The basic objective of this article is to alert
readers to the work of Rexford B. Hersey, one of the most original
scientists of the last century. Seventy years ago this former
Rhodes Scholar and Wharton professor reported seminal research
on the male psyche that can impact society in revolutionary ways.
Hersey's main contribution to psychological science was his discovery
of a monthly emotional cycle in men as well as women. Every adult
male, according to Hersey, experiences an emotional cycle lasting
about a month. Of the hundreds of men Hersey studied, no matter
how masculine their self-perception, they still rose up and down
to the tune of their monthly emotional cycle.
In reviewing Rexford B. Hersey's distinctive
paradigm, let us begin by examining his life, his prime discovery,
and his impact on popular psychological. Then we look ahead to
consider the applications and implications men having a monthly
emotional cycle. The primary importance of Hersey's research today
is that it establishes a new level of appreciation for the equality
between women and men in leadership roles.
WHO WAS REXFORD B. HERSEY?
Born in Guyandotte, West Virginia in 1895, Rexford
B. Hersey attended local schools and the University of West Virginia
majoring in liberal arts. He performed in the local choir, played
and coached college baseball and was a member of the board of
his college newspaper. When receiving the B.A. degree in 1916,
he qualified for a Rhodes scholarship. In 1918-1919 he served
as a Battery Commander, United States Army, and then attended
Oxford University receiving a second B.A. in 1921 and an M.A.
in 1922. His discovery of the monthly cycle in men was to occur
while a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton
School of Business, an appointment he had received in 1926. He
would receive a Ph.D. from Berlin University in 1930.
On faculty at the Wharton School as Professor
of Industry between 1927 and 1928, Hersey examined the lives of
shop foremen and mechanics working in the Pennsylvania Railroad
repair shop. He received a grant from the railroad management
to discover what was required for employees to work more efficiently
and more productively. The Taylor Process named after Frederick
J. Taylor, which was quite popular at the time, perceived workers
as output systems who could be trained to become increasingly
more efficient and proficient on the job.
Hersey for about a year studied in depth the
shop foremen and mechanics in the repair shop. He selected seventeen
of them, later to be supplemented by an additional twelve subjects
in the experiment, including some students and professors contributing
their observations. The men on the shop floor were questioned
two to four times a day about their emotional status, answering
queries of the following kind:
- Have you quarreled recently with spouse, children,
workers or boss?
- Are you currently feeling happy, sad, contented, or angry?
- What do you think of your sense of humor today?
- Did you need an extra cup of coffee to get stimulated?
- How satisfying are your relations with your wife?
- Any problems experienced in digesting your food?
- Do you sleep well at night, or do you toss and turn?
Hersey visited the workers at home and queried
them during nights and weekends. He chatted with wives about their
husband's moods, eventually arriving at a thirteen point scale,
Cheerful and joking
Peevish and irritable
Angry and disgusted
When Hersey reported his findings on the 29
male subjects between the ages of 19 and 58, he noticed a variation
in moods during the month. The men's emotional cycles generally
shifted between a positive of +3, cheerful and joking, to a negative
of -2, peevish and irritable. Their cycle length averaged between
33 to 35 days; four of 10 men experienced cycles the might be
appreciably longer and shorter than the group average. The extremes
for the cycle length were from the longest, 63 days, to the shortest,
Hersey noted the uniqueness of the cycle in
different men. Of the cycle lengths reported, each appeared to
be unique in cycle length and amplitude. Only four men shared
a cycle frequency with any other man. In the group, only one man
experienced an emotional cycle lasting precisely 28 days. This
tended to disprove a belief of some psychologists that men tended
to experience an emotional cycle lasting exactly 28 days.
What elevated Hersey's research above the ordinary
psychological study was his claim that it mattered hardly at all
whether a man was youth or elder, worker or supervisor, extravert
or introvert like himself, the results were the same. Hersey observed
in each of the men, 29 of 29 men, evidence for the monthly emotional
cycle. This finding of data from all of the men confirming a previously
unsuspected phenomenon was discovered in all test subjects is
rare in experimental science, especially human psychology. Hersey
was to spend the next three decades gathering evidence for the
predictability of cyclic emotional nature.
What might be the source of cyclic human nature?
Hersey believed that the work of John Fulton was relevant. Fulton
believed that energy shifts from the sun, barometric pressure
alterations from the moon, magnetic field changes, and gravitational
pull might influence the human genes. Interestingly, Hersey seemed
to have discovered a credible middle ground between traditional
psychology that downplayed the emotional cycles in men, and astrology
that believed that man's nature was embedded in the cycles of
ALBERT WIGGAM, HERSEY'S BIOGRAPHER,
REPORTS ON HIS CYCLING MOODS
In a popular 1948 book, New Techniques of
Happiness, Albert Wiggam affirmed how any man knowing the
regular 'ups' and 'downs' of his emotional cycle could greatly
improve the quality of his life. Seated at his desk, a monthly
calendar before him, or observing a wall calendar marked with
pen notations, Wiggam was alerted to the days of the month when
likely he would be cheerful and joking and the days when more
likely to be peevish and irritable. He was to report in the book
and earlier, 1932, article for the popular magazine, Cosmopolitan,
that his monthly emotional cycle lasted precisely five weeks and
Perceiving that his cycle lasted 36 days enabled
him better to look ahead and predict days when his moods would
be up and his moods would be down. Wiggam knew that exactly 18
days separated his up and down moods. His cycle across many months
remained regular sufficiently that he could predict the time of
his forthcoming mood swing to within three or four hours. Possessing
this knowledge enabled him to realize how regardless of environmental
events, his feelings could more easily be traced to what Wiggam
called "position on the emotional cycle."
For example, Wiggam could imagine a lucky man
winning the lottery. During the high times of the month the winner
was sure to call family and friends informing them with enthusiasm,
"Imagine, I won $200,000!" By way of contrast, let the
fortunate event occur say 18 days later, after a brief statement
of how happy he was, swarms of thoughts would rise to mind on
how he would lose his privacy, taxes had to be paid to the IRS,
strangers would appeal to him for money, and, the worst thought
of all, his child might be kidnapped and held for ransom.
Knowing how moods cycled helped Wiggam understand
the probable responses of men he met. He could listen astutely
to their words, and listen for their anger or anxiety. When angry
the visitor was likely to lash our when provided with any provocation.
Wiggam knew better than to provoke the visitor. He simply noted
the time and day, knowing that he could call the visitor in two
weeks, suspecting that he would be all smiles, asking Wiggam about
the wife and children, and could he take Wiggam out for lunch.
Sensual and sexual thoughts followed a monthly
cycle. Wiggam was able to predict the days and nights when he
was most likely to have sexual thoughts and seek intimacy with
his wife. He observed during the high points of his cycle, his
sexual thoughts were keen and acute. Similarly, during the low
points, he thought about sharing intimacy with his wife, likely
to sooth his personal insecurities and to reassure him that she
still had positive feelings for him.
By querying his unmarried friends, Wiggam noted that during the
high points of their emotional cycles, they were likely to call
up their lady friends telling them that they would soon be visiting
them. When the unmarried friends experienced the low points of
their emotional cycles, they were more likely to visit the local
bar, smoke and drink, and degrade women, saying, "To hell
with them." That hot blonde in the shipping room who had
looked so good last week now seemed to be "more trouble than
she is worth."
As for the women, Wiggam claimed that they better
understood monthly cycles and the regular alteration of moods,
feeling good and feeling bad during the weeks of the month. Wiggam
knew that hot blonde in shipping would every two weeks experience
her regular mood shift. Yet Wiggam following Hersey believed that
during their reproductive years women experienced two overlapping
cycles, one being related to reproductive hormones, and a second,
brain, cycle of the emotions. When the two cycles combined in
their negative phases, the women complained about feeling bad.
Yet when the reproductive cycle and the brain cycle were up and
down respectively, the two cycles tended to cancel out. The result
was women slipping through the usual low phases of their monthly
cycle without complaint.
Regarding adolescents: Wiggam wrote, "Parents
should understand that the emotional cycle is much shorter in
young people than adults." He believed that an adolescent
emotional cycle "runs only approximately fourteen to sixteen
days." This meant that twice as frequently as older brothers
and sisters, the adolescents might feel "sky high" and
"down in the dumps." Wiggam noticed how in teenagers
a prevailing low mood combined with rejection in love, poor grades
or arguments with parents could trigger suicidal thoughts. He
believed that the role of parents might be to remind children
how on the day they felt worst, their emotional cycle was already
on the upswing, and they were soon to feel on top of the world
By now it should be clear how Wiggam solved
recurring family problems. He would educate Dad and Mom and Junior
and Sis to chart their moods, then around the breakfast table
to discuss how they felt. The most likely explanation why they
argued on a given morning could be attributed to two or more of
them out of phase. This tendency for arguments to begin based
mood cycles out of phase tended to shift blame from events occurring
in anyone's life to conflicting phases of monthly emotional cycles.
REPORTS IN POPULAR MAGAZINES
ON THE HERSEY PARADIGM: 1935 TO 1954
The idea that families should discuss their
moods around the breakfast table can be attributed to Wiggam in
his popular book, New Techniques for Happiness, as well
as the article for Cosmopolitan magazine. There were large numbers
of men charting their moods between the years 1935 through 1954
writing for publications like Reader's Digest, Redbook and
Science Digest, bringing their message of charting moods to
families around the national breakfast tables.
Reader's Digest on "The
Secrets of Your Ups and Downs"
Hersey's 1931 scientific paper was titled, "Emotional
Cycles in Man," and his 1932 book, Workers Emotions in Shop
and Home. One of the people fascinated by the "Hersey Cycles"
was psychologist Donald A. Laird. Director of the Psychology Laboratory
at Colgate University, his April 1935 article in Review of
Reviews appeared in the August 1935 edition of Reader's
Digest. In simple language, he declared in favor of men charting
their moods. Having discovered his own emotional cycle, Laird
was eager to share his findings with the world.
Laird advised men never to undertake major enterprises,
establish important business contacts or make earth-shattering
decisions when they were in any other emotional phase then the
positive ones. Couples confronted by financial, sexual, and relational
problems were advised to consider postponing vital decisions until
they were in positive moods. Feeling good, they would be in a
better, more efficient and confident frame of mind the take decisive
action to solve their various problems. They could become aware
of the "regular ebb and flow" of their energies. On
a given day, either the man or the woman or both could wake up
feeling down in the mouth, or up in the clouds. In particular,
the man of the house should be encouraged to chart his mood cycle.
He would, according to Laird, learn how to predict "what
his mood may be at a given future time, much as the weather man
predicts the weather." The message was that high and low
points in married life could be predicted days in advance.
Laird charted a personal energy cycle lasting
about six weeks, 42 days, meaning 21 days passed between his positive
and negative peaks. He advised men to follow his example and to
make life easier for their families by learning a great deal more
about themselves by charting their moods. In conclusion he wrote:
"Anyone can determine his own cycle." This was a credible
route for improving the family's future.
Redbook on "Do
You Know Your Emotional Cycle"
Myron M. Stearns for Redbook in 1945
asked, "Do You Know Your Emotional Cycle?" He, like
Laird and Wiggam confessed to having a personal emotional cycle.
His likely lasted four weeks and five days -- 33 days. He was
able to interview Rexford B. Hersey, asking the psychologist how
he managed to cope with his down periods. Hersey replied how during
low periods he felt more critical of others, and often complained
about their shortcomings. For this reason he sought to keep pretty
much to himself, avoiding people when he could, often spending
time in the library where he could read in peace.
When feeling positive, Hersey was more eager
to meet with clients, give lectures and be interviewed by the
media. When he felt high-spirited he seemed to radiate more enthusiasm.
During these positive times of the month, Hersey was more active,
attempting to interest others in the scope and ramifications of
his work, and its potential impact on the world.
Sterns spoke of three steps to personal happiness.
First, a man must take no precipitous action when feeling down.
Second, a man must chart moods to become aware of his monthly
cycle. Third, to expect that down moods will recur, then to plan
his life accordingly. The secret of happiness could be learned
after charting moods, knowing when negative moods will recur,
and refusing to make important decisions on days when feeling
down. By following these three easy steps could greatly increase
a man's chances of achieving the greatest personal success.
Science Digest and "Chart
Your Emotional Cycle"
Hersey himself in 1954 wrote "Chart Your
Emotional Cycle" appearing in Science Digest, inviting readers
to chart their moods. He advised readers to expect times of the
month when they felt more cheerful and other times when they felt
more depressed. He instructed them to learn their cycle to anticipate
days when they might feel high or low -- and to take advantage
of this information to predict the days when they were most likely
to succeed and when they were most likely to fail.
Hersey reported on hundreds of people studied
during 26 years, mostly male, who knowing the rhythmic variations
in their feelings could better cope with the vicissitudes of life.
They would be well advised to clear their desks of routine work
during emotional lows, then during their highs when brimming with
confidence they are advised to get out into the world to meet
with others. Each man stated Hersey would be wise to study his
moods for a minimum of four months to discover their personal
variation in moods, becoming aware of their unique cycle and its
intensity and frequency.
Hersey warned readers who felt they were too
temperamental to avoid seeking the magic pill that was supposed
to abolish the personal lows, maximize the highs, and enabling
them to feel good all of the time. He advised men to be wary of
altering their brains chemically before the biologists discovered
the cause for the cyclic undulations. Until that day in the future,
citizens were advised to understand their cyclic human nature,
and to chart their moods. (His cycle lasted 34 days). When to
start? Hersey answered: "Start Tomorrow. Keep a tally of
your feelings twice a day." in addition, the men were to
note particular outside influences or physical factors that could
influence their moods.
REDISCOVERING THE MONTHLY
CYCLIC MALE NATURE
Hersey, Wiggam, Laird and Stearns confessed
to emotional cycles lasting 34, 36, 42 and 33 days. These men
wrote between the 1930s and 1950s and in popular magazines like
Science Digest, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Reader's Digest and
Redbook. Between 1954 when Hersey wrote the Science Digest
article, and the 1970s, biologists attempted to confirm Hersey's
report of the monthly emotional cycle in all men. The most extensive
research reports are the studies in the United States and Canada
by Halberg and by Eastwood and Whitten. They reported conservatively
that some variation in the monthly emotional cycle could be observed
in about eight of 10 of adult males.
There the matter rested until in 1971 when a
remarkable book appeared on the subject of cyclic human nature
in man. Body Time by Gay Gaer Luce established the benchmark
for thinking about monthly emotions in men. Scarcely a chapter
of the volume fails to provide insights on the cyclic nature of
men. Luce projected that a time was coming when healthy men would
discover that "an astounding number of them" when charting
their moods and dreams would discover "regular undulations"
in vitality, optimism, work output, pessimism, and robust well-being.
Then would these pioneers be catapulted to a whole new world of
understanding of their evolved human nature.
Luce affirmed that most men were fully aware
of their shifting moods, but few of them realized that their moods
recurred at predicable times. There were the men, especially those
artistic and creative who might argue with friends every 24 days
without perceiving their recurring ride up and down on their monthly
cycle. Luce suspected that a great deal of "domestic turbulence"
could be prevented when men and women kept journals of the moods
and their dreams, then being able to predict the probable outcomes
of interactions between them on particular days of the month.
Luce looked ahead to the future when men had eagerness to discover
within themselves the timetable for their emotions.
Talk Show Hosts: Observing Their Recurrent
The present author is one of these men who beginning
in 1977 determined to chart moods and dreams, following Luce's
recommendations. He noted after three or four months he was able
to tell quite accurately that his mood cycle then was approximately
30 days. This caused him to perceive a new window opening into
his inner self. He wondered about how more people might heed Hersey,
Wiggam, Laid, Stearns and Luce. They might schedule their interviews
and business trips while feeling high, then schedule desk work
when they were feeling low. The key to personal understanding,
however, was to watch for the recurring moods in the men he knew.
There was no better place to start than to listen and watch carefully
radio and television talk show hosts.
The first of the talk show hosts on radio to
be charted longitudinally for weeks and months, as Luce suggested,
was a host who offered masterly advice on his national show late
at night. As suspected, during a typical month he rode up and
down on the emotional cycle. For two weeks a month, he appeared
to be cheerful and joking about the positive things happening
in his life. Then, for the next two week, he sounded peevish and
irritated. When visited in his office near Los Angeles, he seemed
not to realize that his moods predictably cycled. He claimed instead
how by means of an ancient Hebrew meditation he had conquered
his emotions. Yet his audio tapes over months, broken down into
blocs of seven days, clearly revealed his emotional cycle persisting
and lasting precisely 28 days.
Consider second, the political commentator appearing
daily on radio, being highly opinionated while representing the
political far-right. It soon became clear to the astute observer
that beneath the surface, he showed mood undulations lasting about
a month, or more precisely 34 days. He would complain that he
wasn't feeling quite right. "Probably something I ate,"
he would say, or he blamed his wife, or a newspaper columnist,
usually a Democrat, who made him feel bad. Blaming others for
his moods seemed habitual. Since his mood swings were noticeable,
he qualified as a candidate to use mood-regulating drugs.
The third talk show host, on late-night television,
admitted that he was no stranger to mood swings. He told an interviewer
from Parade magazine that he sometimes felt disoriented when interviewing
a guest. He confessed to the interviewer -- quite evident to astute
watchers and listeners -- that he experienced mood swings, "Big
ones." He related how one of his ways for dealing with down
moods was to sit in empty room before the show, the lights turned
off, and to relax before the show aired. This was hardly sufficient
because his mood swings were notorious, and friends reported in
confidence that he was prone to self-medicate using stimulant
Entertainers Admit to
Having Bad Days
Entertainers like the folk singer who was born
in Minnesota, and who made a great deal of money descanting and
harmonizing on concert tours, experienced notable rides up and
down the mood cycle. Asked by a journalist how he felt on a particular
tour, the singer replied: "Maybe it was just that I was tired
lag or something. But it happens some nights when you just feel
like you are on a sinking boat." This corresponds well with
the observations by Nancy Andreasen, a University of Iowa physician,
professor and popular author, who has written in a series of scientific
articles and in popular books that fully half of creative males
had consulted a physician or psychiatrist at least once to find
a way to cope with their intrusive moods.
Having Streaks and Slumps
What about professional athletes? Do 80 percent
of them also ride the up and down on a mood cycle affecting their
performances? The author decided to interview athletes living
in San Diego County where he lives. The first interview was a
major League baseball player, a starting pitcher on the San Diego
Padres. Asked about how he coped with moods, he admitted that
like everyone else he had good and bad days. He noticed too how
his teammates had devised various ways to cope with their shifting
The San Diego baseball team trainer encouraged
them to exercise when they needed to elevate their moods and to
take the nutrient amino acid tyrosine. This advice the baseball
pitcher followed, according to his revelations. Yet he too was
tempted to take stimulant drugs to self-medicate. When he died
mysteriously one night in his home, the police reported that it
was likely an overdose of a stimulant drug like cocaine or methamphetamine.
Had the baseball pitcher read Body Time and
had he and his wife kept a checklist of his daily moods and energy
like Luce suggested, making notebook entries two to four times
a day marking down how he felt, his life might have been saved.
He likely would have noted like Hersey did that players experience
streaks and slumps during particular times during their cycle.
A shift of just ten percent a month might be the difference between
an effective 92 mile an hour fast ball, and one that more leisurely
floats up the plate, the ball being struck by the batter and being
driven out of the stadium.
Football. The local professional football team,
the San Diego Chargers at times has had two quarterbacks of approximately
equal skills. The coach might wonder which of them he should play
on a given Sunday. The author befriended a former Charger professional
football coach. Conversation evolved gently to "Hersey Cycles"
of the two quarterbacks. Chart their moods, and then select the
one whose mood cycle was most positive. This effort could both
improve team play, and it could reduce the risk of personal injury.
The recommendation was not implemented although the critical documents
were placed on the team trainer's desk.
Tennis. There was a moody tennis player with
an Irish name. He was interviewed by a newspaper reporter on his
poor performance during a recent tournament. To which he replied,
"I just couldn't think
just couldn't do anything."
This honest confession by a moody tennis star suggested that fans
paying to see him play on days at his emotional low point were
paying to watch him play at about 90 percent of his optimal tennis
self. Certainly the public would be better served should the famous
tennis player limit his professional appearances to the weeks
when he felt most positive.
Going further, beyond tennis and football and
baseball, other professional athletes might benefit from charting
their moods. Which are the days when relay runners are most likely
to drop the batons? What about the downhill skiers and ice skaters?
Hersey knew that boxers could place their lives in jeopardy when
fighting at the lowest phase of their monthly cycle. Consider
too race drivers their reflexes slowed during the down phase of
their emotions at risk for smashing their cars against the wall
or against the car of a competing driver, possibly resulting in
paralysis or death. With such enormous purses paid to winners,
a race driver cutting back on tour appearances could still earn
a fantastic income. The upshot is that even a 10 percent difference
between up and down days could have a large impact on sports performances.
Hersey asked why airlines do not require their
pilots to chart their emotional highs and lows. Hersey believed
that for moody pilots it was "absolutely suicidal" to
permit an airline pilot to leave the ground because at such times
his was unable to control his physical condition. All major airlines,
according to Hersey, should be equipped to provide the necessary
tests, especially to pilots flying long distances across the county
and over foreign territories.
Beyond Airplane Pilots,
Athletes, Entertainers and Talk Show Hosts
Who else on earth needs to chart their rhythms?
This list must include submarine crews and researchers living
in Antarctic huts. Packed close together sharing their space and
air, the submarine crew members might consider charting their
monthly cycles. The Antarctic researchers, captives in their huts
for a large portion of the year, they, like the submariners, would
be wise to chart and compare their mood cycles.
If the submariners and Antarctic researchers
are prisoners to their environments, think about real prisoners.
Those incarcerated have monthly mood cycles, and days of the month
when they are more likely to be violent. Knowing in advance these
potentially violent days would be useful information for prison
guards who also might chart their potentially violent days. Prisons
suggest the success and failure of prosecuting attorneys and defense
They too could benefit by charting emotional
cycles in themselves and witnesses, jury members and the judge.
Attorneys also run for public office, meaning that they too confront
the media during all phases of their monthly cycle. They could
benefit from knowing the days when they are likely to feel they
are standing on the deck of a sinking ship.
Men working the large cranes during skyscraper
construction and their counterparts designing complex software
while working in an office could also benefit from charting moods.
Should there be history buffs among you reading these words, consider
how astonishingly moody were national leaders during World War
II when 55 million people died. Critical wartime decisions were
made by the likes of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill,
Charles DeGaulle, Josef Stalin and their close advisors. How different
might world history between 1940 and 1945 had each of these moody
leaders been informed of the precise phase of their mood cycles
-- the better to defeat their moodiest of adversaries, Adolf Hitler,
whose mood cycle could also be charted. Imagine how different
world history might have been had aides charted and analyzed the
mood swings of wartime leaders paying special attention to the
arrival of the positive peaks and negative troughs of their cycling
HERSEY'S MONTHLY EMOTIONAL CYCLE
AS A NEW PARADIGM FOR THE 2010s
By now, the basic argument should be clear.
After 30 years of charting monthly emotional cycles, the author
believes that a better world and a new consciousness lies ahead
when leaders and the public alike follow the advice of Rexford
B. Hersey, Albert Wiggam, Donald Laird, Gay Gaer Luce and the
many scientists and intellectuals who advocated the study of inner
rhythmicity as the vital factor for gaining self knowledge. The
benefits of charting moods and discovering one's own inner drum
beat can hardly be overstated. The new paradigm of knowing any
person's unique rhythms can change the lives of as many men as
women seeking to know themselves in the most profound ways.
The self-discovery of Hersey Cycles stands in
direct opposition to the more familiar paradigm that has prevailed
at least since the 1960s. Library shelves have been filled with
books declaring how emotional rhythmicity represents the precursor
to mental illness. Young people for the past four decades have
lived in the shadow of diagnoses when normal mood shifts can be
interpreted by medical professionals as the precursor to a bipolar
disorder. The concept that every man experiences a monthly emotional
cycle remains to these children a distant thought. And how many
of their mothers automatically seek medications for their PMS?
There is now a better way and that is to take
seriously the advice of Rexford B. Hersey to delay taking drugs
before the cycles in the brain are well understood. Instead, for
four decades our technological civilization has treated emotional
rhythms as being more akin to mental disease. Rather than having
men spend months charting moods in men as they did after reading
about cycles in popular magazines, recent generations have grown
up being prescribed drugs whose biological effects remain largely
unknown. If the disease and medication paradigm is not remain
permanent, now is a superb time to review the normal paradigm,
after 40 precisely 40 years.
CONCLUSION: THERE IS NOW
A BETTER WAY TO LIVE OUR LIVES
There is now a better way for people to live
their lives than endless attempts to abolish moods with drugs.
That is to imagine that the human mind is a natural ecosystem
descended from the heavens. The cycles of the sun and moon have
been adopted by astrology as determinants for personality and
the mental life. Unlike Astrology, however, the updated Hersey
paradigm now emerging can be traced to particular sites on the
DNA. The science is called Chronomics, and it is the study of
natural rhythms that we all have.
Everyone reading these words, according to Hersey
and Luce and the author, experiences a monthly emotional cycle.
The personal cycle may be unrelated to what you have read during
the past 20 years. Yet from about 1930 to about 1955 readers of
popular publications received regular instruction on how to detect
personal emotional rhythms that were the source of personal well-being
and ill-being, sense of humor, sex, appetite, sicknesses, and
anticipations for the future.
What you must do, now, 75 years since Hersey's
astonishing discovery, and 35 years since Luce advised men to
map out their time cycles, is to begin at once to chart your moods.
Here, very slightly modified is the Hersey thirteen-point scale
for energy and emotion:
Peevish and Irritable
This simple metric for charting mood energies
kept on a desk calendar requires no medical machines or prescriptions.
What you must purchase is a notebook for capturing emotions during
the day and a dream journal for remembering dreams at night. It
is wise for you also to answer the questions presented earlier
in this article, and to add your own questions to unerringly place
yourself on the thirteen-point scale. Have no fixed expectations
that your emotional cycle is 28 or 33 or 42 days. Just be honest,
and know that you are in charge of charting your cycles and analyzing
them carefully. Identify the prevalent emotions in your dreams
as well and you are well on the way to profoundly knowing yourself.
Know too that in the not-too-distant future
it should be possible from a single self-examination, or simple
measurement or chemical analysis of a drop of blood or some other
physical indicators to determine precisely your position on the
emotional cycle. On that blessed day it will be possible for me
to know when it is that day of the month, and women to smile knowing
that both sexes monthly ride up and down on their monthly emotional