareness to self-regulation—which is the next quadrant of emotional intelligence.

Doing regular mood checks isn’t difficult—like most simple practices, the hardest part (at least for me) is remembering. An app like Mindjogger can be helpful. Program it to ask: “What’s my mood?” several times a day. After a few days, keep up the practice either with the reminder of without. If you do keep a reminder, change it up so that you don’t just ignore it when you see it. If you’re a parent, consider adding it to your conversations with your kids. Encourage creativity, make it a game—it can be a good vocabulary builder–and do it yourself as well. If you add the second question—”What’s telling you this is your mood?” you can build your somatic literacy and help your kids develop it at an earlier age as well. Two birds with one stone!

Our moods are a window into our soma—our whole self. Our capacity to show up, day after day, and face the increasingly complex challenges of leadership (and life) can grow as we learn to tap into the wisdom within us. A practice like a mood check can help us in more profound ways than we might expect of something so simple.

So, start practicing. And, as you practice, notice what happens. How does naming your mood support you? What does it give you access to? Be patient. At Strozzi we were often reminded that it takes 300 practices to begin to embody new practices and 3000 to do so fully. So, it might take time and repetition before the learning emerges.

And there’s more…

Since returning from my sessions at Strozzi I’ve started all calls (especially group ones) with a mood check. I’m discovering that it’s the fastest way to create connections between people when time is limited and the group is too big for doing longer check-ins. The other day I was meeting with a group and we did a mood check. It was our first session together. The mood check revealed that everyone was distracted, stressed and overwhelmed (and this was AFTER a centering practice!!) Turns out the following week was a major marketing event and this group was almost entirely marketing people. I hadn’t known that in advance, so the mood check gave me data that allowed me to gauge the group within a few seconds. We collectively decided to reschedule the session—it wasn’t going to serve anyone to be on this particular call in this particular moment. That decision was made and a new date found within less than five minutes. The group was appreciative–they felt heard. So—if you lead a team, the mood check is also a source of data for you and can allow you to assess where the group is in a given moment and how you, as a leader can best move forward.