Depression...such an elusive illness

I wish I could completely and fully understand the complexities of depression. Without medication, I deal with mine…and I know my depression is very mild compared to other peoples.

One of my friends, who also has chosen NOT to take meds for depression, is right now suffering terribly. For now, he has shut himself off from others, saying that his depression and mental pain are more than he wants to deal with.

It is so puzzling to me. Why does it have to be such a varied problem? Why does almost everyone suffer with depression in different ways and degrees? Why does one person that I know, who is ON depression meds…still does not feel and act right and has trouble functioning in his life? Why does another person I know, who is also ON meds…lives a fairly normal life, contributes to society and can enjoy doing the things she likes?

The human mind is so complex.

On the other hand, maybe we MUST

Continuing from my previous post:

Then, there are many, many times… and situations…when I begin to feel claustrophobic and nervous in a group setting or when the noise level starts getting high. I have realized that my sanity depends on getting OUT and away from that setting. Many times I just have to leave, or not participate at all. I figure my emotional well being is far more important than the social event. I have also realized that in really tough situations it does not do me any good to try to stay and just “get over it”, as it stresses me out even more. So, as far as I am concerned, it’s OK to leave if it starts getting out of your control.

Try harder

Do we play tug of war with ourself?

The other day I talked to a friend who also struggles with depression. Her depression is a little different and more difficult than mine; she takes depression meds, also, but I don’t.

I guess the medication helps her deal and function with the illness. She is able to accomplish most of the things that she desires, and talks herself through unpleasant and uncomfortable moments.

Though my depression mainly brings me down in the winter (I have SAD…Seasonal Affective Disorder), I still have brief sad moments throughout the rest of the year and I have a lot of trouble feeling motivated to do anything. I had made the decision many years ago that I did not want to be on meds.

When my friend said that she talks herself through uncomfortable situations, a light came on for me. I wondered if I give in too easy with the “avoid it” solution. I must try harder to talk myself through MY uncomfortable situations….and not be so quick to take the easy way out, which is to not do it at all. I know that growth comes when we can overcome a difficulty.

Amazing story

Brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched and studied her own stroke as it happened ...as her brain functions -- motion, speech, self-awareness -- shut down one by one. She has become a powerful voice for brain recovery. This is an astonishing story.

Click on either of the links below, to watch the video of her account:

http://www.ted.com:80/index.php/talks/view/id/229

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU

Take time to laugh at our self

I do all sorts of weird things now a days and I just laugh at myself, because it is better than crying. Depression, aging, and all sorts of things cause us to become too serious at times. So I love it when something makes me laugh (besides “House, MD”)

I was sent the following, in an e-mail...


MENTAL HOSPITAL PHONE MENU

Hello, and thank you for calling The State Mental Hospital. Please select from the following options menu:

If you are obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.

If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.

If you have multiple personalities, press 3, 4, 5 and 6.

If you are paranoid, we know who you are and what you want, stay on the line so we can trace your call.

If you are delusional, press 7 and your call will be forwarded to the Mother Ship.

If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press.

If you are manic-depressive, it doesn't matter which number you press, nothing will make you happy anyway.

If you are dyslexic, press 9696969696969696.

If you are bipolar, please leave a message after the beep or before the beep or after the beep. Please wait for the beep.

If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9..

If you have low self-esteem, please hang up our operators are too busy to talk with you.

If you are menopausal, put the gun down, hang up, turn on the fan, lie down and cry. You won't be crazy forever.

If you are blonde, don't press any buttons, you'll just mess it up.

Surviving

Yes, some days are very difficult. But try very hard to go with the flow, ride the waves, and hang in there. We can make it!

It's okay to want/need time alone

I recently returned from a trip to see my granddaughter get married. For two days I was around lots and lots of people, as the events and plans for the reception were taken care of and executed.

Needless to say, as an introvert, I was overwhelmed with so many people and talking and noise, etc. This is NOT a negative statement against these particular people....they are all wonderful individuals. The problem lies within ME, as it is a trademark of an introverted person.

So, for a couple of days after I returned home, I truly enjoyed shutting myself up in my little apartment, enjoying the solitude and peace and quiet so that I could re-energize myself. After that, I was fine again. So it is okay to want time alone for awhile to rest and regain strength and perspective.

Commercial for "mental illness"

I was watching TV the other day and a commercial came on, of which I did not pay a whole lot of attention to at first and so I hope I get this right...it was something about the fact that we have/need certain different GROUPS of our friends to do certain things with, or for them to be supportive of us in different situations....but that it only takes 1 (one) special friend to be there and stand by us when we struggle with mental illness.

Finding that "something"

Some of my days are so repeatedly boring that I have to really think about the things I truly enjoy doing, and then make myself DO THEM !

I have created projects that I would like to accomplish/finish...such as photo albums for my boxes of photos. And I have discovered that I LOVE to write...creative writing I guess it is called. I think about life in general for a moment and get a particular thought about one thing, and then I write my thoughts and feelings about it.

Struggling with depression...it is crucial to our mental and emotional health and well being to keep busy.....any kind of busy that will occupy our thoughts away from the SAD down times, is a good thing. We need to find that “something” within us that will help to soothe and calm "what ails us".

Our inner child

I am told we all have an inner child....My interpretation of it is: that child-like part of me that desires to be carefree and safe, and where my most tender feelings and thoughts reside. I feel my inner child is strong and desires for me to be all that I can be.

What does your inner child feel or think about you?

And what do you feel and think about your inner child?

For me...my inner child longs to be free from the heavy burden of my sometimes mental and emotional up and down problems. My inner child loves me and I love my inner child. I desperately desire to be like my inner child....but I don't know quite how to accomplish that.

I just now had this thought: .... “is that why I retreat within myself a lot” ?

Click on the link below for an interesting website about our INNER CHILD:
http://www.coping.org/growth/little.htm

Get a life

I spend way too much time at this computer....I’ve got to get a life!!!!

But I LOVE writing on my blogs and reading other peoples blogs, and checking out this and looking at that... I’ve got to get a life!!!!

But I learn so much from my travels on the computer and internet. Time goes by so quickly when I am on the computer.....I’ve got to get a life!!!

My writings are good depression therapy for me as is everything I do on my computer, along with loving to watch movies and getting myself lost in them. For the moment....this IS my life!!!

By the way, I will give another plug for my new blog: “Movies....My Therapy”
http://moviesmytherapy.blogspot.com/

I am Miss ornery mouth ! (revised)

It is either old age, not feeling well, or something else that is contributing to my new found ornery mouth. Lately, I find that I have less patience, a shorter fuse, and the lock on my mouth seems to be broke!! I hope this phase improves before I get myself into trouble. Maybe I need MORE alone time.....or three days of straight movie watching !

NOTE: I have just started a new blog called "Movies...My Therapy". If you are interested, click on the link up at the very top left of this blog where links to my other blogs are. So, if you love movies like I do and they help your depression days, too, you can read the descriptions and opinions I give on the movies I have seen.

Knowing and understanding that I am an introvert has helped me so much!

.... I N N I E ....

Oh what a blessing to finally discover that I am not all alone in my feelings and habits of not being a people person or not feeling comfortable in large crowds or social events and struggling with carrying on a conversation with someone.

It is such a good feeling to know that I am not “weird” for enjoying time being just with myself. And that I am ok because I don’t WANT or NEED lots of social life and tons of friends.

Discovering that 1/3 of the population is introverted, brings lots of comfort and greater understanding and acceptance of myself. I am a normal introvert and that knowledge has brought me such relief!

There is a book called “The Introvert Advantage...how to thrive in an extrovert world”, written by Marti Olsen Laney, Psy.D. The author herself is an introvert. The book shows introverts how to work with, instead of against, their temperament to enjoy a well-lived life.



If you are interested in the book, click on the link below:

http://www.theintrovertadvantage.com/advantage.html

My anxiety came out of hiding

! ! !


Gosh.....I thought my anxiety problems had vanished. It has been so long since I have been bothered by it in any large degree. But Sunday in church someone shared a bit of information with me about the health of another person and the possibility of it being contagious. I had recently visited this person but was not aware of her health problem.

Being VERY mindful of MY health and situations that I was having, this bit of information was alarming to me to the point of being obsessed with thinking and worrying about it ..... and boy my mind and emotions immediately began to get worked up into a state of anxiety. It was interesting to me to be able to analyze the change that came over me in a matter of minutes. I had never had the opportunity to consciously delve into my feelings like this before. It certainly was an eye opener for me. How very quickly the mind and emotions can take over a person and distort everything.

So...to calm my anxiety, I had to go back to this person who gave me the news and talk further with her and get more facts. This put me at ease and the anxiety began to subside.

Mental and emotional problems....isn't it just wonderful!!!!!

Online tests to determine your personality type

I very recently took two online personality type tests (one was the Jung-Myers-Briggs test) that also determines what percentage introvert/extrovert a person is. It was very informative....and such an eye opener for me to learn so much about myself. It was like everything came together and made sense because it was explained to me how and the reasons why I feel like I do, personality wise.

I discovered and understood for the first time that I really was a dominant introvert (but I don't hate people). No wonder I have depression problems. No wonder I am an introvert......a depressed introvert!! No wonder I love so much alone time. No wonder I struggle socially.

The two websites had tons of information for describing all the areas of personality that was determined by the test.

In case you would like to take the tests, here are the links:

http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html


http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp


ALSO....I found a website created by Marti Laney....a website FOR and about introverts. Marti is a psychotherapist specializing in introverted clients. She herself is a strong introvert. She has lots of information on her site PLUS there is a forum on her site just for introverts. It is very fascinating and extremely helpful to read the questions and posts from other introverts. I learned so very much in just the little while I spent reading about these peoples lives, feelings, thoughts, problems, discoveries and questions.

Here is the link for Marti’s website:

http://www.theintrovertadvantage.com/index.html

What are your most favorite relaxing, peaceful places in town?

When I am depressed, I like to be surrounded by something, or some place that thoroughly gives me joy, great pleasure, and where I can feel totally relaxed and peaceful.

Lately, I have been scouring our town for some of these places. I have made a mental list of MY, now favorite, relaxing areas that I can go to. Here are some of them:

Duck pond by golf course

City Park

Within park, overlooking a trail area

Virgin River

Small waterfall on part of Virgin River

Exercise ???

Depression takes on many forms and everyone is affected differently. Generally, depression leaves us with not much desire to do anything or go anywhere. So.....that means that we don’t feel like doing any exercise, either. That’s how I feel, anyway.

We all know how important it is to exercise and the many great benefits we gain from it. Exercise alone can lift us up out of our down days.....you’d be surprised how much it can be like a magic pill.

I have really been struggling with getting going at some form of exercise. Each day my body has been feeling tighter and stiffer and more achy. I have been really concerned and have tried to get motivated to do something, so that I don’t get worse. I want to lose weight and feel better...to have better health.

So, a couple of days ago....I did something very important for myself....something that would really be an incentive and motivate me to get that exercise. I made a commitment. I went to a gym (Gold’s Gym) near our home and got a membership. You sign a contract for a certain length of time at a certain set amount of money each month. Now I know that I MUST get my moneys worth out of that gym by going all the time....and that is my plan!

Are we harboring guilt and regrets?

Recently, a friend of mine asked me the question: “Do you ever get the feeling of regret for some of the things from your past”. My friend suffers a lot with depression.

This got me thinking. How much of the depression we suffer, stems from issues from our past that have not been dealt with, solved, or had closure to?

We ALL have made mistakes and wrong choices in our life that we regret and wish we could go back and do differently. We realize things that we may not have done right...or things we should have done and didn’t.

I try to make restitution for the situations that warrant it. I ask people’s forgiveness if that is the solution. But above all....above all....I need to forgive MYSELF. I need to stop beating myself up all the time over these issues.

The weight of carrying guilt and regret around for a long time can make us bent over with mental and emotional pain, depression, and self dislike. By taking our burdens to the Lord and asking for his forgiveness, strength, and help to forever, once and for all be able to lay these burdens aside, after we have done all that WE can do.....brings blessed relief and peace.

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and the wisdom to know the difference.

It takes a lot of effort sometimes

Having depression causes me not to want to do anything much at all. I have a struggle finding interest in something and my idleness leaves me with too much time to think about my down feelings.

The days I PUSH myself to leave the house and go do something for other people, are the days that I feel much better about myself... and that grey depression cloud lifts a bit.

Just the other day I went to the hospital and visited a friend who had surgery. Then from there I went to a care center and visited another friend who is not doing very well. I was very glad that I came out of myself and made the effort to do that.

OF COURSE I will feel better if I get my proper sleep regularly!!!

Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z


With my computer addiction, I have had trouble getting myself to bed at night when I should. There for quite awhile, it would be 3, 4 or even 5am before I would finally shut the computer down and head for bed.

Reading up on circadian rhythm... http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/922567322.html .... in regards to our sleep/wake patterns....it is important that I not allow my body to get more artificial light and activity beyond a certain time at night, than my body is programmed for. If I do, I throw my body out of whack. (anyway that is the gist of it according to my understanding).

The older I am getting and the more I abuse my sleep patterns, the worse I was beginning to feel. I would try to go to bed earlier but it never lasted more than 2 or 3 nights and then I would be back into my old habit of staying up until 5am again.

I knew I was headed for big serious health problems if I didn’t do something to change that habit for good. Now I am striving to go to bed at a decent time and it has taken me about 2 or 3 weeks for my sleep patterns to regulate them self again. I can’t believe how much better I feel and how much more energy I have again. I don’t feel groggy all day and my brain is not in a fog. The more night hours (natural darkness) I sleep, the better I feel.

Bad sleep habits certainly do not help depression one bit. Better, longer sleep and plenty of sunshine and fresh air can work a miracle for our down days.

Let's try something.....

An experiment = results = a way to help yourself = a happier you

Depression causes us to turn everything inward, to our self. Let’s try an experiment to help that a little bit. Then, when our days are dark and blue, we can use the results of the experiment to help our self feel better.

1. Get an 8 x 11 size sheet of lined paper and a pencil with an eraser.

2. Go to your favorite place in your house or yard.

3. Sit in a comfortable chair, and have a glass of your favorite beverage by your side.

4. Now....take the pencil in hand, and number your paper from 1 to 25, double spacing.

5 Begin...think about all the things that give meaning to your life and of which you are deeply grateful for. List each one briefly on the paper and keep going until you have 25 different things listed.

6. Using a magnet, put your paper on the front of your refrigerator and when you have your down days, take that paper, read it and remind yourself of all the things you have to be grateful for in your life. Give thanks, put a smile on your face, and then go do something nice for someone.

Today is the first day of Spring!

First day of Spring!......now we don’t have any excuse to feel down in the dumps today, people. Right? The Winter drearys are gone. Get up and go outside, do some deep breathing exercises, and rejoice and give thanks.

Sunshine, fresh air, and doing what we love to do

Sun therapy...being outdoors soaking up Mr. Sun and Vitamin D...both of which are important in the defense against depression.

I feel that there is something refreshing and magical with being out in the sun and breathing in the fresh air....especially if there is a little soft breeze and the scenery is lovely. I love to take slow, deep breaths and enjoy the moment. And now that spring is about here, I can truly say that I have “spring fever”, because I can’t get enough of the outdoors. Seems that the more I can just relax out in the sun and fresh air....the less severe my depression bouts seem.

Another thing that helps me, is doing the things that gives me the most enjoyment. One of those things is my writings. I write about my feelings and thoughts on a multitude of various topics of life and things. Doing the things we love to do....and doing them with all our heart and to the best of our ability, is what brings us joy and lifts us out of our down periods. And if the things we love to do can also help other people, then how wonderful is that.

My "mental closet"

A friend and I share with each other our ups and downs of depression. We compare notes and analyze; we try to help lift each other; and we certainly try to be there for each other and be supportive and encouraging.

We have both come to the conclusion that when we have our down depression times that we apparently go off to our own mind place for awhile to work things out. We get mentally away from what is troubling us and causing our depression at the time. We even, upon necessity, get away (sort of) from people for a short while, also. After a while we are able to realize that things are not as bad as they seem at the time. At that point we can handle our self and those troublesome problems.

We have lovingly called this mental away place....our “mental closet”. Here in our mental closet we take the time necessary to sort out and work out the things that have sent us into our depression. It could be family problems, it could be high expectations we place on our self, it could be disappointments, fears, frustrations, and overwhelmed about something.

Our mental closet is a time-out place (a room in our home, a nice quiet park, a drive in our car, etc) where we can digest and comprehend and learn about and express our self. It is a place to fully get a hold of our emotions, and a time to gather our self and define our thoughts.

I am NOT talking about deserting our families. But with their love, compassion, understanding and support, they will allow us the short time we need to work through our difficult times and then come back refreshed, being our old selves, and feeling like we can handle things again.

Some days the roller coaster of life gets too scary

I expressed some of the following words to a friend earlier today, then decided to use them on this blog to maybe help others who feel the same way. When we know we are not alone in our feelings, it somehow helps.


Many times when something rocks my emotional and depression levels.....I can’t function like normal for awhile. I can't take care of what needs to be done...and I can't think clearly or even FEEL like doing the normal (whatever that is, anymore) stuff.



Any changes mentally and emotionally is a scary thing for me. It is like I can't get a handle on it. When anything happens....I go into slow motion mode and try very hard to get a grip on things. By relaxing myself and getting away for awhile from the "thing" that rocked my stable levels, I am slowly but surely able to get back into my somewhat norm again. And if we end up landing back on our feet once more, isn't that a good thing?

Are you in a rut?

Are you beginning to feel like your life is in a rut? Does each day and each week just seem to be a complete repeat of each other....nothing new, nothing different ever takes place?

I realized I was in a rut the other day as I pondered why I was feeling different than usual. Yes, I am prone to depression and blue days...but this particular day I didn’t even feel like watching a movie. Now movies are my great escape and life-saver for my down days, but I knew something was wrong when a movie didn’t even appeal to me.

Ok....I must be in a rut, I thought, as I considered my daily and weekly activities. Nothing exciting to look forward to...nothing different to do...nothing venturesome and new...nothing but the same old stuff!

So now I see the solution to my so called rut. I must c r e a t e some new interesting activities and fun stuff to do for myself. Now comes the job of discovering what those are. There are lots of possibilities.....

Getting rid of "things" that have negative emotions attached to them

thoughts or items

Many of us possibly have items in our home or in some of our memories and thoughts that just seem to trigger negative or very uncomfortable emotions. They are like constant reminders of something unpleasant and hurtful that has happened. These things in our life have invisible labels on them....which yells to us “reminder of bad experience”.

When we are so emotionally bogged down and burdened by these things, it has a tendency to halt the incoming good of anything else in our life.


By just getting rid of something that has such negative emotions attached to it and releasing that from our life, might open up other pleasant doors that were previously closed!! Then we can move on.

It's time to laugh....

Got 10 minutes? Do you enjoy the funny antics of animals and people? Click on the link below to watch this funny animals video clip from YouTube. (give it some time to load).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao-9B8IV9_E&NR=1

Why does my "get up and go"...get up and leave?

I don’t know what the secret is to being more enthused and excited about getting things done. I know that the sense of accomplishment can be a big and important thing to help us feel better about our self.

Living in clutter and how it affects my depression

Why and how have I allowed this to happen? I can’t believe my eyes at the sight that I have been living with for the last 5 years. Clutter and junk everywhere! Piles of papers, stacks of books, my kitchen counter covered with you name it, stuff stacked upon stuff, and it is increasingly narrowing my pathway around my rooms. I can’t get to things to dust or vacuum.

One of my problems is....I have a studio size living area. Next problem is that I bring IN more stuff into my living area than I have the room for. Remember the familiar saying, “A place for everything...and everything in it’s place”

Well, after months of tripping over, knocking over, running into, and pushing aside stuff....I had had it!!! My depression loomed it’s ugly head in protest. I had one of the most horrible depression days that I have ever had. Not to mention that it was also the month of December....my worst time of year for seasonal depression (SAD).

Fortunate for me on that day, I was in the company of a good friend who is extremely good at organizing. After my crying had finished....we talked about it and she offered to come to my apartment and help and teach me to organize it.

She has been an answer to a prayer. She has taught me so much and I am beginning to feel hopeful that there is a light at the end of my messy tunnel....a chance for me to again live in a nice neat clean living area.

She learned these home organizational skills to de-clutter from a website that she visited, called “Flylady.com”. Fly...stands for Finally loving yourself. It is a wonderful site...very easy if you take baby-steps at the beginning of learning to rid your space of clutter and dirt.

If you suffer from the above problem too, click on this link to learn from Flylady. http://www.flylady.com/

PHOTO THERAPY...This view is less than 2 miles from my house. Look for, and enjoy, the beauty around YOU!

I tried a new therapy today

Lately, I have been thinking about getting some massage treatments to help relax and calm the stress and body tension and hopefully help my emotional down times. So today I did it. I chose to receive a chair massage. I asked the therapist all about what massages can do to help people. Basically it gets the circulation going and moves the blood more to the surface of the skin. It also breaks up areas of toxins within the body so that the body can eliminate them. And massage loosens up the muscles so that you feel more relaxed and flexible. It was wonderful and I felt so very good afterward. I plan on going once a week to receive my MASSAGE THERAPY.

A good laugh

I am always grateful to my friends and family who send me some of their forwarded e-mail fun things. No matter how down I happen to be on a given day...if I receive a “funny” from someone and it happens to hit me just right, I find myself in a good, loud, side hurting laugh over it. I consider a good hard lengthy tears in the eyes laugh to be very good medicine.....for anyone...and for anything that troubles you!

New determinations

Call it resolutions or whatever....but the last two weeks I have really felt like trying harder to exercise more and eat better. I have felt renewed and revitalized since January began. I guess that because December was such a very low time for me that this new year has sparked a desire to pull myself up out of the dark miserable feelings that I was experiencing and do the healthier things that I know will make a difference, such as walking every morning in the fresh air and sunshine. And while I walk I try to do the deep breathing exercises. Our weather has been very nice...in the 50-60 degrees, so that makes it nice for wanting to be outdoors.

December is a magnifying glass

Yesterday as I was getting a treatment from my acupuncturist I talked to her about the very difficult December I had (worse than I ever remember), and a lot of other people I know.

She said that yes, December is the month that the sun is at its lowest peak, there is the stress and exhaustion of the extreme busyness that we get caught up in, there is the debt and money problems that is caused by the highly commercialized Christmas, and there is more irritability cause by all of the above. She also said that there are more suicides and murders in December. More people experience depression on this month of the year than with any of the other months.

I heard somewhere lately that Christmas is like looking at your life through a magnifying glass. Everything looms larger. If you are lonely.....you feel even lonelier. If you are sad....you feel even sadder. All our problems seem to be suddenly worse...with the effect they have on us.

So what then is the solution to our NEXT December. Do we want a repeat of what we just went through....or do we find a way to change it? For me....I say simplify, simplify, simplify!!!!. And find a way to expose our self to more light, whether by sitting under full spectrum lighting or sitting in the yard on days when Mr. Sun is out. I also just sit in my car on sunny days maybe when the air was a little chilly. I make sure the sun is shinning on me through the windows.

2008 is full of promise

Well..busy, hectic, stressful, sometimes overwhelming and depressing December is behind us. We’re into a brand new year now that is full of promise.

There’s something about January that is fresh, clean and uplifting. It is almost like we have a clean slate to begin with. The old is out....old year, old depression bouts, old messed up thoughts and feelings.

The new is in....a new year, a new beginning, new fresh healthier thoughts and feelings, a chance to set things right for a change, and every new day is an opportunity to strive to make our self and our life better than it was the day before.

And I have learned the power of prayer. We DO have a God that cares about us and desires to help us IF we turn to him and have faith in him. It DOES make a difference.

New Year...New Changes

My 2008 thoughts and wishes for all of you are expressed in the holiday LINK at the very bottom of my home page: "GranGran's A Wish for Peace in the New Year".

The Ups and Downs of December

My friend L. and I both struggle with the ups and downs of depression. We help each other through our bad days and have somewhat shared and compared our struggles through this past month. Why December seems to be our worst month, is different for each of us. Past memories and experiences play a part....along with the rush, stress, and sometimes overwhelming preparations of the Christmas season.

How are YOU doing?

Well, not too many days left until Christmas. How are YOU holding up? Have you been able to keep busy enough to get your mind off of your sadness? Have you had opportunities to go out and do something for someone else?

I also hope that you live in an area where you can soak up some of Mr. Sun....or at least sit under some full-spectrum lights.

I would like to hear from you as to how you are handling this time in your life.

Music Therapy

We all have our favorite types of music. Stress, anxiety and depression are greatly soothed by the quiet, relaxing, and more calmer music.

If I can do something, anything, that will take my mind away from the sad, melancholy thoughts, and have it wash over me like a healing balm....music is just such a therapy.

This time of year we have such beautiful Christmas music with its powerful uplifting words and melody. Do we REALLY listen and ponder the words? Do we let the words of the song permeate our soul with hope and peace?

I have a good friend just recently tell me to try not to give in to the depression...to fight it off. Yes, I know sometimes it is more easily said, than done. But her statement is true, so true. So, play some of your favorite Christmas music or other type of relaxing music, lay on the couch with a soft pillow and warm blanket, close and rest your eyes for a bit, relax the muscles of your body, and just float along with the music. Such therapy!

Blessed Mr. Sun

Thank goodness the sun is back out after our several days of rain storms. Lack of sunlight sure does a number on my depression. I am realizing this more and more as I age. I sure have taken the sun for granted all my life. I have never fully understood or appreciated the great and many health benefits the sun so freely offers, by the hand of God.

I must try harder to go outdoors each day and sit and soak up the healing rays of Mr. Sun, and also to remember to deep breathe so that I give my body cells more oxygen.

My Depression...and does anyone care, anyway

I am grateful for our much needed moisture...it has been constantly raining and cloudy for a couple of days...but for a person that has seasonal depression (SAD),lack of sunshine makes a very great difference in how they are feeling. Maybe today because it is such a down day for me, that I have these feelings. After all, when you are depressed, you are only feeling sorry for yourself....right?

But where are some of my so-called friends? I need a true friend….someone who cares about ME. Is it that when others are around people that have depression, that it is not a fun place to be…they would rather be with FUN people?

Where is the TRUE charity? Does it only lie with helping those who have just had surgeries, or are dying from cancer, or have just had a baby? Depression is an illness, too. And for me….just simply finding something that will take my mind off of the sad thoughts for awhile, IS GREAT THERAPY.

Aren’t we, who suffer from depression, just as much in need of help, compassion, and contact from others, as those listed above?

I feel that it would be extremely therapeutic just to receive a phone call often, from a friend, wondering how I am doing. Better yet, it would be great for someone to say to me… “how about getting out and going to the store with me”, or “how about going to a movie”, or “let’s go out for lunch”. NOW THOSE ARE THE TRUE FRIENDS. And God bless them!

More thoughts on sleep

Because of my growing concern about my bad sleep habits (by choice), I woke up the other morning with these thoughts on my mind…. “Sleep is like re-charging a battery. A full charge gives the battery full performance. A half-charge gives it half-performance. By way of sleep, when we don’t recharge our body system to the full recommendation of 8 hours and at a normal time, then we function and perform, in all ways, at a much lesser rate and quality”.

What a beautiful day!

Here in St. George, Utah, we have the most gorgeous fall and winter weather. At 3:30 this afternoon the temperature was 72 degrees! The air was fresh and clean smelling with a slight hint of a breeze. The sun was a welcomed warmth against my skin. It was the kind of afternoon where you delighted in sitting out in the midst of this pleasure, and deep breathing of its magic. Oh what great therapy for the stressed and depressed soul!