So, I posted the other day about my issues with depression. It's about 9 months since I first began to emerge from my longest and darkest bout. I'm still working my way back up.
For sure, stress is not helping. We can only work online here because we don't have work permits, and it's slow going sometimes. We've had serious financial challenges. As the one who keeps track of everything, that stress pushes me back into the abyss.
Pixabay
Here's the thing, though. I've studied law of attraction for 14 years. I know what I'm doing to myself with the stinkin thinkin. I know that my thoughts are freaking counter productive to both joy and abundance. So I'm taking charge and getting back to what I know to work.
Yes. I know my camera sucks.
One of the challenges with depression is the way it totally saps the shit out of your energy. So many days I just can't bring myself to do anything. I'm just wiped. So, this is my new strategy! When I'm feeling good, like today, I'm setting myself up to manage better when the darkness hits.
For a long time now, including through the dark depression, I have meditated and done gratitude lists. Those have kept me alive. Those are basic maintenance. If you're not in that practice, I strongly recommend it. For me, 20 minutes is plenty. I'm not into the hours of meditation. Just not my jam. My gratitude list is just that. 30ish things every morning that make my heart glad. Those two are my baseline.
So just this week, partly thanks to @arbitrarykitten and partly thanks to @shello and partly of course to me, I have begun to put some basic processes back in my life. I've become more disciplined with visualizing. I've been writing mantras. And I'm putting love notes to myself around the house. If I don't love myself, who will?!
So here's hoping these will bring some light to my heart when darkness comes. I have found a few things that help me out already. It helps me to see it and name it. It helps me to express it, though there is certainly a point of diminishing returns if I blab on for too long. It helps me to make commitments to others, especially those who understand.
So, tell me. Do you deal with depression? How do you peel back the darkness? Sometimes LOA can feel annoying in that spot, right? How the hell can I focus on positive when I'm crushed by this weight? And yet I know LOA works. I've witnessed it in my life, with fun times and challenges. Joy or frustration, we are always manifesting. That's why I'm loving this strategy. Happy me is sending sad me good juju!! Anything that helps me shift faster is super welcome. I've no interest in denying where I'm at. I just wanna see it and then shift it. Lickety split.
Dear @solarsupermama,
Depression hurts. There's no way to water that down. No matter if it's mild or severe, it just hurts. I can't give you advice, I only have mild bouts (my doctor says otherwise) but I still call them mild. Personally, I'm managing better than years before, when my physical illnesses were more pronounced. But, that's neither here nor there as far as this reply is concerned.
Be strong. Do what you're doing, remind yourself what you should be grateful for. Have the willpower to immerse yourself in what you love doing. You did travel to your tropical paradise for a reason, remember? Just get yourself started in your activity that is the reason for your existence. Promise yourself to not fiddle around and get started and do it , even if it's for half an hour. I bet next time you look up at the clock, two or three hours would have passed and along the way you might have forgotten that you are depressed, even if it's for that little while.
I dunno, maybe you've tried that. Just remember, I bet everyone gets depressed. These others are just not showing it.
Good luck,
Joe
@joe.nobel
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No doubt it's painful. I'm absolutely certain my gratitude lists have been a part of what keeps me going. Taking time for myself is definitely a growth edge for me. With two littles and a teen in a one room house, it's a challenge. I may need to make daily walks a priority. Playing with the kids is actually really helpful too. I just need to convince myself I can take that time and stop working a minute and money will still come. Thanks for stopping by and for always helpful comments. It's appreciated.
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I absolutely love this post mama, you had me at
You are setting yourself up for success by practicing this. I also find myself "over achieving" on the good days, so that the bad ones are nowhere near as bad. It's working! I love your positive reminders throughout the house because every little reminder adds up over time. We get so used to telling ourselves bad things, that the good ones don't come.
Law of attraction works well. In my experience, I've noticed that the universe is so massive that its beat drums a little slower than each of our own.
However the types of thoughts, words, and actions do come back to us and most times in ways we least expect. The universe has a great sense of humor and loves watching people become great. You are on your way up, let's go give this post a ~resteem~
Keep it up :3
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Perhaps focusing on the positive is not always the answer.
@kyriacos nailed it in his post, A New Kind of Toxic:
There might be something to the Law Of Attraction. Though, it could also have been taken out of context by the new age gurus hoping to earn a quick buck by preying on people's hopes that they can manifest anything they want with ease and grace, forgetting other aspects of reality that will render the dogma useless when not giving acknowledgement.
There is value in BOTH the positive and negative.
Perhaps sometimes the negative persists not because we aren't focusing enough on the positive or are "resisting" the negative - but because we aren't simply sitting within it to embrace its lessons and wisdom upgrades.
Perhaps as they say, "if you're going through hell, keep going" - may be the answer. The best way I've found to deal with the waves of depression as they come: just surrender to them. They pass. Better to just surf them and enjoy the ride as much as possible for what it is, rather than attempt going against the flow of that energy and drowning as trying to struggle against it.
There are always lessons within. Some take longer to process than others. And I suppose, part of the biggest lesson may be those elements of self-love and compassion for being human and being vulnerable to those darker periods. Easier said than done, sure. But...
Then again, this is all just one perspective. I can't offer it as one-size-fits-all advice, as everyone's battles are different and have different needs at different points...
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So, I think for me the key is to see the message and focus on the positive. Often, with depression, it comes regardless of circumstances. I know the stress exacerbates it, but sometimes it's just a crazy chemical shitstorm in my brain. So, I need to ride it, and of course I want to see the message or gift, but I also don't want to sit in it. Seeing the good is one of the things that helps me shift out, and that's important because if I let it go unmanaged, I could end up in a place of wanting to die again. I definitely want to avoid that. So, I don't want to stuff it, but I don't want to wallow. I sometimes tell people that it's "yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death," not, "yea, though I walk into the valley of the shadow and build a house there."
I certainly think people have abused the message of loa for their own gain, but I see it so clearly in my own life. When I focus on shit, I get shit, and when I focus on good, I get good. For sure situations vary around the world, but I've found in so much of my travels that people with less are often happy anyway because they choose it. So many in the west sit in luxury and are miserable as shit. I don't want to glorify poverty because I'm here to say it sucks, but happiness is the ultimate goal. Of course none of this pontificating solves any of the issues, but I'm certainly hoping my strategy of surrounding myself with positive juju allows me to walk through the darkness a little quicker and easier.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I always appreciate your thoughtfulness and your writing skills.
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