Category Archives: Supportive Actions

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

Prayer

Recovery and decision making according to Bill W.

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“In thinking about our day we may face indecision. We may not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for awhile. What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is  not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely on it.”

AA Pages 86-87.

12 Step Meeting

Welcome to the Depressed Anonymous groups in Warsaw, Poland

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We wish to welcome the Depressed Anonymous groups in Warsaw, Poland. They have been around a long time and now they want to start translating the Basic Text (3rd  edition)  and The  Workbook into Polish. Great news. Hopefully they will join us on SKYPE or ZOOM. We look forward to your presence here.  Our SKYPE meetings are becoming very international  and I know that they will get a warm  welcome here from all of us.  We all speak the same language here – hope and healing.

See you soon.

Hugh

Courage, Fellowship, Isolation, Kindness, Mutual Aid, Purpose

I’m having cabin fever during this pandemic self-isolation. How are you doing?

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

Getting a daily rhythm during this time of self-isolation is getting to be a must for me. How about you? After a month of isolating myself this isolation getting old. And, it appears that it isn’t going to be over for a spell. We are all created as human beings to be close to others. We love the fellowship of groups. Ironically, this is what will kill us or make us very sick at the very least. Physical/social distancing is a must now.

I am getting my stride. Athletes talk about getting into their rhythm. I am much aware that I can’t fiddle my time away – getting myself depressed, or just staring out the window, watching TV , streaming on my computer or just sleeping through it.

So, I have developed a schedule. I make sure that I eat every day and at the same time. I use my 12 Step literature for prayer and reflection in the morning. I also do some writing on my online WordPress blog . Because I have gone through self-isolating when I was depressed – I definitely do not let it happen again. In my schedule I go to the park and exercise everyday and at the same time. I spend a part of the afternoon catching up with friends and members of the Depressed Anonymous fellowship. At these times I connect with member s of the large DA fellowship in Iran and other DA members outside US. (Everyone with whom I have contact are going through the same pandemic as we are.)

The Depressed Anonymous fellowship have an International daily DA SKYPE online meeting. I am able to contact and participate in this group in early afternoon. Then there is a new ZOOM online fellowship that has just been formed. You can find times and places at our Depressed Anonymous website. Or on Facebook. Please try and attend these meetings. Great resource for keeping in touch and helping to maintain our recovery – one day at a time. In the late afternoon I follow our Governor’s daily TV meeting(Kentucky) where he keeps us up to date on things that we have to do to keep each other safe and out of harms way. Then evening news and then other news sources. So by night time I am saturated with news – mostly sad news about how there is so much suffering and isolation among all of us who need each other so much.

I am especially grateful for our 12 step fellowship where we can see each other f2f and maintain our sanity and sobriety. Please check out our recent blogs at www.depressedanon.com or FB Depressed Anonymous. Today is the first day where we are offering our eBooks for $1.00 a piece. These are the 3rd edition of Depressed Anonymous and The Depressed Anonymous Workbook. Both of these eBooks can be downloaded on the computer or printed out on your printer. These are the books which we use at our Online group meetings. If you want these books today, they are yours for downloading. We felt that now is the time to make these books available to as many people as possible. We wanted to make them available on line free – but somehow that was not possible. So we went for $1 buck apiece. I do hope others take advantage of this opportunity – especially most of us who might be hard pressed to come up with any money now when food and shelter is our most critical need. Depressed Anonymous Publications is a very small business operation and all our work is done by volunteers – including me.

My suggestion is to do the same thing everyday, have a schedule for each day and now that the children are home, and with the kids out of school, they will always need some help with their eLearning classes.

Do some fun things for yourself – I personally liked the old Three stooges, Jim Carey’s movies and older comedies keep me laughing. It sure helps lift my mood.

Plan to call at least one older person who is alone. Maybe a neighbor who needs food. My wife and I are now trying to make some strategic decisions in our food purchases and TP. Trying to make do with what we have, sharing what we have with others.

Call your sponsor everyday or a fellow member of our 12 Step fellowship group.

Finally, get into your own rhythm – take it one day at a time-make a schedule and as a family get together and decide how we all can decide how we want to spend our day.

Thank you and may all of us remain safe and secure. This too shall pass. We are all in this together. We are going to get through it. We are going to get through it together.

Love and peace to you all.

Hugh, for the fellowship

Fellowship

Depressed Anonymous ZOOM meetings

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

Dear Depressed Anonymous Fellowship,

The following is an email where you can gain information on gaining access to the ZOOM Depressed Anonymous Meetings which gather twice a week.

The admin advised me that persons wanting to join the meeting can contact her at this address to get the ID Code and the Password Code. We are doing this to protect the participants and the site from being hacked. We thank you for your understanding.

Contact: rebeccairene8@gmail.com

12 Step Meeting, Mutual Aid

A red thread, a beautiful tapestry, patterns and God’s will.

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Some of us, in groups and individually, work the Steps according to the month. What this means is when April 1st (4th month) arrives, we start spending quality time studying our Step #4. This Step states that we “Made a fearless moral and searching inventory of ourselves.” For many of our members, myself included, we use our Depressed Anonymous Workbook in conjunction with our Depressed Anonymous book to discover the patterns of our lives that keep us from being our best selves. The patterns have formed habits and these habits can end up becoming addictions. Could it be that these patterns of our thinking, feeling and behavior keep us imprisoned in our depression? Is it now that we feel we are continually circling around in that morass of hopelessness and helplessness? Like any addiction, we feel there is no way out.

It is here I want to quote from Maria von Trappe (Maria of musical The Sound of Music) who shared this thought:

“It will be very interesting one day to follow the pattern of our life as it is spread out like a beautiful tapestry …. in looking back we can discover how a red thread goes through the pattern of our life: the will of God. ” Quoted in the Publication: Give us this day. Liturgical Press. Collegeville, MN. March 26,

As I examine my life, attempting to discover that red thread, I have found that there actually is a red thread moving through my life tapestry. The red thread is there for me and it is like looking into a rear view mirror showing me where I have been on this life journey. There are these life patterns consistently appearing during the good times and the tough times of our lives. Even a pattern in which I see life as difficult and the world a dangerous place. Many of these negative patterns and fearful thoughts may start in our childhood and gradually become even more pronounced as patterns. But that red thread continues its weaving through our life tapestry into our adult lives. For some the red thread moves forward along with a pattern of pessimism, while providing us at the same time with hope. And as I look over my own past life, I see that my negativity, always following me into most of my relationships. Now as I look at the whole life tapestry as part of my fourth step inventory, stretching as it does from birth to this day, I am able to see patterns which have formed over time, crippling and making feel less than. But even during the painful times I can still see that that red thread, the will of God, has always been there operating in my life, accompanying me on my life journey, invisible, but still there like the silent whisper of the wind, providing me with hope. Now I can see that the red thread hasn’t just formed, it has been there as for long as I can remember. My present belief in a power greater than my depression is gradually setting me free. Today. Everyday.

I know how some Depressed Anonymous groups work this Fourth Step Study on an ongoing basis. For example, there are International Depressed Anonymous Skype Group meetings who come together everyday of the week on the Internet. You can access these group meeting by going to https://join.skype.com and then signing in at 2019depanon@hotmail.com. The leader for the meeting that day will sign you up and you can join the group. Meetings start at 12:30 PM Eastern Standard PM time.

Look back on your life up to today and see if you can recognize how that red thread weaving through your own life, no matter how difficult, how despairing, it is the fact that God has always been there with us and we gradually come to believe that He will always be there with us. And as a member of Depressed Anonymous I want to share with others how that red thread never abandoned me or deserted me, no matter how bad things became. And so when you do your inventory you too will discern that it has always been God’s will that the hope he provides will free you.

Hugh

12 Step Meeting, Higher Thoughts for Down Days

My frequent contact with friends in recovery…

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AFFIRMATION  FOR TODAY

“My frequent contact with friends in recovery enables me to speak the language of hope to myself and to others.”

“We have shared our problems and experiences, our thoughts, feelings and sorrows, our hopes and fears, our laughter and tears. Being in a group has offered us security. It has given us a sense of belonging and the feelings of a new beginning. It is comforting to know that the journey will never have to be traveled alone. Someone will always be there, if you are ever set to fall,  to encourage and support you along the way.

CLARIFICATION OF OUR THINKING

My depression thickens in the darkness of solitude; it  withers gradually in the light of open and frank discussion. By my ongoing and frequent participation in Depressed Anonymous (face to face or Online DA Skype Groups) and the other Twelve Step programs of recovery, I feel that I am no longer alone and vulnerable. I know now that there are other persons out there who understand what I am feeling. I won’t hear any “snap out of  it” nonsense. Usually said to us by folks who have never experienced the pain  of depression. I know  that the progress out of the desert of  depression  is slow and methodical. One Step at a time. I am willing to work on myself and I will be able to win over my depression!

But as I have been wounded by a group or individual ,  or my own family of origin, and those who comprised it, can now find a “surrogate” family and make a decision to choose new members of my family.

MEDITATION

God, help us to learn how to gradually express ourselves with other members of our group. We know that in helping others, we always help ourselves.”

RESOURCES

Depressed Anonymous Daily Online Skype meetings.

(c)Higher Thoughts for down days. 365 daily thoughts and meditations for members of Twelve Step fellowship groups. Depressed Anonymous Publications,. Louisville, KY. Pages 51-52.  March 27.

12 Step Meeting

***ONLINE DA GROUP MEETINGS EVERYDAY***

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REMINDER: Everyday there is a scheduled Depressed Anonymous International Skype meeting online at 12:30PM Central Standard Time, and 1:30 Eastern Standard time. Go to your browser and type in: https://join.skype.com/ Download and sign into Skype. Search  depanon@hotmail.com and send a message asking to be added to the group.

You can join  with  a great group of folks who are working the Depressed Anonymous program of recovery. Don’t miss it!!

Thank you.

Fellowship

Here is a Higher Thought for you today!! ONLINE DA MEETS EVERYDAY!

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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.

Website: www.depressedanon.com

ONLINE DA GROUP MEETINGS

REMINDER:  Everyday there is  a scheduled  Depressed Anonymous International  SKYPE meeting Online  at  12:30PM Central Standard time, and 1:30 Eastern Standard time.   Go to your browser and type in: https://join.skype.com/

There  please sign up  or log into SKYPE. You will see something  that says “join meeting.” You will be sent a link that will enter you into the meeting. Great meeting with those who are working their DA program of recovery. Don’t miss it.

A HIGHER THOUGHT FOR TODAY!

Today I will do one thing, just for myself.

“Treating yourself kindly means looking after yourself and accepting yourself in all your humanness. You are not the most  perfect, wonderful person that has ever  walked on this earth. Neither are you the worst, most imperfect, wicked person that has dared to draw breath.”

CLARIFICATION OF THOUGHT

This “treating ourselves kindly ” might not fit into one of our personal beliefs. I think this is particularly true when so often we want to compare ourselves to others who are more beautiful, more popular, wealthier.  And because of this, we might  have a strong impulse to want to please others. Remember the book, “Looking for love in all the wrong places” this leads to a dead-end of disappointment and sadness.  Is this not true for most of us as we keep searching for the fountain of youth, that lucky lottery number giving us millions?

Let me tell you that more often than not  it makes everything worse because these “pie in the sky” wishes never materialize. Obviously these thoughts do more harm than good. We ruminate how bad we are and life is and how we think that  things never work out for me.

But now that I am in recovery, working the powerful  12 steps of recovery, I am guided by a different standard.

I am beginning to realize, thanks  to my program of recovery and my Higher Power(the God of my understanding) that I am not as bad as I thought I was.  I am beginning to see that the more I live in the present, and live out my in today, the more I become myself and learn to love who I am.

My way of looking at the world prevents me from seeing the world, all creation as a wonderful manifestation of a Power which by its diverse and marvelous creations sends me a personal message of hope.   Like the great poem Desiderata tells us, we have every right to be here–depressed, unhappy, happy or whatever.  Also as it says in the 12 step programs, we are all equal in our fellowship. I am not ashamed to admit that I am or was depressed. I now have a way to free  myself from the bonds of depression. The lockdown–the mental bars of my imprisonment are gone. I now believe that my own depression has made it possible for me to help others. “It takes one to know one.” I believe with all my heart that this is my purpose–this is what gives me meaning–this purpose and meaning leads me to the next person seeking freedom and release of the shackles that  bind us and keep us unmotivated and helpless.

And so “to be kind to ourselves” reminds us that we are to treat others as  kindly as we would like to be treated.

Send  email to us at :Depanon@netpenny.net if you would like to talk with a member. Thanks. Hugh

(C) Higher thoughts for down days: 365 daily thoughts for members of 12 step fellowship groups. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville, KY.  March 23.

Order online at The Depressed Anonymous Publications Bookstore.