subject: Ending Depression [print this page] Few things in life hurt as much as true depression. Those suffering from real depression lose hope and the very will to live. The world ends up becoming a dark and lonely place. Life holds no meaning and no mattering.
The fact is that, it doesn't have to be this way. Depression is not a disease. You can't catch depression as if it were a common cold. And it is not hereditary. So there are not any depression genes.
Most people would like you to imagine you have absolutely no choice whether or not you end up depressed. They want you to assume you are an innocent victim. You must've been at the wrong place at the exact wrong time. Another person who had depression coughed on you, therefore you got it from them.
But that's not how it happens. People need to do specific things to end up depressed. You must take certain actions and live in a particular way. Do these things, and you will most likely get depressed.
So exactly what leads people to depression? When you shut down your own authentic, genuine emotions and refuse to feel your true feelings. That's it. Depression is the result of living your daily life without any emotion. Now usually you'll be feeling something. But it's something other than true and genuine emotion.
I understand how nuts this looks. Not to mention I realize many will discount this fact without investing some time to carefully hear what I'm saying. It can not be so easy to understand, they will say.
A lot of people think depression is because of an imbalance of norepinephrine and serotonin inside the brain. An individual's brain chemicals get out of whack, and they get depressed. By looking only at the little picture, the statement seems true. But why do brain chemicals become imbalanced in the first place?
Is it really dumb luck or chance or just bad genes? Once again, I would say it's caused by closing off your emotions. Your brain chemicals are only a mechanism. It is similar to saying the reason automobiles stop at the traffic signal is simply because the motorist puts his or her foot on the brake pedal. The braking system is definitely the mechanism, absolutely.
And yet what is the bigger reason autos stop at the red light? Because it's the right thing to do. It keeps them out of harm's way. Autos come to a halt at red traffic signals due to the fact it is precisely what the driver intends to happen.
So am I indicating someone who's depressed intended to get that way? Certainly not. What they intend equates to not feeling their own emotions. But when you reach a certain depth of not feeling, you fall over a cliff. That's when true depression comes about: all of a sudden and with little or no warning.
The desire was to turn off the feelings. But the result, whenever the closing off is significant enough, ends up with the person becoming depressed. Depression results from the unintended outcome of seeking to not feel ones true feelings freely and completely.
In the event that you are depressed, it is certainly not your fault. You are just following what modern society teaches you to do: Which is, to not feel. Almost everywhere you look, you're given the message your emotions do not matter. Everyone blocks their feelings and emotions to one degree or another. Some, however, take it to the extreme.
The way out is to start feeling anything. Even despair, felt cleanly, will lift you up just a little. Even the feelings of hopelessness are better than feeling nothing at all. The critical factor involves opening up your heart and then let in your true feelings just as much as you are able to. The heart can soak up and then let go of the terrible suffering just like a sponge sopping up water and then being squeezed out. If only you will let it.
