Hi Jasmine, welcome back and nice to see you again ^-^ the timing of this is so interesting as the other day during a drive through the mountains something popped into my head which as I am looking now, I believe was your old signature that had Inuyasha and some words… though anyway, I had logged in to do something else but seeing you post, this entire thing seems synchronous so I stopped to reply before I go back to work lol
While depression is considered a medical condition and I am not a medical professional so I can’t give you medical advice, I can share things with you that I looked at while addressing my own depression. This is by no means to be considered what you absolutely should do, but maybe some things to look into.
You don’t have to answer any of these things out loud or here on the forum, these are more just things I would ask myself…
Physical things like diet, exercise and sleep. What are you eating? Are you drinking enough water? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you getting up and getting out/moving around?
Is there someone or something in your environment that is making you miserable?
For me, it was the people I spent the majority of my time with, combined with making physical changes in my life and doing shadow work, that ultimately ended up helping me with my depression. My ex-husband actually was very negative and abusive to me and I had become ‘used to it’ and didn’t even realize how awful he made me feel until I started going through and trying to ‘fix’ and ‘heal’ myself. Yes there were elements of healing myself that needed to be done and I did a lot of that before I realized how he was treating me and decided to leave him. I also did a lot of self-work after…
It’s been my personal experience, depression for me at least was the symptom of other issues/problems in my life. Things I was not dealing with or things I just did not feel very good about. At one point when I moved to the West Coast, I actually had a vitamin D Deficiency so vitamin deficiency may also be something to look at. Once again, disclaimer I am not a medical doctor nor do I claim to be lol
Other things I did … I started my spiritual journey and did find the motivation to read, explore and learn. If you’re not able to do exercises or just don’t have the motivation, is there anything you enjoy doing that you can still feel any passion towards? I used to write, a lot. Writing can be incredibly therapeutic. I heard something once which was, when you feel really terrible and don’t know what to do in a certain situation or in life, write yourself a letter that you would write to a friend in the same situation. What would you tell them? What you would recommend? This may help you sort through your thoughts, feelings or even give you a different perspective on things. It kind of pushes you to step out of where you are and see it from another place. Sometimes we get really stuck, and since you described it as a rut, this may help in that place.
The other thing is do something different. Again, depending on how you are (personally I tend to get stuck in my thoughts, in my head, on details or analyze things to death lol ) doing something physical, even just getting up and going for a walk can reset my mind. I especially used to like walking outdoors in the woods. If you’re not the outdoors type, go see a show or take a class. Read a book. Maybe even do something you would not normally do. Obviously don’t do anything dangerous or that would cause harm to your health. I’m thinking more like an activity, class, trip somewhere even if it’s local or to a theatre, etc.
Doing other types of art can be therapeutic as well. I would do repetitive tasks like sewing, embroidery, crochet or knitting. Which reminds me, there are other types of meditation besides just sitting and doing a focused meditation with your eyes closed. So if you still want to try exercises, you may be able to find something you enjoy or are passionate about and be able to do a different type of meditation. Dancing can be meditative, so can walking.
Hopefully something here resonates with you or maybe at least leads you to what you are looking for. If you have any questions or thoughts, please feel free to ask or mention them. Also even just stepping out and asking for help is a good start and not always easy so I commend you on that <3
alikat13 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 10, 2018 5:35 pm
Spiritual growth is a constantly roller coaster even though most experienced people/practitioners even have their days where they don't have the energy to perform their daily routines. I say you're in the perfect position to recieve some help from DL's you just have to keep an open mind and know exactly what you want them to assist you with. They understand human emotions more than most of humans so don't think a DL will turn you away because of your depression. I hope this helps you a little and wish you the absolute best on your journey, don't feel the need to rush anything, just take life one step at a time so you can feel yourself stepping into your power, the moment you find yourself is one of the most precious moments life has to offer so better to be patient with your progress than to rush it all and miss out on that beautiful moment.
While everything Alikat says is really helpful, I wanted to highlight this specifically as it made me realize something I sometimes forget to say lol I do still have days where I feel sad or even depressed. Sometimes (as I mentioned for myself) it is indicative of other problems and other times I just feel like crap and have no real reason why. In the cases where I have no reason why, or at least one I can't identify, while getting up and out (taking a walk or just getting out of the house) can help, sometimes I can't do this so I will do one of two other things. I really like making other people happy, so I do something nice for someone else. This could mean a lot of different things but just something to shift the energies and help someone else. Or, I find something that makes me laugh. Laughter is very high vibrational. So is love. There are also different meditations you can do to transmute your feelings and energies but that is something I would do with the help of a professional, as misuse of these kinds of things can actually end up doing harm.