While many people have a goal of achieving happiness, the rest of us have a less lofty but equally satisfying goal: a good mood.

Being in a good mood is a reflection of how life is going. If you are not feeling any aches or pains and if your stress level is low, that will generally equate to a good mood. Conversely, when the computer is freezing up, when your cellphone drops an important call, your "trick" knee is bothering you and work deadlines are looming, it can lead to being in a bad mood.

There are several triggers that affect a person's mood. One is sleep. A good night's sleep and waking up feeling refreshed can kick off a good mood that will last throughout the day. Junk sleep, as the mattress manufacturers like to call it, makes us irritable. A good night's sleep can be interrupted by thoughts that worry us or, more concretely, dogs that want to go outside at 6 a.m., even on weekends. And for mothers, especially new moms, there is no such thing as uninterrupted sleep, as they constantly check on their little ones.

A good mood can be ruined by the common cold or other minor but irritating sicknesses. There is a feeling that you get when you know you are getting a cold - the scratchy cough, the sore throat and the sniffles. You know it's coming and there is really nothing that can be done. No amount of orange juice and cough drops can cure the inevitable misery.

Having a messy house or apartment can also be a sure fire way to get into a bad mood. This is when the sink is full of dishes, the recycling bin is overflowing, the kitchen table is littered with junk mail and there are more clean clothes in the laundry basket than the closet. Spending time getting the household back to a bit of order can not only be satisfying but can lift the bad mood.

To many people, weather is a big determining factor of a good or bad mood. For me, hot and humid means misery, so there is nothing like a cool and crisp autumn morning to elevate my mood. Certain scenarios in nature can also make us feel very peaceful, like the blooming of spring flowers, the fresh scent of the earth after the rain or how freshly fallen snow lies silently on the ground.

The dictionary definition of mood is "a temporary state of mind or feeling." Because a mood is just that - temporary - it means moods can change. While it is easy for a good mood to go bad because of outside influences, a bad mood can be turned around. Experts have made suggestions for lifting one's mood, such as listening to music, taking a walk, spending time with our furry friends or calling a human friend, especially one who tends to make you laugh.

The old adage states, "Tomorrow is another day." That means the bad mood won't last forever. Tomorrow may actually be the day that your computer doesn't freeze, when all cellphone calls go through, when you sleep well, when the house is not perfect but passable and when Mother Nature provides a picture-perfect day. And if not, there's always the day after that.