Category Archives: Helpful Thinking

Today I am going to be active in my own recovery.

November 9, 2018 Hugh Smith Leave a comment

“I believe that our involvement with people like ourselves in the group (Depressed Anonymous) can gradually broaden our perspective in the area of hope. We have to utilize new found tools that help us live with hope as well as enable us to learn that we have to be active in our own recovery. ”

A person who wants to get active in their own recovery would do well to go to the Main Menu at depressedanon.com ( here) and check out the drop down menu at TOOLS OF RECOVERY. It is here that one can find many recommended ways and activities to begin the journey to freedom out of the prison of depression.

If not today, then when?

PS For more Information about Depression and the 12 Step program of Recovery go to DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS PUBLICATIONS BOOKSTORE @ DEPRESSEDANON.COM

Fellowship, Mindfulness

Hibernation works for bears!

November 8, 2018 Hugh Smith Leave a comment

One of the situations that develop for those of us who are depressed is to isolate. To hole up. To hibernate. This of course works for bears –but just makes things worse for those of us who are depressed. Isolation from life causes a fracture–a disconnectedness from others and our daily activities. We find that we are gradually slowing down–withdrawing from others and choosing to be alone rather than being connected. Our minds go round and round choosing to do nothing, circling around like a dog chasing its tail, rather than finding solutions. Basically, isolation is our solution.

CLARIFICATION OF THOUGHT

A mantra that needs repeating in our minds is to tell ourselves that we need to move our bodies if the mind is to break free from the chains of immobility. Move the body and the mind will follow. Once we have committed ourselves to get physically moving the more the mind will challenge our isolation and inactivity. At first we will have that ongoing debate inside ourselves telling ourselves “I’ll do it when I feel better.” I know, I’ve been there.

I am going to keep myself physically fit.

“Keeping physically fit! It is a must for us, who are and who have been depressed. Walking not only restores harmony to the body, it likewise restores my self-esteem and self-confidence.”

Try walking. It costs nothing. No gym fees or dues. Walking can make a difference for those of us who find ourselves with our thoughts of suicide, despair and hopelessness. In the very act of walking, I move outside the narrow and limited circle of my life and move into relationships with other people, places, and situations. Walking releases mood elevating chemicals in my blood and like others, may cause me to feel a slight elevation of mood. Walking also helps distract me from the ever present round of negative thinking that continues to oppress me.

With time and perseverance, I discover that exercise not only reduces physical tension in my life, but it also makes it possible for me to feel better about myself.

For me to feel good about myself, I have to first want to like myself. I want to attempt to live just for today and not be concerned about what if this , or what if that happens. I am deciding today, that for me to feel better, I must get active and exercise.

God will help us and motivate us to get out into the world of fresh air and the diverse beauty of creation so that we may enjoy God’s goodness manifest itself all around us.

***

Please click onto the TOOLS FOR RECOVERY menu here at the website. See items EXERCISE and BEING in NATURE.

SOURCE: (c) Higher Thoughts for Down Days” 365 daily thoughts and meditations for members of 12 Step fellowship groups. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.Ky. Pages 222-223. November 8.

I’ll do it when I feel better. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

Faith, Fellowship, Higher Power

This is what I need when I am depressed.

November 5, 2018 Hugh Smith Leave a comment

What one needs when in this situation is someone to talk with, someone who will not give advice and produce solutions but who will help to unravel the complexity of one’s thinking and feeling and to look at positive alternatives, someone whose presence ensures that the isolation is not complete,.

CLARIFICATION OF THOUGHT

In order for someone to listen to me I have to have the courage to talk. Today, I am going to share as much of my pain and feeling isolated with a trusted friend. I might even make an appointment with a therapist. I know that the most important thing for me to do is to break out of my isolation of negative thinking and behaving and get close to someone who will listen to me but not judge nor give me advice such as “snap out of it.

Admitting that I am depressed is the first step and best step to walking out of our isolation.”

SOURCE: Higher Thoughts for down days: 365 daily thoughts and meditations for members of 12 Step fellowship groups. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. November 4. Page 220.

Spirituality, Step 12, The 12 Steps

The Prompter

October 31, 2018 Hugh Smith Leave a comment

The prompter is a person who prompts; specifically one who cues performers when they forget their lines. Other speakers use Tele-Prompters, which enables the speaker to read their speech from a screen.

In the Depressed Anonymous program of recovery, we find ourselves listening to a spiritual Prompter — an inner voice, a Higher Power, providing us with a brand new line of thinking. An action oriented prompt, where we come to believe in a Power greater than ourselves nudging us to change the way we think and behave.

But who is this Prompter? What is its name? And why am I hearing it’s voice now. I am hearing it now because I am ready to hear it. Fair enough? I have surrendered. Once beat down by my addictions, I now no longer follow the cues which produced for me a life of negative moods and behaviors. I told the God of my understanding that I’ve had it! No more beating myself up with blame and negative thinking. Negative thinking produced those painful moods spiraling me down into feelings of hopelessness and depression. I had the feeling that all my efforts at finding hope were futile.

The Prompter which I have been listening to in the inner depths of my soul has been leading me towards serenity and filling me with a powerful meaning for my life. After having been introduced to the spiritual principles of the Twelve Steps I continued to listen to the Prompter in the quiet of those daily moments of meditation and prayer.

It was my decision to put my life on a brand new trajectory of wellness and healing. I had a spiritual awakening, ever so gradually. I just knew it was the Prompter itself who was placing a new life script into my heart.

Each and every day of my life I pray, I quiet the chatter in my mind, and draw near to the God of my understanding. When we draw near to God, God draws near to us. What you seek, seeks you.

I believe that my daily conscious contact with God in prayer and meditation I am able to discover that we are no longer dependent on our will but on God’s will for us. And just as Bill W tells us in Alcoholics Anonymous that when we are faced with the indecision about something, we then ask God for inspiration and we let go of struggling for an answer. He tells us that you will be surprised at how the right answers will come after we have practiced this way of living. It also comes to pass that our hunches are more right than wrong. We also pause throughout the day when we are fearful, puzzled or anxious. We pray to the Higher Power for which direction to take. I like the suggestion the best when AA says,” We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self pity, or foolish decisions. We become more efficient. We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves..” (Depressed Anonymous, Page 101). We all know that our new life script which the Prompter has provided us gives our life direction and meaning.

Depressed Anonymous shares with us Meister Eckart’s thoughts on that Vital Spiritual Experience which comes to each of us when we surrender our lives and wills to the God of our understanding.

“This work (birth), when it is perfect, will be due solely to God’s action while you have been passive. If you really forsake your own knowledge and will, then surely and gladly God will enter with his knowledge shining clearly. Where God achieves self-consciousness, your own knowledge is of no use, nor has it standing. Do not imagine that your own intelligence may rise to it, so that you may know God. Indeed when God divinely enlightens you, no natural light is required to bring that about. This natural light must in fact be completely extinguished before God will shine in with his light, bringing back with God all that you have forsaken and a thousand times more, together with a new form to contain it all.” (Depressed Anonymous, Page 161).

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

SOURCE: Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. KY. Page 101, 161.

Acceptance, Depressed Anonymous, Fellowship, Focus, Honesty, Hope, Mindfulness, The 12 Steps, Victim Thinking

Was finding this phone number a coincidence?

October 23, 2018 Hugh Smith Leave a comment

Helen shares her story about finding help–when she needed it most.

“I finally knew after two year or more of sleepless nights that someone had to help me. I found a card saying Depressed Center, in the back of the phone book. It has a phone number and that was all. I talked to a man on the other end of the phone. I said to myself this man is too busy to talk with me, but anyway I made the first appointment myself. I made myself go. I thank God I did. I thank God that I went for help. It was a whole new beginning for me. I wanted to get well so badly. I think people do have to want to change. I went in with an attitude that I have to get well. I had heard things about counselors that scared me, but this was just all the old negative feelings that caught up with me and boxed me in. I got better and started to think differently. I started to get rid of some of my negative thoughts. I began to feel better and I continued to see my counselor. I started in Depressed Anonymous some weeks later.”

If you are curious about how the mutual aid group changed Helen’s life you’ll need to read her full account in the Personal Stories section of Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition, pages 169-172.

She also has something powerful to say about pleasing people and how she needed to get her priorities straight and begin taking care of herself.

Sources: Seeing is believing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. (2017). Hugh Smith. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville, KY.

I’ll do it when I feel better.(2018) Hugh Smith. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. KY

DA Literature, Focus

Life can be good for a change.

October 16, 2018 Hugh Smith Leave a comment

I read the Depressed Anonymous manual, go to counseling, and attend the Depressed Anonymous meetings. The meetings are a must. I need them to survive. The support group’s members help each other by listening, talking, expressing their feelings, and giving support on how to cope with depression. By letting my Higher Power help me, I am beginning to feel free from depression. I am not so nervous and tensed up. My Christian inner faith is getting stronger. I am not so stressed out and I am beginning to get confidence within myself. I still have trouble with sleep pattern and I am getting some motivation back. I have learned how to handle anxiety by taking deep breaths when I am nervous or troubled. This was suggested by my therapist. I also am learning how to stand up for myself.

All these tools have helped me and will continue to do so. They also taught me not to dwell on my past, to live life one day at a time, and to look toward the future, but not live there. It will take me a long time to deal with depression, but I am glad that these tools are available. Life can be good for a change. Please don’t give up.”

~ANONYMOUS

Anonymous, is one of the many persons who share their personal story of recovery in the group’s manual, Depressed Anonymous.

For more of her story and many others please go to The Depressed Anonymous Publications at www.depressedanon.com.

DA Literature, Depressed Anonymous, Hope

One picture is worth a thousand words!

October 14, 2018 Hugh Smith Leave a comment

The reason I started a Depressed Anonymous meeting in 1985 is because I knew that getting a meeting organized would be a help to those suffering from depression. I also know just like in any other 12 step fellowship group, power is in the group. Whatever the serious nature of the problem we face, a group of people who are on the same page, mentally, spiritually and physically, provides a healing atmosphere for the participant.

Since I was also a member of another 12 step fellowship, I instinctively knew that getting the depressed out of their isolation and into relationships with people like themselves would be therapeutic. We all had the same story to tell. It was not only a story of our struggles with our own depression but it was a story that brought a fresh new hope for ourselves and for all those with whom we shared out lives.

I mentioned the song sung by Ane Brun, the Norwegian singer, in a recent blog(10/13) and now today I would like to give you the lyrics to the song. I dedicate it to those who bring to life something new. We bring a new life not just for ourselves but for others like ourselves. In this case, here is the last stanza of her powerful message.

“It all starts somewhere

It all starts with one

Everything comes from something

It all starts with one

Starts with one.”

(You can hear her whole song on YouTube.)

I have found this song’s lyrics so powerful that I was motivated to share a small part of this song with each of you. As you and I know, ideas and movements have to start somewhere with somebody. They don’t just happen. Movements, great ideas, they always “start with one, and then two and then three and more. ” Truly a song about the power of ONE. We all know about the power of social media and how experiences of others become viral so that millions of people may see the same picture and get the same message. As the saying goes, “one picture is worth a thousand words.”

I remember well the reaction that I got when I asked my Dean of the Psychology Department if I could start a group for persons depressed. I felt that we had possibly found a way out of depression, using the 12 spiritual principles of Alcoholics Anonymous and modeling this program of recovery for persons depressed, The Dean’s response was doubtful. He gave me the “go ahead” but remarked that “since the depressed normally can’t get themselves out of bed because of their depression, don’t be disappointed if they don’t show up for this project.” I’m glad that we went ahead. We had a very successful outcome where most of the depressed in our program felt their depressed mood lighten. What happened after that is history. In May of 1985, with the help of members from our initial group, Depressed Anonymous was started. It is now is spreading around the world. Our literature is now in English, Farsi language, Russian, and presently being translated into Spanish (2019) and Dutch. The Internet has brought our message of hope into lives and homes around the globe. Our message of hope is just a click away.

Remember, it all starts with one, and two, three and more….

Hugh

DA Literature, Hope

“It all starts with one.”

October 12, 2018 Hugh Smith Leave a comment

A popular singer from Norway (Ane Brun) penned the lyrics of a song which I found to be a powerful testament to the “power of one.” If you type in the words “It all starts with one ” at You Tube you can hear the song and read the lyrics as well.

Over these many years with our fellowship Depressed Anonymous I have found that the song “It all starts with one ” to be a powerful reminder of the power individuals have when they have a passion for service. I am referring to those persons who start Depressed Anonymous meetings in their communities. They are the living proof that it only takes one person to share their passion and set up a meeting for those “still suffering” from depression. Most DA group founders who have started groups I know personally . Some are still at it after a decade or so of service.

Yes, it’s true. “It all starts with one” . Are you that one? Let us know at Depressed Anonymous if you are interested in helping others like yourself who are depressed. Depressed persons are looking to you for help.

Hugh

DA Literature, Depressed Anonymous, Focus, Hope

My moods began to spiral upwards once I regained control of my life!

October 10, 2018 Hugh Smith Leave a comment

Is it that simple? Gaining control of my life didn’t happen overnight. I did know that most people’s depression usually lifted after a year’s time. Mine did. The catch is, that for me, it took some work and patience. No magic wand waving over my head and no silver bullet automatically killing the demon of despair that continued to beat me down. But what gradually happened was that my mood came back providing me with hope and a plan for my recovery. I began to feel some control over how I was feeling and the new mood of cheer gave me the courage to keep on doing what I was doing. In my case, my mood began to be lightened the more I continued my daily walking.

Just my determination to take of myself physically paid huge benefits. For once, in many months I felt some control over my mood and the direction where my life was heading. I was beginning to be in control instead of my life being out of control and unmanageable.

I remember in Graduate school I gave persons depressed a questionnaire determining how much control they felt they had over their lives. Interestingly, the person who felt they had less control over their lives, or none at all, these more depressed persons felt less in control over their environment and the way the direction of their life was taking.

Those who were less depressed answered that they were begin to feel more in control of their lives. These persons were experiencing more hope and the direction of their lives was providing purpose and meaning.

What to do?

First of all, get a plan that will work for you. My plan was this Step by Step program of recovery we call Depressed Anonymous. The best part of the plan is to find friends who, just like ourselves, are working the same plan. This fellowship, this non judgmental approach and support of the group provides us with our marching orders. When members of the fellowship share their story–we hear our own story. We know that just by admitting that we need help it is at this initial starting point, where we begin to spiral upwards instead of continuing the spiral downward.

If you want to take control of your life and your mood, it would do you well to join us and discover how others gained control over their lives just as it is possible for yourself.

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

DA Literature, Depressed Anonymous, Focus, Hope

My life is out of control!

October 8, 2018 Hugh Smith Leave a comment

“I have come to the Step program because my life is out of control. Whatever I do or think or say seems to make no difference on the way that I feel right now. I feel out of control, and some other force is in charge of my life. I know also that this force, this power other than myself, this sadness has me captive and somehow I have felt unable to do much about it.”

Until today!

In our Home Study program of recovery, we use the Depressed Anonymous Workbook in conjunction with the Depressed Anonymous Manual, together let them lead us, Step by Step out of our depression.

The Depressed Anonymous Workbook facilitates a new self awareness by questions which we need to answer. Each Step is provides further meaningful thoughts from the “Big Book” of Depressed Anonymous. By reading certain noted paragraphs, as indicated in our Workbook, (Page #), we move through all the questions with that greater self-awareness of how depression controls every day of our lives. Actually, the Workbook, by its questions and my responses, continues to open up for me where my life can be lived with hope once again.

Example: Workbook question #1.9 “What areas of one’s life appear to be more out of control now that you are aware of how depression can isolate a person. What areas of one’s life appears more manageable now that you are aware of how you can change things around — choosing to feel differently?” Workbook, Page 9.

“It is in the admission that we are out of control that a remedy can be applied to our battle with depression. It is a paradox for our understanding of depression to learn that only when we give up control, do we gain control over what we want to be, think or do. If there is anything that creates a sense of hopelessness, it’s when we fee that we don’t have any control over our lives. When we are depressed, we feel dependent on all the forces that act on us and our environment. We feel that we are like the victims of the interminable feeling that we call depression. Depression can be like a hell or bottomless pit from which we feel we can never escape. It’s like being in an eighty foot hole with an eight foot ladder.” Depressed Anonymous Manual. Page 28.

Depressed Anonymous, 3rd ed., Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Ky.

The Depressed Anonymous Workbook, (2002) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.Ky

Many Depressed Anonymous meetings use the Home Study as a meeting Step Study group

For more literature about Depression and the Twelve Steps click onto the Depressed Anonymous Bookstore.

Hope is just a few steps away!