All posts by Hugh Smith

Step 11

We do not become enlightened by imagining figures of light…

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“We do not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

Carl Jung

My reply to Jung’s statement is one of affirmation. I too believe, after these years of living the 12 Steps of recovery and sharing with members of our fellowship, alone and in meetings, that consciousness is the pathway to our “who I am” identity.

In Step Eleven we say that we

“Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understand God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry it out.”

Let me also remind  that those of us who have journeyed out of the darkness of depression, that we come out of this darkness with a new energy, a new resolve to live our lives with more circumspect and freedom.  And  paradoxically we come out with a resolve, almost a militancy of spirit, to bring others along with  us.

I have tried over the years to find one’s way out of the gloom and the doom, and that includes my own journey today.  It made me strong.  I  was given a gift, call it recovery. You and I who are on this amazing journey, have been blessed by giving our “here I am ” response.  We are sent out.  Our love and compassion  for those “still suffering”  is contagious.  From the telling of “how it was” is now the “how it is.” It is good.

Jung got it right!

(c) Hugh S.

Prayer, Step 03

Third step prayer

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For those of us participating in Depressed Anonymous online group meetings, here is a wonderful prayer that inspires us to bring hope to those still suffering.

“God I offer myself to You – to build with me and to do  with me as you will.  Relieve me of the bondage of self that I may better do your will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may I bear witness to those  I would help of  your Power, Your Love and Your Way of life. May I do Your will always.”

AA

Depressed Anonymous Workbook, Meditation, Prayer

There is a direct linkage between self-reflection, meditation and prayer

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“There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation and prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit. But when they are logically related an interwoven, the result is an unshakeable foundation for life.” The Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions.

In Step Four of the Depressed Anonymous program of recovery, we read from The Depressed Anonymous Workbook the following encouraging statement:

“By our daily conscious contact with God as we under stand God, I believe that my daily efforts at listening to my Higher Power’s word will help me focus in on where I need to change. I hope that my depression will always be examined the moment I feel down and blue for no apparent reason. If I slow down, take a pencil and write down what I have been thinking of lately, I do believe that my sadness will slowly evaporate – slowly like the early morning fog.

I will cast away my fears, guilt and resentments by getting them down on paper in front of me. On black and white.

Copyright(c) The Depressed Anonymous Workbook (2009) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville, KY. Page 27. STEP FOUR

This Workbook can now be downloaded as an Ebook for $1.00 from the Depressed Anonymous Bookstore at www.depressedanon.com.

Offer lasts until the end of May. After that it will resume its price of $12.00.

12 Step Meeting, Isolation, Mutual Aid

I don’t have to be alone

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Updated 29 Dec 2020: The US based ZOOM meetings are no longer being held.

…I had the conviction that a person depressed could find the same strength and serenity as did those who, sick and tired of being sick and tired, had found when they stumbled into their first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. It (Depressed Anonymous) began as a pilot project at the university where depressed people gathered as a mutual aid group. I discovered that people of all ages, beliefs, and occupations could gradually get out of the prison of depression if they were part of a support group, especially if the group followed the suggested Twelve Steps of the group now known as Depressed Anonymous. I saw that a Twelve Step program centered specifically around the subject of depression could help people escape isolation and the painful sense of hopelessness. They would no longer feel alone.

Copyright(c) Depressed Anonymous., 3rd edition. (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville, Ky. Page 22.

NOTE: If you are tired of looking at the four walls during this time of Covid-19, we have help. If you are depressed and seeking relief, there are a number of places where you can go online for help. Depressed Anonymous now has a meeting everyday from 12:30PM (EST). This group is peer led, which means they have been depressed or using these Steps of recovery today to help maintain hope and healing in their lives today! These are excellent groups to attend to find help and hope. You can join and share your story or you can listen to the stories of others. Either way you will find the power at work in your own life.

There are now five scheduled DA ZOOM groups operating in the US and being made available to the Depressed around the world. These ZOOM groups with the SKYPE groups are ensuring that the message of HOPE continues to spread with it’s powerful message. Please join us if you are looking to free yourself from isolation.

We thank all of those who chair these meetings with such dedication and faithfulness. They are true witnesses to the “miracle of the group(s).”

Hugh

12 Step Meeting, Acceptance, Depressed Anonymous, Faith

Isolation and Covid-19 – We Offer Skype meetings – Check Our Past Posts On The Blog Here For More Info

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NOTICE: Whenever a blog post mentions an online meeting be sure to consult the page Online Depressed Anonymous Meetings for the most up to date and correct information. If the blog post is more than a few days old there is a chance it could be incorrect.

Updated 29 Dec 2020: The US based ZOOM meetings are no longer being held.

In our basic text, Depressed Anonymous, one of the words that show up most frequently are the words, Isolation, trust and surrender. It is not surprising that the word isolation is at the top of the list. Isolation is one of those behaviors that can keep us in depression, alone, and deepening a mood of feeling hopeless.

With the corona virus causing death, terror among all people of the earth, it has also forced us to quarantine ourselves from everyone else. Our isolation, in this case, can save our life and keep us from getting infected and suffer a painful death.

Let’s say I am depressed already and isolating because of my need to withdraw from, family and friends and suffer with my pain alone. What do I do now? Who and what can help me? I am feeling desperate. I used to go to the market, the park and at least get out of my apartment. I could feel part of the world and the life around me. At least I had the knowledge that I could go out and be with others, without having to talk or even say hello. Now I feel like I’m all alone on a deserted island.

If you are depressed and reading this now, you can find help online at the Depressed Anonymous website www.depressedanon.com. There are also daily meetings of the group International Online Depressed Anonymous which hosts the meeting via SKYPE meeting at 12:30 pm (EST).

We hope that you can take advantage of these peer led 12 step meetings. I recommend them to you. Please come and join our fellowship. We are people with hope.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

For the fellowship.

Higher Thoughts for Down Days

I want to get my life back again

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AFFIRMATION

I will express my feelings in an  appropriate and reasonable manner.

…In different contexts I would describe   how I  construe  anger: To me it is a human response to frustration.  It is not essentially evil, but it is a facet of our civility and creativity. Our task in dealing with our anger is to inspect critically the sources of our frustration and to develop ways of expressing our anger is to inspect critically the sources of our frustrations and to develop ways of expressing our anger which are socially acceptable and creative.”

CLARIFICATION OF THOUGHT

In my efforts, to find peace and sanity in my life, I am beginning to figure out a few things, namely., that if I want to get my life on track, I will  have to live by the principles of the spiritual program that we call Depressed Anonymous. In my doing the 4th and 5th Steps of the program, I am finding that, I must take an inventory of my character defects that have kept me from living with trust and hope in my daily life. The principles of the Twelve Steps are an assurance that my life can get better. The more  I work the Twelve Steps, the more that I must  develop in my life.

I need not declare that I will never get angry again–only that I will get  in touch with my feelings and express them appropriately. Once my anger is acknowledged, I hope in time, for my ability to forgive to grow and be expressed.

MEDITATION

We thank you, God, for your grace, a gift to be sure. We don’t have to be the most perfect ones to achieve it. We know it is from you  that we receive the courage to live our  lives in a more hopeful and serene manner.

RESOURCE
Copyright(c)  Higher Thoughts for Down Days: 365 daily thoughts   and meditations for members of 12 Step fellowship groups.  Hugh Smith. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville, Ky. Page 73.

 

NOTE:  Higher Thoughts and other  selections   can be ordered online.

           VISIT THE STORE

Belief, DA Literature, Fellowship, Meditation

Depression gradually dies in the light of day….

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The best way to live TODAY is to be fully conscious of the present moment and create that strong desire to be part of it. Let’s not live in yesterday -the rent can kill you.

How often do I spend time in tomorrow and so miss the joy of today? I think one of the more serious occupations (aren’t they all serious?) of the depressed is just to sit and think , and think some more about how bad life is and what awful people they are. The self-bashing makes one’s ability to change even more difficult, as  continued depressive ruminations promote a great sense of unworthiness and confusion. We feel that we have no control over what happens in our life. Actually, we are not so sure   that we should care.  Everything seems hopeless. Living in yesterday is to pay some high price rent – and when you are done paying the rent, you still have nothing to show for it.

I want to be responsible  though I feel it’s difficult to face the fact that one of the ways of getting out of my prison is to stay and feel the pain of my sadness. I have to live in the here and now – I can’t run and hide in the unknown of tomorrow or disappear into the gloomy fog of yesterday. We begin to get mentally healthy when we take it upon ourselves to admit 1) I have a problem, and 2) secondly, I need to change the way I think about myself and my world.  Again, no one need to blame us for that that we got ourselves depressed – but once we know and believe that we are depressed – we learn that we need to take full responsibility for our recovery.  And one of the best ways to break our dependency on our sadness is to share and admit our depression to members of our Depressed Anonymous group. We know how depression flourishes and grows in the privacy and solitude of our minds.

Depression gradually dies in the light of open sharing and frank discussion. We are only as weak as the secrets we keep and strong as the secrets we share.”

Copyright(c)  Believing is seeing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. (2020) Hugh Smith.  Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville, KY. Pgs. 39-40.

Depressed Anonymous, Fellowship, Journaling

All it takes is one good person to restore hope – Pope Francis

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This statement is so true. All it takes is one good person to restore hope. This is a reality that I personally experience each day of my life. I find these individuals every day – carrying the message of hope to those others who are looking for a way out of their pain and suffering. These good people who lead are sharing their own hope, strength and experience with those who still suffer alone, and without hope. These good people take it upon themselves to communicate to others how they found hope and now want to share their recovery with others. They are using the fellowship of hope by the electronic systems such as ZOOM, SKYPE, FACEBOOK and the many face to face groups outside of the virtual world. These various communication tools enable us to reach around the world bringing fellowship to those seeking hope.

Recently, individuals in Poland decided to set up their own SKYPE meetings. Just recently in America two ZOOM group are operating, with one more about to get up and running. There is also a phone – in meeting operating. in America.

We are here at depressedanon.com (Depressed Anonymous) offering hope to those who come to our website. A Blog is offered a number of times a week. There are those good people who are not members of Depressed Anonymous who use their resources and talents to keep our websites, our ZOOM and SKYPE online programs operating with a myriad of technical skills. All in all, good persons continue to find hope and share what they have with others. so that they too can experience the hope that is real and offered freely to them.

Depressed Anonymous website at depressedanon.com will lead you to the places where you can go and join up with others at a 12 Step Depressed Anonymous meeting.

Like Francis tells us “All it takes is for one good person to restore hope.”

Won’t you be the next “one good person?” Will you join with us on this great journey where we all discover the hope of recovery and personal serenity?

The Fellowship of Depressed Anonymous

Depressed Anonymous, Depressed Anonymous Workbook

How to grow your inner security. (During Covid-19 purchase and download two DA Ebooks – each $1)

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“It is by becoming part of the group that you will experience that miracle of the group. You will find that power greater than   yourself is about to restore you to a feeling of serenity and personal hope.” Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. Pg. 51.

“As faith grows, so does inner security, The vast underlying fear of nothingness  commences to subside.  We of AA find that our basic antidote  for fear is a spiritual awakening.” Bill W., in As Bill Sees it. Pg. 196.

(Depressed Anonymous is modeled on the 12 Steps of AA.)

Resource

(c) Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. (2001) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. KY.

ALERT!!!!

YOU CAN NOW ORDER TWO OF DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS eBOOKS, EACH  $1.  (Basic text AND  Workbook. ORDER EXPIRES ON MAY 1ST. GO TO THE DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS   BOOKSTORE AND CHECK OUT OTHER FINE LITERATURE.

Depressed Anonymous

The spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it!

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The spiritual life is a life that one chooses.  We make a decision as it says in Step Three of Depressed Anonymous, and our lives are changed for ever.

 “Made a decision to turn  our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.”

This decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God is one o f the most important we will ever make in our lives. The more we surrender to God’s peace the more we will   find our way. It is the paradox of our existence in that it is in the letting go that we receive, and  it is only living  in God’s will as we understand God that we can have real life and joy…”  Depressed Anonymous Pg. 46.

“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 depressed now that one of our great defenses is the denial of our feelings – our ability to feel  is diminished as we continually choose numbness over vitality and spontaneity.”  Depressed Anonymous. Pg.50.

(c) Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition (2011)Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. KY.