I know a lot of the support on here is around meds/therapists and treatments. All around what we can do to control our conditions and live the best possible life we can. Decided to post something a little different tonight.
I just went outside, while letting the dog out before bed, and I just took a few minutes to look up at the sky. Its beautiful out, nice breeze, and I just stood there, and took a few deep breaths. Realizing the world is so vast and theres just so much to be grateful for. To be here, still breathing, theres a reason for it. And all the problems we each have, in the grand scheme, they aren't so big. Finding a way to be accepting of ourselves, loving ourselves, and living life is just so important. I mean what else are we here for?
Yes we have these illnesses, that make it hard to live, make it a struggle, but we all have had good times as well. We keep going, despite it all, and that shows incredible strength in each of us, regardless if anyone understands it or not. And I feel that deep within us all, is the capacity to feel good, to feel like ourselves. I have tried to combine some more spiritual perspective in my illness, to realize it is just goes so far beyond whats on the surface. And to take a moment, here or there, to just stop and look at the world and appreciate it.
What a wonderful post that is!! What a peaceful place that takes me to! I'm going to read it again and maybe again sometime in order to reap the peacefulness it brings to me.
Sometimes stepping back at the simplicity of it all and not being so focused on whats wrong and how am I ever going to fix this, if even just for a minute or 2, it can lighten things up and bring a perspective that the world isn't against you. It's just there, existing. And taking everyone else out of the equation and how they misunderstand you, etc. and just focusing on yourself and accepting of you, what brings you peace? What will make you feel your best? And maybe sometimes that slowing down can help. I have an app on my phone called Conscious and everyday it has a different thing for you to be mindful of. It's pretty cool (and free). Today's is Be Aware of Manipulation- Throughout the day, be aware of the ways companies, organizations, politicians, media try to influence you to buy their products and to think and act in certain ways. Notice the triggers they use and how these relate to your values and insecurities. So thats another tool I will try to use to really see if there are ways I'm acting or behaving that may not be the best for me, more self awareness which is key.
Yes I agree that gratitude is one of the many free tools we can use to fight against our condition.
We live in a world with so much advertising TV and social media that we can fall into the trap of comparing our insides with other peoples outsides. We are being manipulated to feel that we are not good enough and that consuming "stuff" will make us happier.
If we stop and look around to appreciate the natural wonders and count our blessings, it can change our perspective and bring some healing to the conditions.
Along with diet, exercise and meditation I'm striving to make gratitude a habit.
Of course. Yes I agree. I think we overlook so much. I actually made a gratitude jar for this year where I try to write one thing I am grateful for everyday. And then at the end of the year I can read through and just realize how much I do have, when its felt there is nothing. Sometimes I'll simply write grateful to be alive, support from a friend, or maybe even just that I have hot water to take a shower. All things that aren't stressed but we go through our lives not giving them a thought until something is wrong. Learning to live in appreciation definitely can buffer some of the negativity and I try to do that as much as possible.
And yes that full integrative approach of diet, exercise, and meditation with it I totally agree. Arming ourselves with as much as we can to be able to live as our best selves.
Perspective is a big one. It can really change the total energy of how you feel and alleviate some of the suffering. When my depression is in so deep it feels almost impossible to then switch it, because my very symptoms of depression want me to feel like a low hopeless sad failure. But I try my best to catch things before they get that severe so I can change course and not let lose myself to what I know is the wrong way.
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