It's ok to go through phases: Moon

People get interested in things and tend to latch onto it until they get bored or something new comes along. It happens on a personal level with musical taste, relationships, people you hang out with, words, work, food taste and more. It also happens on a society level as well with fashion, music genre's tends to change every 10yrs (70's rock, 80's disco, 90's hip hop) or how certain actors tend to become the “it” star. Happens with technology as well. We went from Sony Walkman's to smartphones in the span of 40yrs!!!

They've even come up with a word for when it occurs for a small period of time “trendy”. Humans enjoy learning and trying new things. It's a prerequisite to finding out what you like and enjoy. Some people call it discovering yourself. It helped our ancestors find out what worked and what didn't. Such as making spears, clothes, and finding out what foods were safe to eat. I must have personally gone through 30 different phases and I'm still relatively young @65.

Waxing and waning usually describe the moon, but phases aren’t restricted to the lunar calendar. Everybody seems to go through phases in moods and we typically call them mood swings. While mood swings are classic to Bipolar Disorder, Borderline Personality disorder and Depression, these swings can be non pathological too. Tiny mood swings are a regular part of most people’s lives – to be happy, and then at another time, feel sad. But these swings need not be restricted between happiness and sadness. One could phase between a multitude of emotions – joy, sadness, anger, contemplation, frustration, boisterousness and more. Sometimes on a given day, we can be happy in the morning and upset or sad or frustrated in the evening. Sometimes we could be upbeat for a few weeks and feel low like in the dumps for the next few days.

Circadian rhythm (SCN) and mood variations: Our body and behavior are known to have normal diurnal fluctuations. These are explainable biologically. The Supra Chiasmatic Nucleus (SCN) located in the hypothalamus of our brain orchestrates this rhythm. The SCN has self-sustaining oscillators (comparable to a pacemaker of the heart) and receives photic (light) and non-photic cues, which tune the SCN to the external environment. The photic (light) cues explains mood changes through the day.

The SCN drives and synchronizes circadian rhythms in the rest of the brain and other distant parts of the body. Genetic or environmental perturbations of SCN rhythms could disrupt brain regions more closely related to mood regulation and cause more visible mood swings. Factors that impact the SCN and hence abnormal mood swings. Neurochemicals & synapse (nerve connection point) signals to the SCN. Hormones (in women at menarche, menstruation, and menopause). External influencers (steroids taken for bodybuilding or roid rage) Cognitive styles (the way people think and appraise their life situations). Traumatic events (stressors) influence neural chemistry hence the SCN. All of these events are seen in Bipolar, Depression and BPD and hence the common swings in mood.

Everything changes, nothing stays the same. The high and lows alternate,it’s always one and off. You are also going on an off. Feeling good, bad. Young, old. Enough, or not enough. Understood, misunderstood. And the list goes one and one. And even when you live,you eventually stop living. Ying and yang. This is called the vibration of all their is. The mood phases, which are subjective states that slowly change over time, often for no obvious reason. A short-term change in subjective state is called an emotion, a longer-term change is called a mood. Positive moods include optimism, contentment, warmth, cheerfulness, serenity and high spirits. Negative mood states include pessimism, anxiety, aloofness, irritability, gloom and low spirits.

Our subjective states are normally changing all the time because life is changing all the time, though for some the changes are more varied and intense than for others. We can usually pinpoint the specific stimulus or event that makes us feel an emotion (shocked, delighted, disgusted, or whatever), but we cannot so easily pinpoint any specific cause of a shift in mood. This is because a mood is like a summation of all our current experiences, attitudes, expectations, and physical status, blended together.

We might experience a positive mood when life is generally going smoothly, we are sleeping well, the weather is good, we are eating well, and there are things to look forward to. In contrast we might experience a negative mood when current life is stressful, there are more problems on the horizon, we are not sleeping well, we are not eating well, and the weather is bad. A mood swing is an extreme or rapid change in mood. When mood swings are so strong that they are disruptive, they may be the main part of a bipolar disorder. Depression and chronic anxiety are considered mood disorders. Cheers!