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Meditation and Depression
No one's head aches when he is comforting another - Indian Proverb Depression is a very serious condition. This article is not designed to be a cure-all for everyone, but it is hoped it will inspire a more spiritual approach.
Depression is nourished by a lifetime of ungrieved and unforgiven hurts. This spiral is especially negative as it is a process of 'swallowing down' or accepting negative energy into ourselves with no vent or route for it to be later transformed or released. Undealt with, this black hole spirals deeper and deeper until it eventually translates into all manner of mental, emotional or physical illnesses. Or ultimately to the point where the individual feels so powerless that there is no course except for the perceived ultimate cessation of this pain through suicide. From the spiritual point of view, nothing could be further from the truth. Ultimately there is no solution to the acceptance of negativity other than its transformation through some form of positivity. "Self-acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship to myself." -- Nathaniel Brand We must recognise that depression like any illness presents itself as an imbalance. Some of us are genetically more prone, or perhaps our conditioning, the family and people around us that makes it more likely for us to suffer from depression. Given all that, spiritually, all illnesses, all imbalances are curable. But we need to be wise. Let us use all the help we can from all science can offer, but realise that more than perhaps any other disease, depression is uniquely only ever permanently cured by our own efforts spiritually. Our friends, doctors, parents and family may adopt significant roles in inspiring that process, but in the end we are infinitely more capable than we imagine of permanently healing our depression.
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." --- Melody Beattie Manic depressive episodes can strike at any time. One might be working or picking up the kids – whatever it might be and suddenly anxiety might begin to rise for no apparent reason, mentally, all sorts of turmoil and noise might begin to develop. Simple mantra meditations or affirmations are perhaps the
most effective when the noise of our thoughts is most pronounced. Try to
approach this in terms not of blocking or suppressing thoughts, but of lifting
or transforming them into something more positive. If you think about this in
terms of energy you are not blocking darkness or imagining it is not there, you
are accepting it and illumining and transforming it forever with light. "One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today." --Dale Carnegie Depressed people are often self fixated, caught in regrets from the past or fears of the future and rarely in the present moment. They are usually imprisoned inside their own egos. Sometimes, like martyrs, some of us that suffer from depression feel that we must swallow all the negativity inside and not show it, so as not to affect others, that we can handle it. But the reality is that we swallow it down with nowhere to go, thereby only increasing the problem.
"In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." -- Albert Camus So if you really believe that you are capable of permanently healing your depression, then go about the process of practising the flow of love. You are never separate from love. You cannot escape it. It is your ultimate condition. Your most natural condition. So work with love. Really practise it. Not just a moment here and there, but really feel that you are offering love as often as you can.
We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope. - Martin Luther King Also explore yourself in meditation. See what is making you feel helpless to change. What is imprisoning you? Investigate it. Perhaps you feel there is some one or some situation that needs to change for you to be happy. Recognise you are handing the power of your happiness to something outside of your control, which is not only incorrect, because your flow of love is the only thing that will make you happy, but it is also unbelievably unwise. See if there is someone that you have to forgive, perhaps it is you! Perhaps you are hanging onto resentments or anger. It might even be with fate or God. Let it all go and focus on the flow of love. "I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know that just to be alive is a grand thing." --Agatha Christie Whilst repetitive exercise such as walking or running will really help someone redevelop their mental strength and discipline utilised in meditation, whilst at the same time releasing the natural chemicals linked to feelings of well-being and contentment. Many studies emphasise the benefits of exercise such as regular jogging in treating depression. https://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/cki159v1 and https://www.clinical-depression.co.uk/Research/exercise_meditation.htm A fantastic Australian organisation is Beyond Blue www.beyondblue.org.au Go to their website for more.. In moments of discouragement, defeat, or even despair, there are always certain things to cling to. Little things usually: remembered laughter, the face of a sleeping child, a tree in the wind—in fact, any reminder of something deeply felt or dearly loved. No man is so poor as not to have many of these small candles. When they are lighted, darkness goes away—and a touch of wonder remains. - tombstone inscription in Britain
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We have said before that the cause of all suffering is lack of love and of all happiness, the flow, or giving and receiving of love. This is a crucial precept to remember in treating depression.
