Self-Help Tip: Depression

Depression can be debilitating but unless it is a severe case that must be treated by a physician, it can usually be managed at least to a limited degree. Getting out and socializing can work wonders when it comes to changing your mood and getting you out of the "dumps".

Tip of the day: Call a friend and meet them at your local Starbucks or wherever and spend an hour just talking. Make sure the conversation starts out on a cheerful note. This will set the pace for the rest of your visit. Not only will you leave feeling better but having social interaction has a way helping you see the other circumstances in your life from a different perspective.

You Are What You Think

"When you squeeze an orange, orange juice comes
out - because that's what's inside. When you are
squeezed, what comes out is what is inside."
— Wayne Dyer: Self-development author and speaker

I love this quote from Wayne Dyer. There is another quote from the Bible that supports the same idea. It goes something like this:


"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh." Luke 6:45

Whatever is inside of us is going to come out - eventually. So what if you know there is something in there that you don't want coming out? How do you change it? The answer is simple though not always easy.

We, as humans, have a system for doing things - a sequential process that takes place so automatically that it often goes undetected. We think a thought, then we feel a feeling and then behavior follows. To make change happen, we change our thoughts. This takes a bit of awareness, and, yes, a bit of effort. In our instant gratification conditioned society, people are often very reluctant if not downright repulsed by the idea of having to "do" something; therefore it becomes increasingly more difficult to affect change outside of a magic "pill".

We can choose our thoughts. This is the first step to personal power and living a life of success. We are taught at an early age to think in certain patterns and it is only when we have the courage to challenge our early conditioning and choose our thoughts that we become free to make our own choices about how we think, and thus, how we behave and live.

This introduction is taken from "As a Man Thinketh" by James Allen.

Mind is the Master power that molds and makes,
and Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills
Brings forth a thousand thoughts, a thousand ills:--
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking-glass