I’m in a lousy mood this morning. It’s hot. I’m sleep-deprived.

I can’t think of anything else exactly wrong. But let’s start from there.

I feel lousy. The first thing that pops into my head on these kinds of mornings is that the whole day will be lousy. But I know from experience that that isn’t necessarily the case.

I’ve woken up in a wonderful mood and had one thing after another go wrong until I wanted to scream from frustration. I’ve woken up in rotten moods just like I did today and had one thing after another go right until my crankiness was not even a memory.

That’s partly the nature of moods. They come and go.

It’s also that how I feel doesn’t make reality. Being in a lousy mood does not make an unending series of lousy things happen. On the contrary, sometimes good things happen, and…