Category Archives: Depressed Anonymous

12 Step Meeting, Acceptance, DA Literature, Depressed Anonymous, Depressed Anonymous Workbook, Higher Power

We can feel a change happening…

March 30, 2016 hopeservicefellowship Leave a comment

THE FIFTH WAY OUT OF THE PRISON OF DEPRESSION: AN EXCERPT

“Remember that an oak tree was once an acorn –recovery begins by taking one step at a time as well as reading DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS literature and regularly participating in the meetings.”

How often do we meet people in the program who want the quick fix, the easy way out, the feeling getter -now! But just as it might have taken years for the person to learn how to get themselves depressed, it will take time and work to start to feel better. I do believe that all good growth in nature is gradual and that if we want the good growth to continue, we need to follow certain steps to make sure this growth will continue. One of the first things that we want to do is to admit, like any thing, person or substance to which we are attached/addicted to, which we cannot free ourselves from the attachment by will power alone. We ask our Higher Power, this power greater than ourselves, to free us. We begin our recovery by meeting with our local Depressed Anonymous group and admit by our presence that we want to change. We are dissatisfied where we are now and decide to work on ourselves so that we will feel better. By our taking one step at a time we can feel a change happening. Many people have been depressed for years-they are in so much pain that they want relief now. The members of the group are taking full responsibility for their feelings, moods and behavior.

If you want some inspiring stories of persons who have freed themselves from the deadly grip of depression and isolation, please read their stories in DEPRESSED ANONYNMOUS, 3rd edition. (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Pages 110-152.

THE HOME STUDY PROGRAM: Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition is combined with another publication The Depressed Anonymous Workbook (2002). These two separate publications provide an individual with an opportunity to further their recovery on their own, with the possibility of getting a Depressed Anonymous mutual aid group started in their own community. The best help for ourselves is in helping others.

Please VISIT THE STORE to discover a plentiful resource for books dealing with depression and our 12 Step recovery program, Depressed Anonymous.

12 Step Meeting, DA Literature, Depressed Anonymous, Depressed Anonymous Workbook, Fellowship, Step 01, The 12 Steps

Just Get On Base!

March 25, 2016 hopeservicefellowship Leave a comment

These few words are ones that all base ball players hear when they go to bat. “Just get on base.” If a team is to win the game they must get on base. They have to be able to score at home plate and rack up points needed to win the game.

In our world, we know that to recover from any problem, disaster or misfortune, we have to get back on our feet and get to work. The longer we wait to get the help we need the longer will we suffer with whatever ails us. In my own life, I know that this to be true. When I started to slide slowly down that slippery slope of sadness, I could feel, in an analogous way, my feet slipping out from under me. I was losing control. It was when I finally lost all control and could no longer get up the energy to do anything-except force myself to go to work- that I got on base. If I was to win this battle then I had to do something. It was when I admitted to myself that I was losing it that I did something to help myself.

Because of my involvement in another 12 Step program of recovery I now knew that I had to admit that I was in trouble, physically, emotionally and every other way. So, with the urgency that my situation demanded, I got on base and started to walk miles every day I had to shake off this inner hollowness and jitteriness that had my whole existence in its teeth. By remembering the 1st Step of the program, that “We admitted that we were powerless over depression and that our lives had become unmanageable.” Yes, my life was more than just unmanageable-I was totally frozen in place. I could only think about me-what was happening to me? It was a brand new experience and totally foreign to me. I always was “in control” and now I was totally “out of control.” Something else was running my life. I felt like the proverbial prisoner locked down in the small confining cell of my despair.

To cut to the chase here, I finally got back to a feeling of lightness in my spirit, after having walked miles for weeks. By admitting that I couldn’t go on the way I was, I made the choice to do something.- get on base (work the Steps of the program of recovery). With the help of my belief in a Higher Power, God as I understand God, I finally got moving and got better. It was slow process of recovery but it worked.

I want everyone to know who is reading this now and feeling alone that there is hope for you too. It does take time and it takes work-there are no magic wands waved over our head and presto! we are back on the playing field of life again. No, it takes time, work and a day by day, Step by Step program of taking care of ourselves coupled with the belief that I too can get better. With that attitude you will not only get on base but you can win the game.

_____________________________________________

NOTE: If you would like to start your own program of recovery having a roadmap out of your own prison of depression it would do you well to read the Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition Manual and the Depressed Anonymous Workbook. These two excellent sources of self help are published by Depressed Anonymous Publications and titled the HOME STUDY KIT.

To learn more about the helpful publications offered please VISIT THE STORE at this website, DEPRESSEDANON.COM. You will be glad that you did.

12 Step Meeting, Depressed Anonymous, Fellowship

I hope that I can accept myself today…

March 14, 2016 hopeservicefellowship Leave a comment

AFFIRMATION

I have hope that I can accept myself today and just let go of all the old messages from the old tapes of childhood that told me that I was bad and worthless.

“You desperately wanted people to love you, but you became very wary of giving your love to others. You reasoned that the less you loved another person the less it would hurt when the inevitable rejection came.” Dorothy Rowe

CLARIFICATION OF THOUGHT

I have been holed up for so long in my own little world of feeling hurt and rejection that to attempt to love someone else seems like the greatest challenge of my life. I desire so badly to be loved by someone else that this lack of another’s love makes my isolation from another so hurtful.

After having witnessed the miracle of the group in DA, where depressed people came with their feelings of being hurt and rejected, I find that other’s love and nurture challenge me to hope once again. I can share with my Depressed Anonymous group the fact that I haven’t measured up, that I am angry and that I just want to lie down and die.

I am open enough now to let the light of love from others, who like myself, realize that I am not alone and that I am beginning to feel better already now that I no longer need to be perfect.

This means to be willing to affiliate and give of myself for someone else’s good. In the program I am starting to love-myself.”

MEDITATION

We are going to make a mental decision right now to let God, as we understand God to be, to guide us and instruct us on how best to love ourselves. Wait, listen and follow the promptings of the Spirit.

————————————

SOURCES: Copyright(c) Higher Thoughts for down days: 365 daily thoughts and meditations for members of the Twelve Step Fellowship groups. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

Depressed Anonymous Manual and Workbook ( HOME STUDY KIT). Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

Depressed Once-Not Twice.(2002). Depressed Anonymous Publications Louisville.

12 Step Meeting, DA Literature, Depressed Anonymous, Ego Deflation, Fellowship, Isolation, Mindfulness, Mutual Aid, Purpose, Spiritual Heroes, The 12 Steps

I said to myself, “if I ignore it maybe it(depression)will go away.”

March 7, 2016 hopeservicefellowship Leave a comment

“There was a time when we ignored trouble, hoping it would go away. Or, in fear and in depression, we ran from it, but found it was still with us. Often, full of unreason, bitterness, and blame, we fought back. These mistaken attitudes, powered by alcohol, guaranteed our destruction, unless they were altered.

Then came AA (and DA. OA, NA, Al-Anon etc). Here we learned that trouble was really a fact of life for everybody – a fact that had to be understood and dealt with. Surprisingly, we found that our troubles could, under God’s grace, be converted into unimagined blessings.

“Indeed, that was the essence of A.A. itself: trouble accepted, trouble squarely faced with calm courage, trouble lessened and often transcended. This was the A.A. story, and we became a part of it. Such demonstrations became our stock in trade for the next sufferer.”

COMMENT: It was with my own experience with depression that I tried to deny that it was anything that could keep me from a life lived with hope and joy. I thought that if I just ignored it, like Bill W., stated so well above, it would just evaporate like the morning midst. Of course this just didn’t happen.

As I commented on this denial factor which is a big part of all addictions, I also came to believe that, “well, what I am going through will surely pass. It isn’t so bad, really. I can put up with a little discomfort.” Sorry. It didn’t work that way. And as I pointed out in I’ll Do It when I feel Better I said ” we also learn that our depression is a defense and predictable and for some, depression is even come to be a comfort and as has been said before, at least one knows what they have with depression. And to change and risk removing this numbness is better not to be undertaken because it’s better to know what one has than to risk getting something worse. Much like the example cited before of the debate within ourselves to go to the dentist for the toothache or just tough it out and hope for the best. We call this denial.” Page 17.

To examine more literature about depression and using the Twelve Steps in your personal recovery , please taker a look at VISIT THE STORE here at our website.

______________________________________

SOURCES:

1) As Bill sees it. Page 110.

2) I’ll do it when I feel better. (2014) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

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

Depressed Anonymous

I started believing in me

February 18, 2016 hopeservicefellowship Leave a comment

“It has been a year now since I gave up on those negative thoughts that I had over my lifetime. I gave them up one at a time. It wasn’t like I dumped them all at once. It was like the people needed to show me a new life and see that I can be happy again. In the beginning, I thought the old familiar tapes had begun playing again. The old tapes saying that I was “stupid” began to play. But then I would attend Depressed Anonymous meetings every week and I would go and find that I could use things that other people said at the meetings which would help me. That is one place where you could go and be fully accepted for whatever you had to say, and someone else there said they knew exactly what I was feeling. I also began to trust in God as my Higher Power. More and more, I turned it over to the Higher Power and said I can’t do all these things all by myself.

I did pray as hard as I could. I prayed every night. I believed that this change was going to happen. I started believing in me. But the wonderful thing was that I began to realize that I was no longer alone. A Higher Power was going to be there for me.”

Source: Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Page 146. Personal stories section.

DA Literature, Depressed Anonymous, Fellowship, The 12 Steps

You begin to see yourself as healer instead of victim…

February 1, 2016 hopeservicefellowship Leave a comment

These Twelve Steps work for those who work the program and who try to live one day at a time. Many times we have been so scared of being rejected once more that we have withdrawn deeper into the anguish of our shame and hurt. We need to air our hurts, our shame, and let others hear our story. There is something healing about hearing ourselves speak to others about our own journey in life and the many emotional potholes that we have fallen into from time to time. We have felt our lives were jinxed. But now we can begin to feel hopeful when other members of the group shake their heads in knowing approval of what we are saying when we tell our story. Most have been where we are now. And the more we make an effort to come to meetings regularly, the more we will find members of the group telling us how they are seeing a change in the way we act, talk, and look. We will accept the group’s comments as being true and honestly expressed. These people speak our language and they all have been where we are now. You gradually begin to see yourself as healer instead of victim the more you work the program and get excited about the possibility of helping others. When you start reaching out to others in the group, it is at that point that you are carrying the message of hope to others. You have a future with Depressed Anonymous.”

SOURCES: Copyright(c) Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Page 105.

NOTE: These two works comprise the Home Study Kit which can be purchased TOGETHER at VISIT THE STORE.

Acceptance, DA Literature, Depressed Anonymous, Depressed Anonymous Workbook, Fellowship, Higher Power, Mindfulness, Miracle Thinking, Step 04, Step 05, The 12 Steps

The Miracle Of The Group

January 22, 2016 hopeservicefellowship Leave a comment

“By our continual shutting ourselves up in the little world of our own mind, we gradually sink more and more into despair and feel that no one can understand how we think and feel. The biggest freedom that we can gain from confessing to someone else is that we no longer have to have it all together and be perfect. We can begin to admit it when we are petty, selfish and self-centered. We can then admit that we want to have restored a sense of peace by getting free from all worry and fear from the past and by turning those over to the Higher Power. We can then discover that forgiving ourselves and being forgiven by God are one in the same thing. The group will see to it that the more you admit your own fears about yourself and the future, the less terror the present will hold for you.”

“My dear friends, it is this spiritual experience, to feel that God is with you, and that this joy is the joy that will restore your youth and renew your spirit. We no longer have to be the way we are -we can choose to feel and be different. Others are doing it-so can you!”

“Depression feeds on hurt, pain and self-doubt. When we are depressed we have a need to bash ourselves for our misguided errors and sinfulness. The Fifth Step if done genuinely and prayerfully, will in time help restore our sense of freedom and belief that we are truly forgiven. It is in the miracle of the group and its acceptance, love and nurture that helps the depressed person feel secure without recourse to depression.”

THE DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS WORKBOOK, examining Step Five, asks the following question at 5.21: List what action you will have to take if you want to respect yourself again? Remember, it’s our past need to tell ourselves how bad and unacceptable that we are that keeps us depressed. This is a “wrong” if there ever was one.

HOME STUDY KIT

SOURCES: Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition.(2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Page 64 (Book One of the Home Study Kit).

The Depressed Anonymous Workbook (2002). Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Page 52. (Book Two of the Home Study Kit).

VISIT THE STORE at this site for ordering online.

12 Step Meeting, DA Literature, Depressed Anonymous, Fellowship, Meditation

Frozen feelings

January 11, 2016 hopeservicefellowship Leave a comment

My feelings get frozen for me when I am depressed. My face sometimes masks the feelings of despair that lurks in my whole being. I feel only the pain and hurt of yesterday. I say “I’ll do it when I feel better.” I never do it because that day never comes. I need to have a list of feeling words that will help me best get in touch with what I feel and desire. The words that describe the feelings are just that – words- but the words that I describe myself with are the same words that I have allowed to imprison me throughout my life.

The major feelings are mad, sad, glad and fearful. It is when I can name my feelings, feel them, that I can make some headway accepting that they are there and then deal with them. In the past, I fled from what was new and uncomfortable.

Meditation

In the spiritual life, I find that God is there whether I feel its presence or not. What I know is that there is some grand design for this universe and for myself. I am in debt to its plan and to its process. Right now, as I yield to its desire for my life (it’s desire is my desire). I will and I can find a way out of my depression. Even though I fear that I might lose something of myself, my very self, if I trust, just the opposite can happen. I will gain a new life filled with hope and a new way of feeling alive.”

SOURCES: Copyright(c) Higher Thoughts for Down Days: 365 daily thoughts and meditations for members of 12 Step fellowship groups. (1999) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. January 11.

Acceptance, Depressed Anonymous, Fellowship, Higher Thoughts for Down Days, Hope

I am choosing to live now-today!

January 7, 2016 hopeservicefellowship Leave a comment

AFFIRMATION

I am choosing to ask the God of my understanding to help me be open to all the persons like myself who are getting free of their hopelessness.

“Being constantly on guard against the future is exhausting, but it does have the advantage of directing your attention away from the present. Since the past and the future are ideas in our minds we can insist that the past and the future are exactly as we see them. The trouble with the present is that it has the habit of suggesting that my ideas may not be entirely right.”

CLARIFICATION OF THOUGHT

To live now takes more courage, on some days more than on others. What I need to do is to attempt to live right now. The living in the present will make it possible for me to gradually learn some new truths about life and myself. This opening myself up to the present moment will give me the opportunity to hear how I can live with hope and serenity.

No longer do I have to choose to live in the encapsulated and isolated prison of my own fears and prejudice about the past and the future. The past is always full of hurt and unexpected anger. The future never seems to be without its colossal fears and “what if’s.” Now is the time to accept the fact that I want to change the way I think, act and believe. Right now I am wanting a change and am willing to face the challenges that making changes bring. To do this is called living.

The Third Step tells me that I have made a decision to turn my mind and my will over to the care of God as I understand him. This is the freedom that I am looking for. This is the source of my strength today, namely, these healing Twelve Steps. Granted that I have to clean house and admit that I have unknowingly constructed my own depression (See Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition)

MEDITATION

I will make a decision. This is the first step in getting free. I make a decision to choose freedom over the security of isolation and a life that is lived in the past.

SOURCE: (c) Higher Thoughts for down days: 365 daily thoughts and meditations for members of 12 Step fellowship groups. (1999) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. January 7. Pages 4-5.

Depressed Anonymous, Depressed Anonymous Workbook, Fellowship, Prayer, Spirituality

Choices: To be or not to be!

January 5, 2016 hopeservicefellowship Leave a comment

For many, just knowing that they might have a choice and be able to choose to feel differently can be a startling revelation. I can choose to be happy or I can choose to stay miserable. ” Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. (2011) DAP. Louisville.

The following is a story of how one person, deeply depressed told her story of how by letting go she was able to hang on. And she not only was able to hang on but she was able to help others and hang on and live life to the full.

” I started sleeping more, stayed in bed mostly and let the house and the children go. I felt empty inside. No one or anything could help me. If I hadn’t thought that suicide was the cardinal sin, I would be dead today. So one night I lay on the floor crying and praying from my heart. In the past when I prayed I wanted God to do all the work, while deep down I didn’t want to let go of my miserable, yet safe way of life. And as long as I wouldn’t really let go, God seemed to have no answers for me. This time though, I was at his mercy. Life for me could no longer go on this way. I prayed the most releasing prayer. I offered up my entire self to him. Nothing magical happened after this except the sudden urge to call my Church for Christian counseling. They referred me to this very affordable, warm, lady counselor, who I had seen in the past. She suggested that I start attending Depressed Anonymous, a Twelve Step meeting. This was a great effort for me. I was SCARED AND SKEPTICAL Since that first night I’ve been attending weekly Depressed Anonymous meetings and reading Depressed Anonymous literature. I also attend drug free therapy, attend church and church activities and continue to pray and walk regularly. I know that my life is being richly blessed. I am also using the Depressed Anonymous literature and listening to the people in the Depressed Anonymous meetings where I have received valuable tools which I put to daily use. The moment that I read that I had a choice to stay in depression, I immediately knew that I could make the choice to get out of my depression.”

And finally, a word from Bill W., the cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous who tells us, “When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned.”

SOURCE: Copyright(c) Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Personal Stories section.

NOTE: For more information on a broad variety of subjects dealing with depression and the Twelve Steps click onto the VISIT THE STORE.

Hope is just a few steps away!