Author: Manish Bhatia
Certified Mindfulness Trainer
Many a times, I have been asked about Depression ! This is an importantly eternal topic all over the globe – How to counter or overcome depression? How to do it? Well, I should tell you at least 6 steps to counter Depression! Read Along.
Table of Contents
Observation:
See how it arises. See what happens first.
A painful feeling first appears & immediately after, there is tension (depression) in your mind.
Then thoughts and a habitual tendency to control feelings begin to appear, and this causes these feelings to become even more intense.
And, this in turn, leads to the birth of action.
“Leave me alone. I don’t want to be disturbed. I feel depressed.”
So you get involved in your thoughts and try to control them more and more, and this feeling, this painful feeling, is still getting deeper.
The 6 Steps to Counter Depression & transcend to Happiness:
So what to do?
Do you feel a painful feeling?
The 6 Steps:
As soon as you notice it, use 6 steps to counter depression, that I know I haven’t discussed yet, but will do it right away.
- Just let it be.
- Don’t pay attention at all.
- If you focus your attention on this painful feeling, then it will result in being more intense.
- Relax the tension in your head, in your mind.
- The moment you relax, then your mind will become clear, clear and clear.
The 6 (Sixth) one is right below:
Recall something positive – And such a thing is just a SMILE.
Sounds weird !
When you smile, your mind becomes light & you become very perceptive.
When you smile, it allows your mind to be more alert.
This is Demystifying Mindfulness!
Now all you have to do is – Direct such a smiling mind to your meditation object & repeat staying with the object of meditation for as long as you can.
When you do this for some time, distraction will decrease as your mindfulness will improve.
And when you increase the time you spend on the object of meditation, it will help your mind to focus.
Definition of Mindfulness:
Mindfulness is remembering to watch your mind move from one thing to another.This is key. It’s not about controlling anything. It’s not about changing anything either.It is only the watching mind.
That is mindfulness.
You should know what mindfulness means, because people do not understand it clearly yet. This is true for the word “WISDOM” too.
It is the ability to see this process & yet people interpret it differently.
Depression is a kind of obstacle & one must realize it – the sooner,the better.
Laughter or Smile is the last thing that comes to your mind WHEREAS IT SHOULD BE THE first thing that should be done.
Start smiling, start laughing at yourself, & then you realize how crazy your mind is.
Everyone has a crazy mind, as there is a desire in it.
Why do we have such big problems? Simply, Because we take everything to ourselves.
“This is my feeling! This is my anger! I have the right to be angry! Because you are causing my suffering, I will let you feel it.”
The Truth:
But the truth is – You cause your own suffering because you counter all the emotional upsets and fight them.
You say things you later regret.
You do things that you later regret.
That’s how you start a war.
And this war will be with itself.
“I don’t like this feeling, I don’t want him.” – When you have this thought, you try to rationalize this feeling and come up with all kinds of stories that justify your behavior that accompanies you when such feelings arise in your mind. Because of this, you cause suffering to yourself and others around you. It is an impersonal process that we take to ourselves.
So what we should do is learn how this process works properly and practice the path to change.
This is hard work.
It is not easy to let go of pain because we are attached to it.
“This is me! This is mine! This is who I am!”
But did you ask for this painful feeling to appear? Did you ask all these thoughts to come up and fight this painful feeling?
Well just no. Not really.So, don’t wait any further. Start Now!
Every time you take 6 steps to counter depression, then your mind becomes calm, joyful and clear.
What is Meditation?
It is a good and happy feeling that appears in the center of your chest. This feeling is pleasant and thus many people mistakenly understand what meditation really is.
Takeaway:
Mindfulness or Meditation is The practice of generosity.
You accept a person as an object of meditation and exude positive feelings towards him, but you cannot radiate such feelings if you do not have them yourself.
So make a wish for their happiness and feel them. Then give it back. Speak Generously – Say things that make others feel good and happy.
If you really want your meditation to be successful, then you should absolutely follow the instructions to completely demystify mindfulness.
And this is not a practice for only a while. It is a continuous practice, a journey.
There is no moment in your life when you cannot meditate. Meditation is nothing but “Mental Development".
This is a real change.
What else do you normally do when you are depressed? Leave me some comments below
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