Depression Help and Advice - The key to depression is expression

 

By Peter O’Neill

  

We all get a little depressed from time to time and once the depression spiral begins, it can be very hard to get out of. 

 

Our mental health is compromised by over thinking – either we become too stuck in the past where we ruminate about past experiences or we are thinking too far ahead and becoming paralysed with a sense of fear and uncertainty. 

 

A person caught in the spiral of depression often feels stuck, held back, repressed or suppressed and finds it very difficult to communicate their feelings and emotions which leads to the feeling of imprisonment. 

 

The key to overcoming depression is expression. 

 

‘Emotion’ means the outward movement of feelings and any block in the natural flow of outward movement causes a person to introvert, lock away feeling and shut down, culminating in depression.  

 

Many factors influence the development of emotional intelligence and our perception of expression can suffer as a result.For example, people who are brought up in a family where expression of feelings is deemed to be a sign of weakness,will have a lot of trouble expressing their feelings and will need to be re taught how to do this..It’s so important to pick yourself up and start again but how many times were we taught as kids to just toughen up and get on with it? These two expressions are very different..

 

Another influencing factor that creates a negative perception of expression is from our experiences with other people’s expression. 

 

Everyone has experienced a person or has one in their life right now that constantly ‘whinges and whines’ or ‘dumps’ rather than expresses.These are the kind of people who leave us feeling exhausted and emotionally drained ourselves. We are so much in fear of becoming one of them we create an aversion to our own expression in case we sound like them!.Rather than learning to express in a light hearted and positive way, we simply shut the door on expression completely.

 

But it’s never too late to learn the tools to help us unlock this door and into the room of mastery of our own expression.  

 

Restoring the Flow

 

Expression is anything that moves from ‘inside’ you to ‘outside’ you and has many forms.   

 

Writing, talking, sharing with friends, playing sport, all forms of art, dancing, singing, making music, cooking. 

 

How do you best express yourself and when did you last do it?

 

One of the easiest ways help you restore the flow of your expression is by keeping a journal and writing down each day how you feel.    

 

 

Here are some quick checks to keep in mind generally but especially in times when you are feeling the onset of depression:

 

1.Life Balance - this means that we are not losing or gaining too much energy in any one area, which puts us out of balance. Check the Major Life Areas list below and do a little of everything each day.

2.Stay strong and don’t weaken to the temptation of junk and fast foods.Think about what you put in your mouth - you are what you eat!. 

3.    Get some exercise and spend some time in nature - walk away the blues

4.Clean out the closets of your mind.. Tidy up, get rid of anything you don’t need or use and spring clean the house as you go.

5.    Do something new, different or random each day.Your mind opens and changes old habits when you teach it something new. It can be anything at all from trying new foods or going to a new place for a walk or learning a new language or even doing a crossword and learning new words.

6.Make a decision based on what you want. Just flick through a magazine and make decisions and choices on each page like awesome dress vs. horrible dress and yum food vs yuk food. Don’t make a big deal out of it!.Score them! Scoring helps set priorities so give each one a score out of 10. The rule is though that you have to find something you like!

 

 

Using Combination Codes – Major Life Areas

It’s important that you have perception that depression is just like having the happy, positive and vibrant part of yourself locked in an inner room.  You need to bring awareness to the fact that you have the combination codes to open it.

 

The combination codes are the Major Life Areas that you are specifically repressing and have negative emotional triggers to.

 

For example, you may be happy with your income and have enough money to live a happy and healthy life, but you may be lacking love or romance in your life. Possibly there are many people around you who do love you very much, but your depression comes from not being able to receive or let the love in. You may have been hurt badly in the past and you just can’t get over it or put it out of your mind. 

 

The Major Life Areas that are at the core of depression are listed below and it is important to be able to identify where you are in and out of balance. 

 

The first step is to review the list and write out on a piece of paper how you feel about each area.  Take notes about any thoughts, fears, doubts or memories that you may have around each one.

 

After you have listed what comes up for you now in each area, you need to write down how you would like to feel about each one.  Use your inner will and determination and ‘dare to dream’ of all the positive future outcomes for each area.

 

Use and follow your intuition as you go through the MLA’s to see which ones stand out. Write out the first thing about these areas that come to mind and be aware of any thoughts and flashes of memories as you write.

 

Major Life Areas

  1. Home, House, Possessions
  2. Diet, Cooking, Nutrition, Eating Habits
  3. Appearance, Weight, Identity, Image
  4. Financial Situation
  5. Religion or Spirituality, Community, Clubs and Groups
  6. Interests, Hobbies, Holidays
  7. Work, Career, Purpose
  8. Family
  9. Friends
  10. Children, Parenting
  11. Fitness, Exercise, Sport
  12. Education, Continued Learning
  13. Relationships
  14. Sex, Intimacy, Fondness
  15. Health and Wellbeing (sickness, injury, illness etc)

Remember that gaining awareness of and working on the specific areas that are at the core of your depression is the key to achieving sustainable depression relief.

 

Many times people cannot overcome depression because they have locked away the root memories, triggers and events into the forgotten past and they need a tool to bring conscious awareness to them to enable their release.

 

Kinesiology is a great tool to help pinpoint and understand emotions that need to be released and has been used successfully for 15 years by Peter O’Neill to help his clients overcome depression.Consults are available in person or via Skype.

 

Visit  www.peteroneill.com.au