I do three things, I try to hold on to the feeling and not push it away. I try to talk to someone and hopefully cry, Crying is like a shower that takes away pain. It cleanses you as a shower does. I know tears are from God because they are so healing. Secondly, I try to help someone. I don’t expect anything back. That has to be part of the equation. God will bring love back to you. When you feel you matter, your depression lifts. Thirdly, I laugh. That makes me feel better, immediately. Humor exists because life, simply, does not work. God made us with humor to soothe the hardships in life. Humor involves taking a risk to be outrageous.That may be why it is so rare. Humor is a risk because people may not like it and look at you like you are strange. However, in time, you will get stronger as a result of the risks. You will find your own unique and creative expression of yourself, which humor is. The root of depression,according to my Yoga teachers, is a squished down self, an inability to express one’s uniqueness, with all the strangeness and weirdness, which makes us human.
Ah, your Yoga instructors resonate with Kirkegaard, whom I quoth: “I believe that the most common form of despair is not being who you are and an even deeper form of despair is trying to be someone other than who you are.”
Imitation IS a form of suicide.
My personal cure for depression is going for a run. God blessed us human beings with endorphins, our natural, built-in mood-uplifting drug. Then out comes the humor and…watch out! lol
Thank you for sharing your journal, Ami.
P.S. Personally, I envy Jews. It appeals to my Saturn/Capricorn side, not just because of the exclusivity factor, but because it seems to make its members fearless and successful on this 3D plane. Christians….we sacrifice and live for others. And much guided by a fear of Hell…..because as Sagittarian C.S. Lewis said, “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” So it’s like we’d better be “good,” just in case it’s true, otherwise we’ll burn for an eternity otherwise. Anyway, I’m starting to ramble. Obviously, my Mercury doesn’t have the conciseness of yours. 🙂
Thank you Estella. I think this is true. One’s self expression is an outreach of oneself.If this is thwarted, one becomes depressed. Any form of personal expression such as humor, creativity, hobbies, giving love to others etc, opens up our route of self expression and hence lessens depression , imo.