Depression: Take a Breath

But you can’t jump the track we’re like cars on a cable, and life’s like an hour glass glued to the table, no one can find the rewind but now, say it if you understand and breath, just breath , oh breath , just breath , just breath

Chorus from Anna Nalick’s Breath (2:00 AM)

Sometimes I find myself continually ruminating over depressive thoughts, images and sensations. All of them take part in a vicious downward cycle of thinking, visualizing and feeling which takes me to the bottomless well of despair that no one should visit.

I’ve found a way to brake the descent. I follow my breath, just follow my breath.

I focus on the inflow and outflow of air through my nostrils or the expansion and contraction of my diaphragm.

Despite the popular notion of multitasking, we can only focus on one thought at a time, one image at a time or one feeling at a time. For example if we are feeling happy we can’t feel depressed or anxious in the same moment.

By concentrating on the breath, you give your attention exclusively to the movement of air through your nostrils or diaphragm. No doubt you will initially keep jumping back to your ruminations; but gently bring yourself back to your breath and this present moment. Just gently come back. There is no failure just more opportunities to practice, just breath.

Change Your Life for the Better.

Most people think of meditation as a way to fight stress and relax but the practice of meditation can be much more.

As you learn from this 30 minute video, insight meditation can bring about a deeper, more open and fuller level of happiness and peace. Robert Wright interviews Joseph Goldstein, Director of the Insight Meditation Center in Barre, MA.

Meditation is a practice, a skill and like any other skill, people have to devote time to it to see the benefits; however they can live a conventional life but experience more positively.

People develop a greater level of clarity and deepening degree of concentration. The overall goal of the practice is wisdom which I once heard best described as love and intelligence.

Mindful Awareness and Depression: Part III Being Mode

Mindful Awareness and Depression: Part I Seeing the Pattern described how sad or depressive feelings in the present moment can trigger depressive thoughts and feelings from the past which cycle us downward. Part II Doing Mode explains how we react to this emotional problem by trying to think our way out of it.

So if we can’t think our way out of despair how do we respond? How do we deal with these depressive feelings, memories, and thoughts in the present moment?

We respond to this negative inner reality through mindful awareness. The Mindful Way Through Depression defines mindful awareness as “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose in the present moment, and non-judgementally to things as they are.“

The authors point out that mindfulness is:

1. Intentional – Mindfulness is a skill that we can develop to be more aware our “of present reality and the choices available to us.”
2. Experiential – Mindfulness focuses on present experience.
3. Non-judgmental - Mindfulness enables us to see things as they are and let them be.

Mindfulness is the “being mode”. Most of us have spent a lifetime building up our thinking skills but have paid little attention to developing our capacity for mindful awareness. It is a way of opening ourselves up to the world and creating a space for ourselves.

We can use the practice of meditation to develop mindful awareness. By gently being patient and persist, we can create a more constructive relationship with our emotional selves.