A lot of people on Soulcast sure seem to be depressed lately, having hard times and so forth. There have been days when I could  write the book on depression. Lately I find I really have to control my thoughts, otherwise they run the train right off the tracks into the trash heap. Here are some questions I ask myself when I am beginning to wallow in the horrors that daily life can be.

 

1. Think of the most beautiful thing you can visualize. Focus on it for a few minutes in your mind's eye or in real life if you have it in your possession. I particularly like to think about roses. Their shape. Their color variations. Their intoxicating fragrance.

 

2. Think on your happiest childhood memories. Did you know I had painted my childhood with such a black paintbrush and I'm just now discovering I had good times too? That was a real revelation to me.

 

3. Think on how much easier most of us have it than the soldiers in the civil war (or any war) that lost limbs and eyes and guts to horrible wounds. Even my worst day is not as bad as that.

 

4. Clean off one table top. Any table top or desk top. Just let it be empty for awhile. Empty spaces rekindle our creativity.

 

5. Do something naughty. Wear pink panties. Draw a temporary tattoo on your naughty bits. Don't tell anyone. Just smile when you think about it.

 

6. Read a book you loved as a kid. Go ahead, break out those Cat in the Hat Books or Clifford the Big Red Dog or Where the Wild Things Are.

 

7. Make up silly names. I was in hysterics today after reading about a pirate named Dirt McGurt. So I started thinking of other names that rhymed like Polly McMolly or Joe Winslow or Bart Joe O'Bardo. Reading some of those names on that Pirates Online game crack me up. My favorite today was a pirate called Applebeard.

 

8. Make a decadent dessert. Share it with a friend. If you don't have a friend share it with an imaginary friend.

 

9. Get up and move. Movement creates endorphins. Sunlight creates seratonin. Both help with depression.

 

10. Spend 20 minutes on a task you hate. If you are going to be in a foul mood anyway, may as well take it out on a job you don't want to do. Dig up those weeds. Recycle those cans. Hose off the car. Get out of your own head for a while and do something physical.

 

That's my little list. I know it won't save the world but it should take some of the pressure off.