An alarming number of us may be depressed without knowing. It makes sense. Our world is beginning to become more and more divided. Our news and media tells us what to think. As a result we are not living our true authentic selves. When we are not living to our true authentic selves we are hindering our progression of growth and may actually subconciously be harming our selves with patterns you, your friends, family and even your collegauges may fail to recognize.
The other day I was watching the news to see if my photograph made it on television and the news anchor announced a headline and followed it up with, ".. and we will tell you how you should think about it". So blatant that we often miss the stuff that's right in front of us. Think about this: We are relaxed and watching television, when we relax we are becoming closer to a hypnotic state; This means we are more suggestible and as a result we are programmed to think in certian ways that may or may not be true. Hence the term, "programming".
Chances are you're working your job 9-5 as a slave. Your wage is staying the same as inflation is going, everything around you costs a million times more. Okay that's maybe an exaggeration but you know the feeling right?
Unhealthy Coping?
A large majority of us will cope in ways that are harmful to us. We will cope in ways that relieve the instant pain but still trick our mind and body into believing that this is the path for us. BAM! You're harming your self without knowing, that or... you know it but fail to take action to change your reality. As a result this is your personality - Self harm. You are programming your self into making this your reality. You will go out drinking to relieve stress from your shitty job just to be hung over the next day so you can be stressed so you can drink more and be hung over so to accept your reality you drink more and - and then... it all becomes a vicious cycle.
Now you're that grumpy person at work that wants nothing to do with work and even a social life. You come home, you eat and go to sleep. You're getting depressed without knowing. When a friend or family member wants to talk to you you're there being a grumpy fart saying, "leave me alone" and they take it as an offence but really you're harming your self without realizing. As that person takes offence you mean nothing wrong as you want space to recharge but the other individual says, "bullshit". Right there you lost and pushed away a friend, family member or someone who is trying to care for you. You don't know you're depressed and nor does the other person. Chances are you seem like a go-lucky person in public but in a more personable setting you want the world to go away so you can hide.
In a more personable, one on one, setting you may be pushing people away because they simply, "do not care"; At least that's what your thoughts think. Maybe you're stuck in a rut and think that no matter what happens in your life you cannot be happy so as a result you sabatoge your life when things are, in fact going well. No matter what happens you are pushing away those that matter to you and that includes your self.
As you lose your support network you begin to lose your self to the point where you're saying to your self, " I don't know who I am anymore". Rightfully so. You just pushed away the people that make you, you. The people with common interests as you. Don't you see, a simple reaction to your external environment in one wrong way can make you hang from a thread from the top of a high rise building. Maybe, just maybe there's more ways that you're pushing your self and others away. Maybe you feel like you're doing them a favour so you wont hurt them or they won't hurt you. You don't know if you should stay or go, you don't know if they should stay or go. Maybe one day they will fade away and forget you. The reality is they will have this thought in the back of their mind for a long time worried about you. They care about you but you don't know. You're blinded by the misery in your heart and soul. Read this again: They care about you.
Take a Moment
Take a moment, take a week to get lost and then find your self so you can care about your self as much, or more than those who care about you. Live you. Be you! Don't push others away; give them the chance to love and care for you. Take a moment to be greatful and count your blessings and things that you are greatful for. Maybe that's all we need... a little more love.
Some times we cope in extreme ways. What I am about to mention may be an unpopular opinion but I feel must be addressed. There is a rising crime rate in the world. From petty crimes to extreme crimes that may lead up to acts of terrorism. In some cases this can theft to survive or cold blooded murder just so the individual can feel empowered knowing that their name is out there and people will remember him. The sad realization is that these individuals doing unspeakable acts are so deranged in their thought of wanting to belong and be known and even "famous" (for lack of better terms). It may start from one small aspect of their life and grow like a magical bean making a magical and gigantic bean stock that reaches the clouds. Once the clouds are reached it is a whole new realm of trouble and chaos. When you open up your capacity to love great things can happen and great catastrophe's can be prevented. Take small steps to love your self and others.
I have been taught that a little self love and gratitude can lead us to love the group we are in. When we love the group we are in we can love our community. When we love our community we love our nation. When we love our nation we can look further to love our world and beyond. Pushing others away and letting others push us away can lead to things like self loathing, lack of energy and maybe suicide or it can lead to much larger things as I mentioned in the previous paragraph. No one wants this so lets begin by putting the puzzle of life back together and letting love back in.
A lot of us cope in various ways. Some ways are good that I try to reinforce in this blog and some that may harm us. We may develop weird quirks and kinks that are quite literally that, kinks in our lives. Have you ever put a kink in a garden hose? What happens next is the flow of water, the flow of life is hindered until that kink either stops or ruptures that hose. My suggestion to you is keep active and follow what truly brings happiness. Like the power of water in that hose there's a power in your soul that is giving you life, it loves you so much. When you match this power and its will, when your mind matches it, when your love for life matches its love for you, it will always respond. There will be a power so strong that will make you cry tears of joy. Take the time to write out what really makes you tick, what do you want to do and take action upon it. When you are in a state of love you find a state of freedom, when you find freedom you find a state of wholeness. Life may not always be perfect. The water in our hose may not always run at fully open. Let's make the best of what we got. Life's... well... life's alright.