The following  article is one of the items which make up the Depressed Anonymous “toolkit.”

“Jim, as a member of our Depressed Anonymous Fellowship, learned that he needed more “SUNSPOTS” to bask himself in. These “SUNSPOTS” are meditation times where we can focus on all those pleasurable events, people, places or things that can make us feel happy.  The trouble with most of us when we are depressed is that our whole life seems  to go into a deep pit with  its eighty foot hole  and an eight foot ladder.

One good way to escape from this prison is to get with a group of people who by joining each other’s section of ladder, will all eventually get to the top and out of this deep dark hole that we call depression. Think upon these small  “SUNSPOTS” throughout the day and know that you are gradually coming into the light of a new day. Prepare a list of memories which at one time in your life were the cause of some joy and pleasure:  try to recreate that activity in your imagination as often as you can. At first, all you might be able to do is just make a mental decision to do it,  though at the time you don’t feel any particular pleasant emotion.  Keep at it and with the continued encouragement of the group, you will be able to recapture a little joy and peace. You will begin to have more mastery over your life  and the world: this in itself can lower your feelings of sadness. When you have a negative image or thought which produces an unpleasant feeling, replace it immediately with three positive and pleasant thoughts or mental images. In Depressed Anonymous we call this THE LAW OF THE THREES.” One negative thought is immediately replaced by three pleasant thoughts and or memories.

SOURCE: Copyright(c) Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

COMMENT  At times we find that our thoughts become cyclical.  As we continue the rumination process we  complete the circle where we end up where we started. Many of us see this  compulsive thinking  behavior as a deciding activity affecting us physically and emotionally.  The unending worry, fear, gradually wears  us down, much  like the grit of the grinding wheel. So, when we STOP our negative thoughts we can  cut off the resulting emotional residue which follows and continues to numb and  immobilize   us.

Hugh

The Negro National Hymn, Lift every Voice and Sing was written in 1900 by  James Weldon Johnson and his brother to write a song  to celebrate the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.  James  wrote the words and J. Rosamond Johnson wrote the music. This song was taught to and sung by a chorus of five hundred Negro school children.

I think it appropriate to share this Hymn on the birthday of Martin Luther King, an American patriot and prophet, whose dream is still for all of us,  that  light on the mountain top.

“Lift every voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we started at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of  our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, where we forget Thee,
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our God,
True to our native land.

Copyright(c) Poetry Foundation/Complete Poems(2000)

” In Depressed Anonymous we are  exposed constantly to the tough message that we have to give up our self-pity and sadness if we are to be happy.  We have to think in terms of what is possible with God in our lives. Sometimes people come to Depressed Anonymous and can’t  understand what this has to do with how bad they feel. If after a number of meetings they still don’t want to work the Twelve Steps, we recommend other groups for them. Depressed Anonymous is a spiritual program and it is allowing the Higher Power into our lives that eventually delivers us from the habit of feeling sad and depressed. We in Depressed Anonymous are committed to working the Twelve Steps and listening to each other share how God , as we understand God, have worked in our lives.

Daily we pray that God will release us from our depression and will show us God’s will and way to peace.  Don’t give up on yourself but come back to meetings week after week. In time, the truth about yourself as revealed to you by the group and the Higher Power will set you free.   That is a promise.

One of the major areas of our lives that we have a difficult time with, is getting in touch with our feelings. Many of us who are presently depressed know that one of our greatest defenses is the denial of our  feelings — our ability to feel is diminished as we continually choose numbness over vitality and spontaneity.”

In Step Three we have to make a decision.  We don’t have to  feel holy or extra nice but that we only have to make a decision — that is hard for someone who is depressed but it can be done.  There is an old saying that goes like this : “Have a nice day unless you made other plans.” SOURCE: Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Page 50.

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And in section #3.15  of our Depressed Anonymous Workbook we are asked to write out our feelings about the issue of  needing to be in control and how  that applies to our selves?  How has this need to be in control kept you isolated and withdrawn from others and your own understanding of God?  Do you have difficulty in trusting others. Even God? Write out your answers.

”   I want to start to really begin to turn things order to the God of my understanding. In Depressed  Anonymous we call this God our Higher Power.

AS Bill W., said

“We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us.  Ask God  in your morning meditations what you can do each day for the man/woman who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order.

But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven’t got.  See to it that your relationship with God is right and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is a great fact for us.”

SOURCE: The Depressed Anonymous Workbook (2002) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Page 17.

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NOTE: YOU Can order the GROUP/HOME STUDY KIT (Includes both The WORKBOOK  and the DEPRESSED ANONMOUS MANUAL) at VISIT THE STORE here online. Other Depressed Anonymous literature is also available. Check it out.

“What do we consider to be the Higher Power or the God that is larger and more powerful than our personal depression?  In our prayers we believe that God or the Higher Power can free us from the burden of our joylessness, and that the why of our depression is not as important as the fact that we are depressed. What is it about our complete dependence on this obsession with sadness, our chronic fatigue and feelings of worthlessness that won’t let go of us? Granted, sometimes we feel depression is a comfort, and we’re afraid to let  go of it because we don’t as yet  know what will replace it. Hope tends to be unpredictable whereas the pain of depression is constant and predictable. We can depend on it.

We have given ourselves over to the belief that this growing feeling of helplessness is what must govern our lives, moods and behavior. We have given it license to run roughshod over every part of our life and over our relationships. Most people can’t see inside us and discover the pain that makes up our every waking moment. For the most part, we are able to hide how miserable we feel.”

Comment

In Step Two of our Twelve Step recovery program,  we begin to see the light and walk into the arena of  freedom, and can now profess that we “came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity, and that this simple belief gets us closer to the promise of serenity and hopefulness.

As we look at our Depressed Anonymous Workbook and those questions dealing with the Second Step we are asked to comment on this  question:

#2.15  Describe how your Higher Power might be your depression or your attachment to a person, substance, place, thing or behavior?  The Workbook commentary continues on with the following thought: For the depressed person giving up old ways of thinking and acting is much like giving up any other addiction -at first letting go of the old behavior makes us feel uncomfortable. The old behavior wants to cling to our spirit like swamp mud hangs onto knee-high boots. Before you participate in DA you would go home from work, get by yourself and ruminate on how bad you felt. This new behavior will help you think differently about yourself. You will find that this Higher Power, or God as you understand it, is not the same God that you might have met when you were young. When you were a child you came to believe that God was watching you, ready to punish you if you were not perfect. You will begin to develop an adult and new way of being related to God as you understand God. With time, persistence and patience, you will gradually trust your life to this Higher Power.”  ( See Page 48 in Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition, page 48., for a full description of these thoughts.)

SOURCES:         Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition  (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.  (Home study kit-Book One)

The Depressed Anonymous Workbook  (2002) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.   (Home study kit -Book Two)

  Believing is seeing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. (2014) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

 NOTE     VISIT THE STORE at this site for more information on using the Twelve Steps of Recovery for overcoming one’s depression.

Step  One of  the Depressed Anonymous fellowship puts it out there straight and to the point. If we want to recover from  our experience of sadness and isolation we have to get the ball moving. We will  admit  that something is  out of whack in our lives. This First Step is where we start our healing process.

In the Depressed Anonymous Workbook (See Home Study Kit) we can find answers to our questions about depression as they unfold from reflections about our life today. We will take the time and make the effort to unravel from our lives where we find our selves powerless and our lives out of control.

For example in Question  #1.11  in the Workbook it asks the reader: When have you most felt powerless over anything in your life?  How did you handle your feelings of powerlessness then?

I  believe that by looking over our past  difficult life events and circumstances which you have faced and overcome,  this in itself suggests  that you can do it again.

By reading the personal stories in our  Depressed Anonymous book, you have definite proof that those persons who follow the  12 Step program of recovery  no longer feel powerless. Now with the help of the Steps, the Fellowship of Depressed Anonymous and the tools provided for recovery, life becomes manageable. That’s a Promise!

SOURCES:  HOME STUDY KIT  (Visit the store)

Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition and The Depressed Anonymous Workbook together, include  the Home Study Kit. Each group benefits by utilizing both at every meeting.