I know what it is like to have depression. Trust me, I have been there too. That place where you don’t see the point in anything, where you feel constantly low, but you still have to go to work because bills need to be paid or because you have to do something. That place where sharing your feelings with friends and family does not work any longer and you don’t see the way out from under this constant black cloud.
My Experience with Depression
That place was pretty grim I should say. At the time I couldn’t even afford a counsellor. Luckily two of my good friends recommended reading a good book, which was my ray of sunshine. I somehow agreed to some concept of the book (not all of them) and started practising some of the principles and exercises.
The book leads me to other different psychological books which helped me to gather some of the exercises which I can honestly say changed my life.
I want to share some of them with you in my next few blog posts.
They don’t work straight away as our brain needs some time to digest the new information and to form it as a new helpful habit. The result will come, they won’t happen straight away but if you open your mind and persevere, you will not be kept waiting for long.
The happy step exercise to help with depression
- Think of someone you know who is very happy, smiley, calm and can enjoy their life.
- Imagine them standing in front of you. Notice every detail about them. Notice how they smile or laugh, how straight might their posture be, how relaxed they look, what are they wearing and what happy colour energy might surround them.
- Using your powerful imagination, imagine that you are stepping into that person, so now you can see the world through their eyes and you can feel through their heart. Stand as they stand, breath as they would breathe and see yourself radiate that happy energy colour they radiate.
- Pay attention now to where are the good feelings in your body (even if there is only a little hint of them), notice the colour of these good feelings and spread them all around you.
- Breathe in that happy colour in and continue breathing this colour for a while.
Conclusion
Scientists research discovered that our brain reacts in the same way to the imagination as it does to reality.
If you will imagine a time you felt wonderfully relaxed on holiday you will automatically feel more relaxed and happier, freeing you from your depression.
Use your imagination for good from now on! Practice the happy step in exercise and the positive results will follow.