Learn to Be Happy
It’s been nearly five years since I stopped taking anti-depressants after being on them for twenty-six years. I still have times when I feel depressed and hopeless but luckily those times are much less frequent and pass more quickly. There are rare instances when I feel hopeless to the point of suicidal. Thankfully these only happen very occasionally, and they pass very quickly.
As Blue Monday approaches, I want to write an article about beating the January blues. I often find that January can be a depressing time. For me this is usually for a few reasons. Firstly, I find it can be depressing going back to work after a break. Overindulging in sugar, carbs, and alcohol during December and over the festive period has a knock-on effect on my physical and mental health. This year we have the added worry of the cost-of-living crisis. Plus, the weather doesn’t help. In this blog post I share my tips on beating the January blues.
As I mentioned in my previous post, feeling the pain is a great way to deal with difficult emotions, but what can you do when feeling the pain doesn’t work?
Learning to be Happy is an ongoing lesson and in particular I have realised that it’s okay not to be okay. I still experience periods of depression; usually they pass very quickly but occasionally they linger.
Sometimes the emotions are so painful I have even considered suicide. I don’t want to die, I just want the pain to stop.
I have experienced feelings of depression on and off over the last few months. It’s no wonder that my emotions are still coming into balance. I was on anti-depressants for 26 years!
A few weeks ago, I started to feel better after having a healing and seeing my homeopath. I had an aha moment when I realised I had fallen into the trap of not just feeling the pain, but dwelling on it. I had become stuck in a pattern of talking and thinking about being depressed. I had to focus on what I want instead of focusing on what I don’t want, I had to change my story.
As well as my regular Happiness practices such as my Buddhist chanting, Tapping and meditation, there are three particular techniques I find helpful to avoid getting sucked into a vortex of negativity and I share them in this post. Remember though, it’s important to allow ourselves to feel the pain before we use other Happiness techniques. I find it can be a tricky balancing act.
I believe feeling the pain is the first and most important step on the journey to achieving Happiness. If we don’t allow ourselves to feel the pain, any other Happiness practices are just papering over the cracks.
I’ve had a cold for over two weeks, and I’d like to share the lessons I’ve learned from being ill. To give you some background, my healthy eating plan has slipped over the past few months. I repeated my pattern of starting the year strong, then slowly eating more and more chocolate and cakes and ended up ill with Candida. I had to go on a complete detox of all sugars including alcohol, fruit and sugar substitutes. I was feeling pretty rough due to Candida and subsequent die off symptoms. I started to feel better and then I came down with a flipping cold! On top of all that I’ve had a stressful few weeks at work. Continue reading “Lessons I’ve learned from being ill”
I want to tell you that it’s okay not to be okay. I’m holding my hands up and confessing that the last few weeks, since my Grandma died, have been tough. I’ve felt low, tired and tearful. I’ve felt like a hypocrite. Continue reading “It’s okay not to be okay”