How to Navigate Depression

I described what depression is and it seems pretty overwhelming. I thought to myself “how do I navigate through all that and how do I leave it behind me. Then I read the poem Invictus again and it gave me some hope.

Invictus:

By William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

The last verse was inspiring to me. It helped me find the strength to endure my life, but I never truly understood the real implication to life that this verse represents.

It wasn’t until after that day, home alone, on the couch with a gun in my hand and the television telling me that if I want to be happy I would have to choose to be happy. “I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.” It means that no matter what happens around me, or what hardships I have to endure, it is I who chooses whether to be a victim to be tossed about by circumstance, or to be a rock, unconquerable and strong.

I am in charge of my happiness and I can find happiness no matter what happens around me..

Never put your happiness in someone else’s pocket.

That is the first rule I set for myself in my journey towards happiness.

In depression the world is bleak and hopeless and I needed something to help -me overcome  the bleakness of my existance.

Rule Number 2. Find something beautiful; in every day and contemplate it.

We becpme what we think about. If we fill our minds woth things of beauty we can change our oulook altogether. 

There is a Japanese scientist who performed experiments on water. His name is Emoto Masaru (see index – Masaru Emoto). He directed stimuli at water either by thought, by word, or by text and then he froze the water and examined the ice crystals. When he directed beautiful and ;loving thoughts, words and text at the water the ice crystals formed were pristine. Wjen he directed ugly and hateful thoughts at the water the ice crystals were ugly and deformed.

Humans  are roughly 60%  water, so you can see what happens when we direct dark and ugly thoughts either to ourselves or others it will affect us at a physical level. When we direct happy and beautiful thoughts to ourselves and others it can elevate our mental state also on a physical level.

That brings us to my third and final rule.

Give something back. It is through service to others that we find joy

A poor boy was selling goods from one door to another to pay for his studies. One day he found that he had only one dime left, and he was hungry. While approaching the next house, he decided to ask for a meal.

But when a young woman has opened the door, he only dared to ask for a glass of water. She looked at him and understood that probably the boy is hungry. So she brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it and then asked how much he owed her. The woman replied: „You don‘t own me anything. Mother taught us never to accept pay for a kindness“. „Then I thank you from the bottom of my heart“, – he said and felt that now is stronger not only physically, but spiritually as well. The boy‘s name was Howard Kelly.

Many years have passed. One day that woman became seriously ill. Local doctors could not help her. Therefore they sent her to a big city, where her rare disease would be studied by specialists. Dr Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he entered her room in the hospital, he immediately recognized the woman, that showed kindness to him, when he was poor. The doctor was determined to do his best to help her recover from her disease.

The struggle was long, but together they managed to overcome her illness. After some time the woman received a bill for her treatment. She was worried that the amount to pay would be so significant, that it would take the rest of her life to pay for it. Finally, when the woman looked at the bill, she noticed words that were written on the side of the bill. The words were: „Paid in full with a glass of milk“.