As people around the world prepare for the yearend shutdown and festive season, my thoughts linger towards those who move forward daily with much lack of happiness.
Depression is by far the most common symptom of unhappiness that I have encountered with people I engage with. At some point and to some degree every person finds themself depressed. Depression is comparison of our current reality to what we want it to be. The bigger the perception of the gap, the more intense the depresssion.
What do you do if you find yourself in this situation?
Overcoming depression is about reframing how you look at your life. I share below actions you can take to help yourself as one step amidst others to turnaround how you feel about your current reality:
Write down some of the benefits, gains, support you are getting from your current reality versus the reality you wished would happen. Write down whatever comes to mind. This might be quite weak/petty benefits at first but keep at it. Continue to write down what you can think of and slowly you will start to warm up.
Then start to think of benefits that support what you value the most in life. Add these benefits to the list.
Finally, before you go to bed, read the question aloud and then go to sleep. Your sub conscious, which does not sleep, will work on the question and will bring to mind more benefits.
Continue this process daily till you have at least 20 benefits listed.
Look at the list of 20 benefits and strike off duplications ie where you said the same thing in a different way.
Scroll your eye down the list and find that 1 or 2 benefits that actually is a benefit you value. If you cannot find something you value, repeat steps 2 to 4 above till you do find that benefit that you value and have gratitiude for.
No matter what we perceive our life to be, we enjoy benefits & drawbacks, support & challenge, pain & pleasure in every moment. It is our mindset that choses to see events as one-sided ie. either good or bad. Once we build the awareness that we are never going to have a pleasure without a pain, a support without a challenge and a benefit without a drawback, we shift out of a juvenile mindset to one that is more capable of the steps to take to achieve that dream life we want. Then achieveing our dream life is based on a good understanding that even the dream life will not be without pain, challenge and drawbacks.
It is those who master the above skills that makes it seem like they have it all with no challenges. Have conversations with such people and you will learn that they never believe in luck. They only believe in taking action to get what they want and turning challenges into opportunities to catapult to new heights.
Think of all the hurdles you overcame to get to where you are in your life today. Let that fuel you for greater, grander success. May 2025 be your best year ever.
Love & wisdom,
Rajes