The Negro National Hymn, Lift every Voice and Sing was written in 1900 by  James Weldon Johnson and his brother to write a song  to celebrate the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.  James  wrote the words and J. Rosamond Johnson wrote the music. This song was taught to and sung by a chorus of five hundred Negro school children.

I think it appropriate to share this Hymn on the birthday of Martin Luther King, an American patriot and prophet, whose dream is still for all of us,  that  light on the mountain top.

“Lift every voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we started at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of  our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, where we forget Thee,
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our God,
True to our native land.

Copyright(c) Poetry Foundation/Complete Poems(2000)

” In Depressed Anonymous we are  exposed constantly to the tough message that we have to give up our self-pity and sadness if we are to be happy.  We have to think in terms of what is possible with God in our lives. Sometimes people come to Depressed Anonymous and can’t  understand what this has to do with how bad they feel. If after a number of meetings they still don’t want to work the Twelve Steps, we recommend other groups for them. Depressed Anonymous is a spiritual program and it is allowing the Higher Power into our lives that eventually delivers us from the habit of feeling sad and depressed. We in Depressed Anonymous are committed to working the Twelve Steps and listening to each other share how God , as we understand God, have worked in our lives.

Daily we pray that God will release us from our depression and will show us God’s will and way to peace.  Don’t give up on yourself but come back to meetings week after week. In time, the truth about yourself as revealed to you by the group and the Higher Power will set you free.   That is a promise.

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 presently depressed know that one of our greatest defenses is the denial of our  feelings — our ability to feel is diminished as we continually choose numbness over vitality and spontaneity.”

In Step Three we have to make a decision.  We don’t have to  feel holy or extra nice but that we only have to make a decision — that is hard for someone who is depressed but it can be done.  There is an old saying that goes like this : “Have a nice day unless you made other plans.” SOURCE: Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Page 50.

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And in section #3.15  of our Depressed Anonymous Workbook we are asked to write out our feelings about the issue of  needing to be in control and how  that applies to our selves?  How has this need to be in control kept you isolated and withdrawn from others and your own understanding of God?  Do you have difficulty in trusting others. Even God? Write out your answers.

”   I want to start to really begin to turn things order to the God of my understanding. In Depressed  Anonymous we call this God our Higher Power.

AS Bill W., said

“We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us.  Ask God  in your morning meditations what you can do each day for the man/woman who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order.

But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven’t got.  See to it that your relationship with God is right and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is a great fact for us.”

SOURCE: The Depressed Anonymous Workbook (2002) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Page 17.

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NOTE: YOU Can order the GROUP/HOME STUDY KIT (Includes both The WORKBOOK  and the DEPRESSED ANONMOUS MANUAL) at VISIT THE STORE here online. Other Depressed Anonymous literature is also available. Check it out.

“What do we consider to be the Higher Power or the God that is larger and more powerful than our personal depression?  In our prayers we believe that God or the Higher Power can free us from the burden of our joylessness, and that the why of our depression is not as important as the fact that we are depressed. What is it about our complete dependence on this obsession with sadness, our chronic fatigue and feelings of worthlessness that won’t let go of us? Granted, sometimes we feel depression is a comfort, and we’re afraid to let  go of it because we don’t as yet  know what will replace it. Hope tends to be unpredictable whereas the pain of depression is constant and predictable. We can depend on it.

We have given ourselves over to the belief that this growing feeling of helplessness is what must govern our lives, moods and behavior. We have given it license to run roughshod over every part of our life and over our relationships. Most people can’t see inside us and discover the pain that makes up our every waking moment. For the most part, we are able to hide how miserable we feel.”

Comment

In Step Two of our Twelve Step recovery program,  we begin to see the light and walk into the arena of  freedom, and can now profess that we “came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity, and that this simple belief gets us closer to the promise of serenity and hopefulness.

As we look at our Depressed Anonymous Workbook and those questions dealing with the Second Step we are asked to comment on this  question:

#2.15  Describe how your Higher Power might be your depression or your attachment to a person, substance, place, thing or behavior?  The Workbook commentary continues on with the following thought: For the depressed person giving up old ways of thinking and acting is much like giving up any other addiction -at first letting go of the old behavior makes us feel uncomfortable. The old behavior wants to cling to our spirit like swamp mud hangs onto knee-high boots. Before you participate in DA you would go home from work, get by yourself and ruminate on how bad you felt. This new behavior will help you think differently about yourself. You will find that this Higher Power, or God as you understand it, is not the same God that you might have met when you were young. When you were a child you came to believe that God was watching you, ready to punish you if you were not perfect. You will begin to develop an adult and new way of being related to God as you understand God. With time, persistence and patience, you will gradually trust your life to this Higher Power.”  ( See Page 48 in Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition, page 48., for a full description of these thoughts.)

SOURCES:         Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition  (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.  (Home study kit-Book One)

The Depressed Anonymous Workbook  (2002) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.   (Home study kit -Book Two)

  Believing is seeing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. (2014) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

 NOTE     VISIT THE STORE at this site for more information on using the Twelve Steps of Recovery for overcoming one’s depression.

Step  One of  the Depressed Anonymous fellowship puts it out there straight and to the point. If we want to recover from  our experience of sadness and isolation we have to get the ball moving. We will  admit  that something is  out of whack in our lives. This First Step is where we start our healing process.

In the Depressed Anonymous Workbook (See Home Study Kit) we can find answers to our questions about depression as they unfold from reflections about our life today. We will take the time and make the effort to unravel from our lives where we find our selves powerless and our lives out of control.

For example in Question  #1.11  in the Workbook it asks the reader: When have you most felt powerless over anything in your life?  How did you handle your feelings of powerlessness then?

I  believe that by looking over our past  difficult life events and circumstances which you have faced and overcome,  this in itself suggests  that you can do it again.

By reading the personal stories in our  Depressed Anonymous book, you have definite proof that those persons who follow the  12 Step program of recovery  no longer feel powerless. Now with the help of the Steps, the Fellowship of Depressed Anonymous and the tools provided for recovery, life becomes manageable. That’s a Promise!

SOURCES:  HOME STUDY KIT  (Visit the store)

Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition and The Depressed Anonymous Workbook together, include  the Home Study Kit. Each group benefits by utilizing both at every meeting.

“Some days I miss my sad thoughts. They are addictive.  They fill a space and meet a requirement of comfort and familiarity. And because humans require and seek a level of comfort and familiarity, the depressed human is no different.  Sadly  (pardon the pun) it’s the sad thoughts that  provide the deep level of comfort is the exact reason that these thoughts  are so familiar. When I  remove the sadness … I have to work to replace that big open field of nothingness left…It feels hard. It feels like work. Pressure and effort…I want to fall back into the sad thinking because I know very well how to form these thoughts and how even to feel them.  Strangely, how to make use of then. They serve a strong purpose. They validate my depression and vice versa. They have lived in me for so long that to have to fill the void of their once lived life in space, feels so hard.  Uncomfortable. My mind is having to accept this new training which  I’m  putting it through. It doesn’t want to change. At first, it is not giving a welcome to  these new positive thoughts. It is a struggle. My mind, lurching restlessly back and forth, I hear the great struggle.: ” I just want to go home to my bed. No, no,  you want to go to the grocery shopping! No, no,  please I need to just lay down . No, I’m leaving the store!! I am so depressed. No, no,  you are going to do your task today because it makes  you feel better.”  And then I tell myself, ” I refuse to be held captive and a victim to this negative dark thinking that is killing me.”

The whole day  continues on like this. It takes time to truly train the mind to accept these incoming positive thoughts…affirmations are a needed daily medicine for the sad mind, and it takes consistency. I ask myself, how bad do I want to feel better? This is the process of healing for my depressed mind and  my feelings.   Now, slowly I miss my sad thoughts less and less.  Now, I continue to  feel the need for  positive affirmations.

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I want to thank Debra S, a member of the Edenton/Elizabeth City, North Carolina,   Depressed Anonymous Group,  for sharing  an excerpt  chapter,  Missing my sad thoughts from her new  book : Depression rides in the hearse. (This work is  available this year).

Hello friends

Just a note today to share with you something  that you already know, namely,  how the continuous thinking of unpleasant thoughts wears us out.

One day, quite by accident I discovered a secret. I discovered how my mind was trying to fool me, by making me believe that I was tired, worn out and needed to lie down and just sleep.

So, again, I was wearing myself out with my gloom and doom thoughts when I believed I was too tired to do anything. I suddenly thought, “Hey, wait a minute, I don’t have to keep running from myself and let this fatigue force me down on my back. ” So, what did I do? I went to my computer desk, and began to write. It was like driving through a blasting blizzard with nothing to be seen ahead of more except the hood of my car. I continued to write. The fatigue persisted.  And then gradually with about ten minutes under my belt,  my negative thoughts slowly replaced with thoughts focused on what I was banging out on my keyboard, I felt a resurgence of energy. Now, I wanted to continue to write. Gradually, I began to feel the lightness of hope  coursing through my arteries. It was like someone had turned on the light and gave me the secret to keep on my feet, so to speak, and regain the energy that I wanted to sleep away.

I distracted myself, pulled away from the gloomy thoughts and focused all my attention on creating something brand new.  The pulling away and  knowing   now  that I can walk away from the temptation to surrender myself to that which would have continued to put me down.

Try it. It works for me. It can work for you as well.

Hugh

CLARIFICATION OF THOUGHT

“It doesn’t ever do anyone any good to call someone a saddict –they usually will come into our group because they feel that their lives are out of control and they are in need of some sort of help.  Most who come will be seeking some sort of immediate relief from their pain and that is surely understandable. They usually won’t be back as they find that there will be work involved in getting out of the prison of depression. Only those who repeat their visits to the meetings, week after week, are the ones who show marked signs of improvement as they gradually learn to use new tools of recovery that they learn about from other members of the group.

One of the better ways to gain hope is to listen to the stories of those people  who are working the Twelve Step program and getting better. These real life stories are the best antidote to despair because I learn that I am not alone, and that I can make it like those others who are working the Steps.

MEDITATION

God, help us know how to respond to your love and let us know how to love ourselves  today.”

SOURCES: Copyright(c) Higher thoughts for down days: 365 daily thoughts and meditations for members of 12 Step fellowship groups. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. December 30. Page 258.

Copyright(c)   Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. See Personal Stories of Depressed Anonymous members on pages 110-152.

“The depression is so bad at times that we feel no one would ever understand how we feel unless of course they have been there.  We just have about given up on our God, church, family and friends as allies on our behalf.  We feel resentments and anger toward people for not feeling more sympathetic toward our never ending sadness. We feel people aren’t kind and don’t treat us with the  same respect that they do other people such as a diabetic, insomniac or arthritic person.  Most people don’t want anything to do with us because they get tired of our moaning, groaning and pessimistic way of looking at life.  Why shouldn’t they?  Life is tough enough without  having to  be subjected to another’s gloom and doom.  But this is the place where we  recognize the difference between ourselves and others, and of course we think our lot is always the worst of all.  This self-pity never brings us into any personal sense of peace, but has just the opposite affect in that it helps perpetuate  the myth that depression floats in like a dark cloud over which we have no control. We need to tell our spouse, family and friends that we want to start again and begin to take charge of our lives and start to chip away at our sadness.  We won’t blame our need to sad ourselves on what my wife,/husband did  or do not do for us, or what a friend said or didn’t say.  We finally have to take the bull by the horns much like the recovering alcoholic, overeater, gambler or smoker, and admit that it is  “I” that has the problem and that it no longer does any good to blame others  for my problem. Once I admit that I am addicted to depressing myself, then I can begin  to walk through the door of the prison that binds me. I must realize the fact that my depression will only get worse unless  I put a stop to all the ill thinking, feeling and acting out behavior that keeps me perpetually locked into my sadness.”

SOURCE:  Copyright (c) Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Pages 86-87.

Comment

How true it is that only unless one has experienced depression  personally do you know how it feels. It does take one to know one. This is why our 12 Step fellowship of Depressed Anonymous makes it possible for those of us who are or were depressed to find a group of people who know what we  feel and what we are talking about. There is hope here.

Hugh

Today, I want to share with you a prayer that has  been part of my daily life for these many years.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Hugh for the fellowship of Depressed Anonymous

“We are wise to believe it difficult to change, to recognize that character has a forward propulsion which tends to carry it unaltered into the future, but we need not believe it impossible to change. Our present and future choices may take us upon different courses which will in time comprise a different identity….The identity defined by action is not, therefore the whole person. Within us lies the potentiality for change, the freedom to choose other courses…if we then invoke the leopard that can’t change his spots, saying  “That’s the way I am, might as well accept it, ” we abandon the freedom to change and exploit what we have been in the past to avoid responsibility for what we shall we be in the future.

Often  we do not choose, but drift into those modes which eventually define us. Circumstances push and we  yield. We did not choose to be what we have become, but gradually, imperceptibly   become what we are drifting into doing those things we now characteristically do. Freedom is not an objective attribute  of life; alternatives without awareness yield no leeway…” Source: How People Change. Alan Wheelis, Harper and Row, NY. 1973. pp.14-15.

Our  12 Step recovery program  gradually dismembers our  compulsive circle of negative  behaviors  and thinking.

“Now I have to dig in and dismember those core beliefs that keep us repeating the same thinking, the same behavior which can keep us imprisoned in our depression. We have this compulsion to repeat -this ritual of defeat – because, first of all, it is comfortable and secondly it keeps us from having to do something different, namely something that we haven’t done before. We continue to move around in a circle always meeting up with the same me – no major changes evident. If we don’t start the process of change, then not without surprise our life then stays the same. But this also closes the door to the future and with it a sense of hope and relief. It seems that to believe that we have no future and that we will always feel this way can imprison  us as we empower these absolute beliefs that nothing good will ever happen for us.  We are thus chained to our own self will and not only are we imprisoned but we are the jailer as well. The key is in our hands and it is there for the asking.”

Source:  I’ll do it when I feel better.(2013) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Page 18.