Connecting the dots in your depression

Combating depression means connecting the dots. Sometimes, we don’t see the connections in our life. We don’t connect the dots between how we’ve lived and how we feel. There is always a connection, always a cause and effect. That’s how we’re wired. To read more:

It’s good to connect the dots of your life from morning to evening. Take a few minutes at the end of the day and reflect on how you think the day went for you.

• If it was a good day, WHY?
• If it was a bad day, WHY?

Asking ourselves some questions helps us figure out how our life is going.

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If we don’t, depression will continue to “talk” to us. Not a good thing.  

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Ask some questions so you can silence your depression

• Whom did I spend time with and how did being in their company make me feel?
• How were my health habits (eating, exercising) today?
• How often did I find yourself using defeating words?
• (If you’re a person of faith) How did I practice my faith’s disciplines?
• Did I do something I really enjoyed?

Don’t meander through your day

Sometimes, we meander through our day kind of willy-nilly. We don’t deliberately choose anything. We let life just swallow us up. For me, I prefer to go to bed knowing I was a little more intentional about what I did that day. I function better with structure. Most of us do.

Tailor your questions.

Tailor your questions for yourself. The above list is mine for now but it doesn’t stay static.  I change it up now and then.

Maybe you could write your questions out and put them on your bed stand.  How about on your phone?  Maybe they won’t even be questions. Maybe a chart or just some bullet points. It’s just a way to track your day. It’s whatever works best for you.

Examine your life.

You might prefer just to take a minute or two and reflect. You might be a “journaler”. I track my moods, my energy levels, my health every day. It’s the way I connect my dots.

It’s a good thing to examine your life, not morbidly, just reflectively so that tomorrow will be better than today.

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Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Not morbidly. But with the understanding that you want to feel better and live better.

I agree with that. But there’s more to do.

Depression is a garden full of noxious weeds.

When we’re dealing with depression, it becomes even more important to not allow too much unstructured time. Because if you’re struggling, too much unstructured time allows your thoughts to take over and run rampantly through the garden of your mind.

It’s your garden. You can grow flowers there or weeds.

If you experience bouts of depression, look back over your day so you can silence your depression. Try and figure out why it was good or bad. (Some days, of course, are just neutral;  I like those days.) If we don’t confront our issues, we’ll never change anything. Again, that doesn’t mean harmful self-examination. That’s never a good idea.

Just take a few minutes every day for reflection. You will be amazed at how much it can help.

God bless and stay safe.