Active. It's one of Moodscope's twenty cards, defined as 'engaging or being ready to engage in physically energetic pursuits'. (I think that's pursuits as in activities, rather than pursuits as in what cops do when they hope to arrest robbers.)
Interesting, isn't it, that the psychologists who devised the original 1980s PANAS mood test from which Moodscope was developed recognised that checking to see whether or not someone is inclined to undertake some kind of physical activity is a good marker of overall mood?
It seems to makes sense. I know I feel far from energetic when I'm going through choppy seas. I feel like doing, well, very little to be honest.
When I was young, my brother and I loved building things, and often had little electric motors lying around - the kind that came with kits to assemble your own model car or aeroplane. They'd be powered by a couple of 1.5 volt batteries and the direction of their rotation could be reversed by swapping over the batteries' positive and negative connections.
But it was with no small amount of awe that we discovered that if you replaced the batteries with a small light bulb, it could be momentarily illuminated by simply spinning the motor's rotor with your fingers. If you apply power to an electric motor it rotates, but when you do the opposite and rotate a motor, it generates power: this is of course precisely how a bicycle's dynamo works - powering your front and rear lights as you pedal down the street.
It's a neat phenomenon which, I suggest, is also similar to what goes on in your mind when you rate how active you're feeling. When your mood is better, you feel active. But it's also true that getting active is a pretty sure-fire way of lifting your mood in the first place.
The sign that you're not feeling very active ought to be akin to a red warning light on your dashboard. And for many, it's an easyish one to fix through doing nothing more complicated than getting your body working a little more than it might usually.
We're not talking marathon running here, simply suggesting that it's good to walk, and fine to undertake an energetic bout of housework, garden leaf-picking or car washing.
Take care of your body. Unless you've been keeping something from me, it's the only one you've got.
ACTIVE? That's interesting to me. The definition, that is. What it makes me realise is the problem of interpretation. See, all this time doing moodscope I never thought of 'ACTIVE' in this way, specifically linking activity with only physical activity ('engaging or being ready to engage in physically energetic pursuits'). I have interpreted activity as, well, ANY sort of activity. So, if my brain feels sluggish and shut down and my general mood is lethargic and no ideas are flowing I might score this low but if I'm feeling creative and my brain is busy and engaged, even on days where I may not actually take much or even ANY physical activity I might score this high. Does it matter? Well, not if a better mood is related to, in my case, a busier brain because it will still accurately reflect my reality. But it's interesting to me about interpretation and has me wondering about what other moodscopers make of the 20 different descriptors we score ourselves on. Instruments for measuring mood are not like those for measuring temperature. This science is softer.
ReplyDeleteIt strikes me that this 'ACTIVE' as defined, really means 'PHYSICALLY ACTIVE'. I'll not view it in the same way again from now on.
I noticed you included a definition for "Active" according to the PANAS test. I have been worried that I'm not defining the cards the way they are intended, and was wondering if you could share a list of definitions for the cards?
ReplyDeleteI would love to be able to ensure a more accurate score.
Great blog, thanks Jon and good comments, very much along the lines I've been wondering recently (and put on the survey). Jon, could you please do an occasional series about the moodscope cards and the definitions? For example, I have trouble with "Proud". I was brought up to believe that Pride was a sin and I do find this one confusing. Could it be: "I feel proud about something I've done" ? Eileen
ReplyDeleteHi Bill, I interpreted it the same way as you did. "Not lethargic" no matter, if in a physical or more in a "mind related" way. If I have a total listlessness, then I turn the active-card to "very slightly or not at all". Sometimes I put it on "little", because I try to think "positive" and tell myself, I am doing the moodscope-test, so I am a little tiny bit "active". But I agree with Jon, too. Doing some body-activity, even if I have no "lust" to do it at all, makes me mostly afterwards feeling better. It seems, as if I could run away from the blackly thoughts in my "negative-active" mind.
ReplyDeleteI have always interpreted "active" as physically active which is difficult to put an accurate score on when I do Moodscope first thing and am still in my pyjamas.
ReplyDeleteAre we to judge our scores against our own previous ones or against the PANAS scale? I have found it interesting to look back and compare my scores with the same day for instance as last year. Quite often I am surprised to see that my score has been identical. So in a sense however we might personally interpret the question on the cards, it doesn't matter if we are not doing it exactly as the PANAS test expects us to. Or is this wrong? I didn't sleep well last night so my reasoning may be a bit topsy turvy.
But Jon,thank you a million times for Moodscope and the blogs. It's truly inspirational and my life has changed so much for the better since discovering it all.
I see Bill got there first. I assumed active meant going out and not sitting at home moping. Ref other people's questions as to whether we should have definitions or not, I kind of like the fact that we interpret things for our reality rather than someone else's.
ReplyDeleteI'm very aware of the need for physical activity, but the amount I can do is closely bounded because I have M.E. at a mild to moderate level. If I exercise a very little, steadily, each day, I can build up activity, but if I use any muscles more than usual, I will get more symptoms of illness, aching, fluey feelings, lethargy. And it is incredibly hard to avoid overdoing it sometimes. Just hard to balance.
ReplyDeleteI have often wondered how to answer the "strong" and "active" cards. Does "strong" mean mentally or physically, anyway? I take it as a sort of mix of both.
Moodscope has been very helpful, because I do get mood swings, though it is hard to make sense of. It does give me awareness of how I am doing emotionally. But do be aware that some of us have physical illnesses. And M.E. intermixes physical and mental symptoms.
I was interested to see the definition. I have wondered about these. "Active" and "Strong" are hard for me to evaluate because I have M.E. And does "Strong" mean physically or mentally?
ReplyDeleteI cannot ramp up my level of activity because, with M.E., if I do that, I will become more ill for a few days. I have to try very hard to maintain a steady level of activity, and very gradually increase it. Only it is pretty well impossible to do that. Endless frustration.
So spare a thought for those of us whose mental landscape is particularly tied up with less than full physical health.
It's good to discover what “active” means, I've been wondering, and interpreting it my own way because I have M.E. (mild to moderate level). I have the same problem with “strong”, and puzzle over some of the other cards.
ReplyDeleteThe M.E. makes it hard to be active because if I do more, I get ill for a few days. I have to try very hard to keep my activity level steady, which is pretty difficult and frustrating.
Moodscope has been helpful, helps me feel more in control, but can be very affected by the randomness of the illness.
Thanks for the other perspective from you all, that it's ones own interpretation that perhaps is more useful. (Typical that I take a school/institutional passive view!).
ReplyDeleteThus, lindyb, it is surely your relative strength and abilities that you rate, and nothing to do with what anyone else's Active would be. Go well.
Eileen
I have a tendency to interpret proud as being "proud of my kids" or "proud of my team" rather than "proud of myself". I'd certainly be keen on a series to explain the intended usage of the words.
ReplyDeleteI learned today that I had been misunderstanding the 'Active' card when scoring my mood. I had based 'active' to mean physically or mentally stretched/challenged, but never gave myself '3' unless I'd done both.
ReplyDeleteIt appears 'active' was intending to measure physical activity only, which will now naturally bring down my score... good!
I wondered if Jon could consider, in a future email when topics are hard to come by, sending members a list of all 20 adjectives, with a brief meaning... I think this would be so useful.
I second that... let's look deeper into the meanings & interpretation of all 20 words. I have my personal interpretations of these words, but do they necessarily correlate with the intended meanings?
Delete"proud" meant to me something negative, when I started moodscope-testing one and a half year ago. I was raised by my parents, always to be modest. Otherwise, "you will fall deep if you are boasting or haughty", they told me on and on. So I had to learn that "proud" probably has the meaning of "being thankful", grateful, appreciative for that, what I have achieved or life has given me so far. To be pleased at the point, where I am now. If I don't quarrel with my fate much, then I am "proud" in my moodscope-way.
ReplyDeleteI understood "active" all the time as Bill did ..., and I think to interpret the question in this way even in the future. If "being active" shall express my mood it has to be understood in the broader sense: non physical activities express this type of mood in the same way. Given that I work at the writing table most of the time, otherwise there would be little possibilities to be active; but of course, there are: get ahead with my work fast or not, being energetic, creative.
ReplyDelete