mood is the underlying effect you experience. it sets the framework for how you may asses a particular stimulus. for instance, if you are in a good mood and you spill a cup of coffee, you may laugh and joke about a klutz. spilling a cup of coffee when you are in a bad mood may cause you to become angry, lash out, and blame your spouse for purchasing cups with handles too small for your fingers. moods tend to be more a state of mind, and certain moods may tend to characterize your personality. some people are characterized as generally sullen; others are more jovial. mood can be looked on as a more long-lasting characteristic,although moods can certainly change. mood, then, sets the stage for how you may react. more and more research suggests that a positive mood makes people more helpful and cooperative in the workplace. in also reduces aggressive behaviour.

so, your mood may certainly sffect your performance on the job. your emotional reaction often depends on your mood; therefore, your mood may predict your emotional reaction to certain events.

dwelling set the stage for a variety of unwanted behaviours. let's say i dwell on a particular injustice. over and over again, i focus on and speak about how i was wronged. it consumes my thoughts and causes my "egregious injustice voice" to speak louder and louder. now, if some minor injustice occurs, such as being skipped at the deli counter, all of a sudden ia am hijacked. do you find yourself dwelling on things that could influence behaviours that take you away from your intention? in fact, this dwelling may cause you to expand the situation beyond your concerns. another example of dwelling may occur in grief. through the mask of grief, it is difficult to see or experience joy, yet the more we dwell on the loss, the more we experience the loss. experiencing loss is a healthy and important rite of passage, and it takes time to heal, but the difference is in remebering the loss for the joy and satisfaction that we gained, not just for the sorrow that it brings. in the workplace, if we dwell on a loss of status or position or lament the way things used to be, we will be trapped into comparing everthing that occurs unflavourably to the past. we will be confined to a joyless work life.