I have suffered from depression most of my life. In my family, it is a genetic pre-disposition, as well as a product of what foods are ingested, what medications are taken for other physical or mental issues and how much exercise is engaged in. For generations, we have suffered and even died from this chemistry-based problem. I've recently come to realize this is far more of a life-choice than I was taught to think of it as I grew up. Until well into my adulthood, I was taught by society and my family's experience to think this was a condition to which I'd been consigned and there was "no hope" other than seeking the assistance of the medical profession to give me "corrective medication." How wrong I, my grandmother's generation of family and society were when it came to how much control I had over how I think and feel!
The hypothalamus, our brain's pharmacy, is responsible for all chemical cascades through whose filters we look at our lives. From happiness and contentment, even bliss and ecstasy to depression, suicidal ideology, fear and anxiety are all experienced by us thanks to the chemical cascades produced by this one little organ in the brain. Furthermore, it is our body's nature that when certain chemical cascades are produced more than others - whether they be positive or negative ones - our body's cells literally become addicted to those particular cascades! If we pump through it the foods, lack of exercise and thought processes that give us nothing but depression, anxiety, fear and anger, that is what we become addicted to until we start believing we cannot change it! WRONG!
The secret here to understand is - the hypothalamus, our own personal little pharmacopoeia, is fully programmable and completely able to be changed for the better! Even if you feel like it when you begin, you are not out of control! You are fully in control of every cascade your brain produces that tricks your body into thinking that you are consigned to negative thinking and feelings for the rest of your days! The question becomes, are you ready to take responsibility for how you think and feel on a day to day, sometimes hour to hour basis until the correct chemistry is truly in place? Or are you going to feed the negative chemistry addictions by being lazy about your self-care?
When we eat junk food, high fat, high sugar, low nutrient foods, we pump in very little of the physical chemistry that our brain requires to give us the "happy" feelings. Yes, things like chocolate, certain fungi, some herbs, and even some proteins can give us a very temporary "fix" for these feelings. But over all, they do not carry enough of the actual high potency nutrient content required to sustain happiness and contentment as a lifestyle. Likewise, when we refuse to exercise, the breakdown of our body's own fat doesn't happen nor is it cleansed from our muscles and connective tissues. Thus, we are literally sitting in our own toxic garbage and wondering why we feel "like shit." Well, simply put - what goes in is what comes out.
As we work to create our own reality, we must begin to realize that "loving ourselves" means eating a salad when we want a whole ice cream cake to ourselves. Loving ourselves means taking our vitamins, as well as the medications our doctor prescribes. Loving ourselves means meditation and/or prayer for at least 30 minutes to an hour a day instead of watching that favorite soap opera. Loving ourselves means drinking 42-60 ounces of water a day instead of a case of "diet" pop. Loving ourselves means getting up off our backsides and walking, breathing, consciously smiling - even when it hurts, at first. Change often hurts, until the new and more healthy pattern is in place. However, the end results don't hurt - they are ecstatic, wonderful and beautiful to behold!
Here is something to consider -- It takes about 4-6 weeks and sometimes as long as 12 weeks for any new change in our lives to truly take hold and begin to make us feel better for the long term. So if you're one of those people that tries something new for a week and then loses your focus and stops or gets erratic about it, you can't really expect the changes you're seeking, can you? What you should do in those circumstances is look at the fact that you're failing yourself when you stop and actually feeding the cascades of disappointment in yourself that lead to other cascades of depressive thinking and feeling. In other words, you're feeding your old addiction instead of creating a new one that will truly make you feel better.
Addiction is a word we've become programmed to think of as a negative. But if you're creating an addiction to happiness, is it really all bad? No. The products of negative thinking addictions are definitely self-destructive in all the worst ways - body, mind and soul. However, creating positive cascades that our body can then become attached to is a process that, although a bit time-consuming, is so very worthwhile that you really can't come up with good enough excuses not to do it! Consigning yourself to misery every day is a CHOICE! I truly pray for you that you choose to love yourself enough to begin the positive changes TODAY -- and keep going for the rest of your life!
Please understand, I'm not advocating that you quite any corrective medication that you may be on to try simply thinking and eating better as your personal solution! ALWAYS do any strong life changes with your doctor's knowledge and approval. But I don't know a single physician that disagrees with what I've written here. In fact, many of you will have heard these things from them already for years. "Eat right, exercise, meditate - they're good for you!" Well, frustrating as it may be, they're right! Remember, what goes in is what comes out. So, if you want to feel better, put DOWN the bag of potato chips and container of dip and go have some berries, cherries or other power packed super food! If you need it sweet, have honey and cinnamon on it (a natural pain relief compound!) If you want to stop thinking negatively, SNAP OUT OF IT - you are your mind's controller, not the other way around! Watch a funny video, have someone tell you a joke, write a silly poem! It is in the practices of allowing ourselves out of the shackles of "restraint" to the negative that we begin to grow!
Know this, my readers - you can change your lives. In a single season of one year, you can change more than 30 years of suffering. I know because I've done it! I did it by eating right, putting down soda and picking up water, mowing my lawn and gardening (3 acres of it!) for exercise and taking up daily meditation for at least one hour a day (sometimes split in two or three 20-30 min sessions, but still!) The changes are happening for me, dear readers! They can happen for you too!
I Love you, my readers - even those of you I've never met! I hope you will love you too! I wish you ecstasy every day for the rest of your lives! Start gifting yourself with happiness today!
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