Obviously, one of the issues to consider about depression is difficult emotions. Feeling unpleasant about oneself. And when you do consider it, you can see that we all operate from a box or paradigm about our own emotions. A very simple box or paradigm.
We all have emotions that we enjoy having or feeling. A normal list includes Love
pleasure
Happiness
Enthusiasm
Excitement
Inspiration
cheerfulness
These we call good emotions. We all like having them and want them as often as possible. What are some emotions we dont like and dont want to have? See if most of these fit for you:
Sadness
Fear
Fear
hate
Hate
Anxiety
Meaninglessness
shame
These are what we call bad emotions and we try to avoid them as much as possible. If we cant avoid them, and cant help but feel them, we try to get rid of them as quickly as we can.
So what is this simple box we operate from around emotions? The box is that there are good emotions and bad emotions. Pretty obvious, right? We all seem to just know that when it comes to emotions there are good ones and bad ones, and the game in life is to feel good and not feel bad. This is so obvious that it goes unexamined. Of course this is the way you deal with emotions!
And, of course, all the feelings that go with depression we classify as bad emotions, to be avoided or gotten rid of as quickly as possible and at all costs. The box were stuck in about depression is that it is bad. And we definitely want to get away from having all of the kinds of feelings that go with it.
But there is an underlying problem to this approach of trying to avoid or get rid of all the feelings that go with depression. It is founded in an "emotional mistake" we make every day. This mistake is about not trying to feel bad emotions.
Consider the idea that we all, each of us, have an emotional body, just like we have a physical body and a mental body. And your emotional body has a purpose and function, which is to simply feel feelings. All of them. Good emotions like joy and happiness, and "bad" ones like fear and anger. Its job is to feel feelings. You can't actually keep your emotional body from feeling feelings.
Your skin can't help feeling hod or cold, smooth or coarse sensations. You skin is an organ and it feels whatever it comes in contact with. In that same way emotional bodies are supposed to feel all emotions. Not just good ones. You can't keep from feeling negative feelings. It goes with being human. And when you try to resist or avoid feeling bad feelings, they just tend to get stuck. They stay around longer. In a way, then, trying not to feel the emotions that go with depression can cause the depression to stick around, it can keep the depression from simply passing on through you!
Therefore, to get out of the box of depression, one way is to discover more emotional intelligence so that you can process difficult feelings more efficiently and quickly so that they don't stick around. There's no room in this article to get into the details, but just a few minutes a day of not resisting but exploring difficult emotions can begin to provide some real depression help. - 15255
We all have emotions that we enjoy having or feeling. A normal list includes Love
pleasure
Happiness
Enthusiasm
Excitement
Inspiration
cheerfulness
These we call good emotions. We all like having them and want them as often as possible. What are some emotions we dont like and dont want to have? See if most of these fit for you:
Sadness
Fear
Fear
hate
Hate
Anxiety
Meaninglessness
shame
These are what we call bad emotions and we try to avoid them as much as possible. If we cant avoid them, and cant help but feel them, we try to get rid of them as quickly as we can.
So what is this simple box we operate from around emotions? The box is that there are good emotions and bad emotions. Pretty obvious, right? We all seem to just know that when it comes to emotions there are good ones and bad ones, and the game in life is to feel good and not feel bad. This is so obvious that it goes unexamined. Of course this is the way you deal with emotions!
And, of course, all the feelings that go with depression we classify as bad emotions, to be avoided or gotten rid of as quickly as possible and at all costs. The box were stuck in about depression is that it is bad. And we definitely want to get away from having all of the kinds of feelings that go with it.
But there is an underlying problem to this approach of trying to avoid or get rid of all the feelings that go with depression. It is founded in an "emotional mistake" we make every day. This mistake is about not trying to feel bad emotions.
Consider the idea that we all, each of us, have an emotional body, just like we have a physical body and a mental body. And your emotional body has a purpose and function, which is to simply feel feelings. All of them. Good emotions like joy and happiness, and "bad" ones like fear and anger. Its job is to feel feelings. You can't actually keep your emotional body from feeling feelings.
Your skin can't help feeling hod or cold, smooth or coarse sensations. You skin is an organ and it feels whatever it comes in contact with. In that same way emotional bodies are supposed to feel all emotions. Not just good ones. You can't keep from feeling negative feelings. It goes with being human. And when you try to resist or avoid feeling bad feelings, they just tend to get stuck. They stay around longer. In a way, then, trying not to feel the emotions that go with depression can cause the depression to stick around, it can keep the depression from simply passing on through you!
Therefore, to get out of the box of depression, one way is to discover more emotional intelligence so that you can process difficult feelings more efficiently and quickly so that they don't stick around. There's no room in this article to get into the details, but just a few minutes a day of not resisting but exploring difficult emotions can begin to provide some real depression help. - 15255
About the Author:
For more emotional intelligence to help with depression, you can get a book about Depression Self Help here. John Stephan Laney teaches courses on emotional and relationship intelligence and you can learn more about Depression Treatment here. Many forms of depression can be healed without drugs or psychoanalysis.
