Hello there Mrs. Smart. You have brought me some good questions here! :D
So, let's begin by defining : personality and mood.
Personality is related to the individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. So, when one looks back at one's life, what has been the kind of thinking you have engaged with? Rumination, worries, superficial reflections and so on, which, in turn is reflected in how one characteristically feels, and consequently behaves. "he is a rumminator, he mostly feels blue and, hence, prefers to be by himself".
Mood this is a temporary state of mind. Often prompted by external factors, which can be perceived either as positive or negative.
how much does the mood influence my personality and am I always having a mood?
How much will depend on the stimuli and the personality type. For instance, someone who is a high-scorer in neuoroticism is more likely to respond to positive stimuli with less excitement than, let's say, a high-scorer in extroversion. In the same way a negative situation may push the neurotic individual to the edges of a depressive state while the same event might be forgotten by the extrovert in a matter of hours.
Emotionally stable individuals enjoy stable mood most of the time (neither excitement, nor the blues). So, in principle, no. One is not 'always having a mood'. Unless, of course, we step into the realm of affect disorders. So, being 'mood-free', as you put it, would be that state where one's emotions are not being aroused or suppressed.
We are all fine here :D Thank you very much for asking. Even though it is already autumn it still feels very warm in Portugal :)
Hello Professor Dantes :)) 👜
and you answer me so well that I am building probably some new neurological paths in my overly busy brain and invite you to join me to stroll with me along. (While probably I should instead go outside and build some new running tracks in the park). 😜
I follow your answer on this for the most part. I also find there is space for some further curiosity.
As I see it, those two things - personality and mood - cannot really be separated from each other. There is influence taking place - mood and personality feed each other, so to speak. For a better understanding that's what we do (separating the terms) but in the end we tend to bring them together, as you actually did, too. I agree that my personality indeed determines my mood - but then still I have a mood which will influence my results in a test.
When does it take place that a state of that quality - a neutral one - happens? Is it the case when I do things automatically, all these little handlings and actions I am doing on autopilot? But does that not leave room for thinking? And when I think is that in itself not already causing some kind of arousal with potential from very low to very high? Aren't we always busying our minds with some things? To feel neutral we therefore should stop busing the mind - or to use a better term: to gain a calm state of existence.
Here I would like to differ - it's almost crazy how much I am surprised by this polarity! I wouldn't have thought in the context of my question that a state where one's emotions are not being aroused or suppressed, could be seen as pathological. But of course, that is what also can happen. It is just the other side of the pole (or however one may define it)!
The state of existence I am thinking of is that of meditation - like being an "expert" in it. Isn't that great that you can now use the same sentence and call a masterfully reached level of meditative state of mind the same?: a state where one's emotions are not being aroused or suppressed.
🙃