me dealing with depression

[silky fox]

I feel enlightened already Mr Gerbutt! I was looking for a new direction for 2015 and that,s why I changed my avatar to a picture I had taken in a meditation garden a couple of years ago...it,s a sign!

[wrsni]

I think you've just found the answer to you troubles and what better time for it to have happened than the eve of a new year!

 

But that's it you see, I can sit here today and be all positive and logical when I'm feeling fine. Describe to you how I've figured it out and how I know what the problem is.

 

That counts for nothing when it hits, all reason and logic evaporates.

 

But I genuinely will try it, I don't seem to be able to do anything about it when it hits me but maybe I can do something to help avoid it in the first place.

[the village idiot]

But that's it you see, I can sit here today and be all positive and logical when I'm feeling fine. Describe to you how I've figured it out and how I know what the problem is.

 

That counts for nothing when it hits, all reason and logic evaporates.

 

But I genuinely will try it, I don't seem to be able to do anything about it when it hits me but maybe I can do something to help avoid it in the first place.

 

It will still hit , but mindful meditation will help give you the tools for seeing it for what it actually is. A passing thought which if not engaged with will get bored, bugger off and leave you in peace:thumbup:

[peatff]

Get yourself a didgeridoo and learn to "play" it. I find blowing out all my waste energy and making daft noises very therapeutic.

[Gerbutt]

It will still hit , but mindful meditation will help give you the tools for seeing it for what it actually is. A passing thought which if not engaged with will get bored, bugger off and leave you in peace:thumbup:

 

 

Spot on, and once it's happened a few times the negative thoughts will cease to arise.

 

After a while, when real negative things happen you'll have full control of that too, I got stuck on a motorway for over two hours on the way to work earlier in the year, once I'd told my boss I was going to be late I just sat back and relaxed, it was great. Everyone else around me was having a nightmare living in the future of what ifs, where I was enjoying the time to relax, read and have a bit of a chill.

[Joy Yeomans]

I know what your going through we have found the best therapy is mans best friend get a dog. It gives you a friend to be with talk to and dogs don't judge. You are never alone with a dog by your side and even stroking a dog has been found to be therapeutic

Joy

[@Wildlife_Mgr]

Thankfully I've never suffered with depression but my other half does. Initially she was really bad, self harming, etc. It got to the point where I was unable to leave the house and if I did she would be calling me begging me to return home. She wouldn't go to the doctors cos she thought no-one would believe her. It took me weeks to get her to go and the doctor was great! She still has bad days but the medication she's on really helps. Occasionally, for no reason she has what she calls it the impending doom which is where she feels really bad but then often as quick as it came on, it goes again. I also have a friend who suffers, he strangely calls it the impending doom too?.. He sent me the link to this video to explain a little as to how he sees his depression.

 

 

My other half started studying Buddhism and chanting which she found really helpful for her. She's still on medication and will be for the rest of her life but she's in a much happier place now.

 

This is the chanting she used to do.

 

 

She'd sit for at least 30 minutes a day, chanting.

[Gerbutt]

Cool👍 The chanting is very similar to mantra meditation, it's the single pointed awareness that's the key 👍

[Mr. Squirrel]

Great posts and thread, the stigma some people associate with mental health issues is probably one of the greatest barriers to healing. Personally I think the complete opposite, some of the people I respect most in this world are people who've been pretty brutally honest with what they're dealing with. And those are generally also the ones who seem ultimately seem to cope the best.

 

I've had at taste of 'mental illness', through certain events initially I developed anxiety problems. I was fine so long as I was climbing, but otherwise I sucked at life. That anxiety merged into depression until I hit what I'm going to call rock bottom. Certainly for me. I was referred to a mental health outpatient hospital by my gp and after seeing (and rejecting) a few psychologists found a woman who seemed to get me. It took time but I'm better off now than ever before, I'd say. Massive respect to mental health workers, and everyone who has the courage to accept their help.

 

Meditation, or mindfulness, sounds a bit 'hairy fairy' but it certainly helped me cope when I was at my lowest. I'm not sure where I'd be today without that. Regular meditation actually physically changes your brain over time, which Ihad no idea of. It's a small act but it can have enormous benefits. Some doctors will throw a whole manner of pills about all willy nilly, and they certainly have a place but I wasn't going to go down that route. Meditation was my medication, is not a quick fix but it's a step in a positive direction, I feel.

 

I'd recommend 'mindfulness, a practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world by Mark Williams and Danny penman' even if you don't follow the whole books programme (I didn't) the CD and some of the advice is invaluable.

 

Just my 2 cent. All the best fellas.

[wrsni]

It will still hit , but mindful meditation will help give you the tools for seeing it for what it actually is. A passing thought which if not engaged with will get bored, bugger off and leave you in peace:thumbup:

 

Hmmmmm, you're not an idiot are you!