We discussed in The Dynamics of Depression, that an individual with depression has an altered brain chemistry and even structure. However, this can be controlled and changed for the better if the individual resolves and sticks to a positive change.  

 

 

The key to managing unhappiness is to train the mind towards positive thinking. Friends and family can go a long way in helping an unhappy individual towards optimism but in the end, the individual has to make the effort towards recovery.

 

  

  

Modern science has made great headway in understanding the power of the human mind over body and yet it’s incredible how this powerful mind is subservient to the human will. For all its power, the mind can be trained too ‘see’ invisible stimuli, process sounds differently, increase intelligence and can even be trained to ‘aid’ forgetting trauma!

 

Working with the Attention

 

The thing to understand here is that what really matters is the kind of attention an individual pays to life. For a depressed person, life is a set of situations that bring fear, anxiety, sorrow or guilt. The more an individual of this mindset ‘holds onto’ what s/he wants rather than what is, the needier and unhappier s/he gets. The happiest of people in the world have not lived lives free of trauma, but they have learned to move on by giving attention to the benevolence of life around them. Life goes on.

  

 

The fact that each of our body cells is replaced every three months is testament to that. So in effect when we ‘hold’ onto things rather than free flow, we are torturing our own configuration. The fact that our brain cells can regenerate and help to erase painful memories is actually one of the least known and most phenomenal finds of our time. It testifies to the fact that the Design is Benevolent.      

 

The key therefore to changing the mindset, is how you engage your Attention.

 

A simple and great tool to train the mind towards optimism and positive ness is counting your blessings.

 

 

 

 

Count Your Blessings 

Schuitema uses the ‘Count your Blessings’ exercise in various programmes along with other exercises that help beat the victim mindset and helps one to be more reflective and appreciative of life.

 

We have found that the ‘Count your Blessings’ exercise can bring significant help if youngsters carry it out. In our first Mentoring for Mastery workshop, the young participants were given a large poster sheet each and asked to list down things they were thankful for.

 

The first time that the kids did it, we observed that the listings were rather ‘typical’. For instance, Fakhir Shah the facilitator gave the cue that he was thankful that he was alive. Nearly all the children wrote that as the first item they thankful for. They then moved on to food, family, and belongings.

 

As the list grew longer, and kids stopped peering over their shoulders to see what others were writing, the entries became more interesting like ‘I am thankful that I get to watch movies at the cinema’, or ‘I am thankful that I have been in a chairlift’ and, ‘I am thankful that I can smell with my nose and see with my eyes.’

 

We found that the exercise is effective if done repeatedly. This was because the entries became more original and subtler towards the end from the copied and crude ones in the beginning. Cultivating gratitude in our lives is therefore a process that needs to be regularly adopted for the mind to be trained to see things with optimism.

Some of our participants appreciated the exercise as according to them, it had set the ball rolling for the mind to think positively.

 

Internalising Happiness

It helps if the blessings that have been listed are felt with all your being to internalize them in your mind.

If you are thankful for having a house with lots of greenery in it, then imagine being surrounded by that greenery. Imagine the bees and butterflies busily doing their work in your garden. Imagine the sun’s light filtering through the trees or he lovely interplay of colours on the leaves before you.

If you are thankful for having running water in your house, imagine drinking it and even bathing in it with rivulets running from your wet hair. In time, you will be ‘present’ and grateful while actually sitting in your garden or taking a bath.

The trick in beating depression is engaging the attention to feed the mind with positive ideas, images and monologue.

If you are persistent, you will begin to feel better and healthier very soon!