7 Tips To Cure Depression
1. Depression is often the result of negative thoughts that have been accumulating for several weeks or months. Often it may be related to an unpleasant experience such as the loss of a loved one. The first thing we should do is to try and disengage from our negative thoughts. Let go of the past and don’t worry about the future try to concentrate on living in the here and now.
2. Try to talk about any problems or feeling of low self esteem with somebody who is a good listener. Often when we are able to talk about our depressed state of mind it is a relief, because we no longer feel so burdened. There is an old saying that a problem shared is a problem halved, definitely this saying has a lot of truth in it. Often the problem is that when we are depressed we don’t feel like speaking to others, especially about our depression. But it is an important step and is well worth making the effort. It may be easier and more appropriate to speak with a trained counsellor rather than friends or family. It doesn’t matter too much, it is fine to choose which ever you would be most comfortable with.
3. With depression often comes a feeling of lethargy and tiredness, but to do nothing can make depression more powerful. Again it requires a little effort but it is well worth trying to find more activities to do. These can have the effect of taking away the depression because your mind has something to distract it.
4. Physical Exercise. Studies show that taking moderate levels of physical exercise release chemicals which can promote a feeling of well being. For mild to medium forms of depression this can be most effective for dealing with depression.
5. Try to avoid feelings of Self-pity. When we are depressed it is easy to spend a lot of time feeling sorry with ourselves. It may sound a little harsh but this can become a self fulfilling prophecy. Try very hard not to continually follow this train of thoughts. Often we can most easily overcome depression by concentrating on something positive and good. We should feel depression is like a real poison we should always fight against. Sri Chinmoy suggests this:
“The moment depression enters into your mind or vital, please feel that there is a heavy load on your shoulders. Then naturally you will try to get rid of it because you want to run the fastest.”
6. Try to give yourself goals. With depression comes frustration and de-motivation. In the beginning it is a very good idea to give yourself certain goals. This can be something quite simple like doing a certain amount of exercise per day or making an effort to stop negative thoughts. When you achieve these goals it will give you extra motivation and encouragement to keep trying to overcome depression.
7. Meditation can be a very effective way of stopping the negative thoughts, that are the root cause of depression. In meditation we learn to silence the mind and realise that our thoughts are not our real essence. Therefore we can find within ourselves our true state of mind, which is not depressed.
Depression is a most painful experience never give up trying to overcome depression. Keep reminding yourself that depression can only be a temporary thing, no matter how serious the depression appears.
