July 6th Blog Entry - Rainbows and the Mindful Way Through Depression

Today was a better day than yesterday. I was able to sleep last night so I am rested which always makes my day go better. I went for a nice walk this morning, bought a latte, and went into some shops.  I feel like my walk got rid of some of my excess energy brought on by stress. I reminded myself that even though I don’t feel like going out, it is good for me to do it.  I do feel better now. I learned this from an eight-week course called the Mindful Way Though Depression (by Mark Willliams, John Teasdale, Zindel Segal and Jon Kabat-Zinn). The psychologist who taught the course told us that the exhaustion you feel during depression will not be healed by sleep but by action. Not the action of trying to solve the depression or anxiety which will make things worse but by doing someone fun or positive. Often people who are depressed give up the fun stuff in their life and this spirals them down into a deeper depression. So today, even thought I felt depressed and anxious, I spent some time doing something I enjoy. There were times during my morning that I thought, “I’m not enjoying this,” and I reminded myself that this is OK. I attached a button that links to another blog I wrote on the Mindful Way Through Depression.

Click Me for Blog on Mindful Way Though Depression

Another thing I did today was plan for my trip to Nashville. That brought up my spirits. Even if you do not have a trip planned, it is a great idea when you are feeling down to plan one. My therapist taught me this trick.

I prayed this morning for God to give me a sign that everything will work ok with my job, money, and my knee replacement surgery.  I noticed a lot of rainbows when I was scrolling through Facebook today. Rainbows are my sign that everything will be OK. I am starting to feel a sense of hope and peace today.