Category Archives: Helpful Thinking

Our basic antidote for fear is a spiritual awakening!

Antidote: “A remedy to counteract a poison.” This is the definition as given by Webster’s dictionary. Fear is truly a poison in some ways and in others it is a gift. We need to fear only that which will keep us locked in the prison of depression. Sometimes our fears are of what tomorrow might bring or might be the fears from the past. One of the better antidotes to fear is trying to live, just for today. Today is all I have.

So often I hear others say that they have been depressed all their lives until – let me repeat- until they hear other stories as to how with work, time and belief in a power greater than  themselves that they did and are feeling better now.  I need to trust that once I have made my conscious decision to turn my life and will over to the care of God as I understand him, that my life will indeed begin to change.

“I am no longer alone in my suffering depression. I believe that by getting more active in my recovery that my life will begin to brighten up.”

“We of (AA) and  Depressed Anonymous find that our basic antidote for fear is a spiritual awakening.” Bill W.

SOURCES:
Copyright (c) Higher Thoughts for down days: 365 daily thoughts and meditations for members of 12 Step fellowship groups. Depressed  Anonymous Publications. Louisville. May  10. Page 95.
Copyright (c) Believing is seeing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. (2015 ) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.
Copyright (c) I’ll do it when I feel better. (2013) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

I came to believe…

In the 12 Step program of Depressed Anonymous I am learning to march to a different drummer and whistle a different tune. In fact, the road that I am now traveling down is a road that will gradually lead me out of the dead ends of depression, guilt, listlessness  and the old familiar atrophy of my spirit to a new vision of who I am to be and to become.

WRITE:  What is it that you want to begin to believe different from your self when depressed? Please list the four ways that you are gradually  going to change the negative and hopeless way you believe about yourself. Print this exercise out and write out your responses if you would like.

2.2

2.3

2.4

2.5

Now name and list the people, places, situations, and things that have exerted the greatest power over you and your life now and  in the past? These  places, persons, and situations can have a positive or negative POWER OVER YOU AND YOUR LIFE?

2.6 Persons

2.7 Places

2.8 Situations

2.9 Things

CLARIFICATION OF THOUGHT

Now stop and think upon the persons, places, situations that you either gave power over you or who had power over you. These four categories are power full influences in the past which even today may still exert  their influence over you. Try and write down how this is perceived by you today. In other words, are these persons, situations, places still causing your life to feel out of control and unmanageable today? If so why? And if not, why not?

NOTE  The above exercise is taken directly from  The Depressed Anonymous Workbook.(2002) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Page 11.

Each of the 12 Steps has their own series of questions for the participant to answer.  We continue to clarify for ourselves  the avenues which we can take,  one step at a time,  overcoming our experience with sadness.

We have thrown off the shackles of the past

”  Losses may produce a variety of very intense and painful feelings. Fear can cripple the best of us. Why fear people and economic insecurity?  In Steps 4,5,6,7,8, 9 we have examined our lives, piece by piece, ending up with a good conscience, while fearing neither guilt nor shame for things of our past. We have thrown off the shackles of the past.”

SOURCE:  I’ll do it when I feel better. (2014) Smith, Hugh.  Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. #10 of the 13 Promises of  the Depressed Anonymous Recovery Program. FEAR OF PEOPLE AND ECONOMIC INSECURITY WILL LEAVE US.

”  Bill, in his personal testimony in the DA book (Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition) relates that you don’t get better overnight, but you do get  much better. I was down in the muck as far as I could go.  I had to go and open the door for the first time because there was no other place to go. I had already used up all the hiding places in my life. I still have many problems like anyone else, but when I need sleep very badly, I turn this problem over to the Higher Power and go to sleep.  I can always pick life up the next morning. Somehow it all gets done. Every few days the world dumps on you and beats you down. That’s just life.”

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

NOTE: For more information regarding these two publications, please VISIT THE STORE to discover more literature  which  is especially suited to  persons depressed.

Promise # 12 of Depressed Anonymous

WE WOULD SUDDENLY REALIZE THAT GOD IS DOING FOR US WHAT WE COULD NOT DO FOR OURSELVES.” PROMISE  # 12 of 13 PROMISES  of THE DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS FELLOWSHIP.

We must be willing to let go of all thoughts that tell us that we will never get well. These are the same thoughts that have imprisoned us over the years. We now listen to the god of our understanding and proceed with the belief that what we hold about the world on the outside of us is determined and governed by the world that is lived within us.

We are in a brand new way, on a new path and find ourselves committed to a fresh belief that something powerful is starting to blossom within me. A peace that surpasses all understanding is beginning to be born as we learn  to relax and wait and listen for that still small voice. We let go, we surrender, and we relax and let it speak. We pray that the God of our understanding make a way out of this desert of misery just as it has already created a way for those of us who live in the fellowship. Our thoughts move inside us with light and peace.”

SOURCE: (c) I’ll do it when I feel better.(2014)   Hugh Smith. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Pages 52-53.

I can begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel

“I believe that by working the 12 Steps of Depressed Anonymous, the more my Higher Power can release in me the serenity that I seek.  While not giving up hope – I can begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”  The FOURTEENTH WAY out of the prison of depression.

The following is an excerpt from Believing is  seeing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. (2015) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

 

“As long as I have a belief that somehow, someway, I will begin to feel differently and I can believe that Depressed Anonymous was developed to bring the ‘sufferer’s  of depression together. By this gathering of like-minded folks, it resulted in individuals being empowered to find a support which slowly leads them out of the hole.  I have always believed in the power and the uinfluence of the group — either serving as a power for good or a power designed for destructive ends. But as for our group Depressed Anonynmous, I know that it truly builds, enhances and strengthens anyone who gets involved with it on a regular and consistent basis.  Those who do interact with our fellowship eventually come out of the pit of their depression and start feeling hopeful about their lives.  They are feeling hope instead of despair. This is actually happening all the time as those involved in the fellowship begin to see personal changes occurring in their lives.”   Pages 65-66.

How do people change?

People change by facing themselves and discovering a process, a step by step process, where we begin to be aware of why we are the way we are. In THE  DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS WORKBOOK, a companion volume to DEPRESSED ANONMYMOUS,  3rd edition, (HOME STUDY PROGRAM)  we  will  find  answers on how to change.

We learn that depression distorted us from the truths of life, namely, that life is to be lived with hope and serenity. Nursing along a good habit can in time wean us from old and debilitating  habits of thought and behavior. We want to daily fill our day with the gratitude that we are indeed getting better and that the trust we have is indeed placed in the Higher Power.

In order for us to escape depression we need to begin to be aware of the process of how people change. That process is of a nature a spiral instead of a straight line. In other words, now we are willing to risk feeling differently and we have been gearing up to improve our situation. In other words we are making a very important decision right now about our lives.

  1. AWARENESS STAGE: We become conscious that we can’t go on feeling the way we do. Something has to give.
  2. MOTIVATING STAGE: I am going to prepare  myself for needed changes in my thinking, acting and feeling.
  3. DOING STAGE:   I am going to take charge and be responsible for positive changed that have to be made by me if I am to feel differently.
  4. MAINTAINING STAGE: I will continue to seek out and sustain my recovery with people, concepts and my personal working of the 12 Step program for recovery.

Now apply these  four stages which serve as antidotes to our character defects (ideas and habits which continue to make us feel sad). These defects of character cause us to stay imprisoned in our prison of depression.

In the days to follow we will examine  THE FOLLOWING THREE  issues which confront the daily lives of most of us when we are depressed.

(1) BLAMING ourselves and/or others for our problems.

(2) BEING A VICTIM.

(3) ANXIETY AND INNER JITTERINESS.

For those of you who desire a more complete approach to finding what depression is, what it does to our self esteem and ways to overcome our isolation and sadness, persons  depressed  have utilized the HOME STUDY PROGRAM.

THE DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS WORBOOK, with its question and answer format,  provides a pathway leading  to the road to serenity and community. You find that others just like yourself started where you are starting and found answers to why we have become depressed in the first place.  By the time you have worked out answers to all the questions posed by the author in the WORKBOOK you may discover your best self. And, isn’t that what we all are looking for?

With the WORKBOOK, there is the DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS Big Book, 3rd edition., which is coordinated with each Step in the WORKBOOK and provides a recovery process which will complement one’s own progress in working the program

_____________________________________________________

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

(c) The Depressed Anonymous Workbook. (2002) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

VISIT THE STORE, which lists all literature from DAP.,  and order online if you wish, the HOME STUDY PROGRAM.

Always trying to “please others” diminished me!

“I’d rather be imperfect and happy than always trying to be perfect.”  The THIRTEENTH WAY to leave the prison of depression.

The following two  excerpts quoted below  are from   Believing is seeing:15 ways to leave the prison of depression.(2015). Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

 

”  One of the areas in my life where I strive to excel is in the area of trying to be perfect.  Somewhere in our early development as children we got the message that if we were perfect we could be more acceptable to others. I gradually began to believe the more I  tried to please other’s that this would bring me happiness. Instead all it brought me was a loss of myself.  The loss of self reduced me to a shallow self without direction  or meaning.” Page 63.

”   Eventually, my depression became a sort of a comfort as it kept me from having to risk an unpredictable life. In other words, this way of living took away all hope. This is what keeps many of us depressed. We hold onto the mistaken belief that since bad things happened to us in the past, bad things will continue to happen to us in  the future.” Page 64.

________________________________________________

SOURCE: Copyright (c) Believing is seeing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. (2015) Depressed Anonymous Publications Louisville.

VISIT THE STORE for more information on other publications offered to the depressed by Depressed Anonymous Publications.

GET CONNECTED! CHOICE NOT CHANCE DETERMINES DESTINTY!

The NINTH WAY out of the prison of depression.

The following is an excerpt from the book, Believing is seeing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. (2014) Smith, Hugh. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

“Withdrawing from friends and other social contacts is the first clue that you are slipping back into the isolation and pain of depression. Move toward a friend, get a sponsor, and go to a 12 Step meeting. Ask your Higher Power for that nudge that can guide you onto the appropriate path.

There are two times that we need to go to a 12 Step meeting, 1) One, when we don’t want to attend a 12 Step meeting and 2) secondly when we  do want to go to a meeting. From my personal experience I can share with you that it’s when I go to my meeting that I am able to come away from it with something positive to think about. I can honestly say that I feel better after a Depressed Anonymous meeting. I know in my heart that when I just want to sit at home by myself, isolating and ruminating within my head about all the horrible things that have happened to me, or are about to happen to me, that is when I depress myself even more. Get connected. ”

It’s not complicated.

I found my energy coming back!

 PLEASE TREAT YOURSELF KINDLY TODAY! BEGIN TO PLAN PLEASURABLE ACTIVITIES INTO YOUR LIFE TODAY!  The EIGHTH WAY  to leave the prison of depression. An excerpt.

“I think one of the two things which depressed people feel lacking is in not having mastery over the way they feel and believe. Secondly, they seem to have lost a desire to perform a pleasant activity which they might attach their interest. One of the things I recommend for people depressed is to find one pleasant activity which they once enjoyed before  being immobilized by  their present depression. I think it is a good learning experience to believe that  my depression won’t last forever and that someday I can feel better. In other words, I can still try and do that one thing that was a pleasant activity before I got depressed!  We feel “we have no reason to treat ourselves kindly” we may say to ourselves -because we can’t find anything hopeful or of interest in our lives at the present. We also feel that because we are so bad we don’t deserve anything good…”

“At a time when I was especially feeling a total lack of energy I would go and lie down -why fight the fatigue? But then I learned that if I would reject the thought of lying down and instead interest my attention in an activity such as typing on my computer  I found my energy coming back. The thought that I was too tired to do anything disappeared in a short while. Weird, but it works!”

What pleasant activity have you planned for today?


SOURCES:  Copyright(c) Believing is seeing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. (2014) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Pages 43-46.

Copyright(c) I’ll do it when I feel better. Hugh Smith. (2012) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

VISIT THE STORE  for a variety of works dealing with depression and the 12 Steps of recovery. You’ll be glad you did.

Depression gradually dies in the light of…

The following is an  excerpt from the Depressed Anonymous Publication,  Believing is seeing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. 

The SEVENTH WAY  on how to leave the prison of depression.

Today is all that we have. Don’t let dwelling on yesterday’s hurts and fears about tomorrow, rob you of peace today. Contrary to what you might have thought -you are responsible for how you think and feel. I want to be responsible for my depression even though I feel it’s difficult to face the fact that one of the ways of getting out of my depression is to stay and feel the pain of my sadness. I have to live in the here and the 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, 2) secondly, I need to change the  way I think about myself and my world. Again, no one need blame us for the fact 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. One of the best ways to break our dependency on our sadness is to share/admit our depression to members of our Depressed Anonymous groups.  We know how depression flourishes and grows strong 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.”

SOURCES:  Copyright(c) Believing is seeing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression.(2014) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Pages 36-41.

   HOME STUDY PROGRAM: (c) Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition.(2011) DAP. Louisville.  Plus (c)  The Depressed Anonymous Workbook.(2002) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

Please VISIT THE STORE for more helpful information  on ways  to leave the prison of depression