I believe that there are 6 billion people on 6 billion mental worlds but just as the planets in this galaxy co-exist so can we. Just as some implode or explode so can we.

Ride the waves as best you can.

Hugs

What a powerful statement.
If you’ve explored this site much, you know of my own familiarity with suicidal thoughts, and my own mother’s suicide. Like you, I grew up abused. I’ve been hospitalized twice, and tried three times to kill myself. Over the years I have taken dozens of medications, and spent more hours in therapy than I could possibly count. I’ve been damaged by therapists, institutions, and drugs.

Only when I began to get to get acquainted with my depression, instead of fighting it, did I begin to improve. It’s hard to sort out everything that finally fit together to bring me ease of mind, but acceptance was the centerpiece. In its largest sense, acceptance has helped me awaken to a broad perspective on life, and in so doing has freed from the worst of my suffering. If only I could figure out how to bring others to this peaceful place. This blog is my effort to try.

I doubt if very many people have had more experience with familial and personal depression than me, though I suspect many have had as much. I am no Pollyanna. Getting well has not been easy. But it is possible. It truly is.

Some of the keys are to 1) Remember that everyone suffers, and many suffer terribly; we are not alone. 2) Know that the universe offers support. There should be more available, but people do care, and resources can be found. The more you seek with an eye toward peace (and not just treatment), the more you find. 3) Remember that life is short, and it is a brief privilege to be alive. Suicide is always an option, but even unaided death will come sooner than any of us expect.

I wish you peace and clarity. I would be happy to answer any questions. Best wishes, and thank you for stopping by.

–Will

I’m not sure if you are suggesting that the need to counter this ‘depression voice’ negates the concept of acceptance. It doesn’t, at least not the way I’m using the term. Believing the content of a thought is different from accepting its existence. Often, until recently, my thoughts told me I was worthless. Even before the spiritual awakening that undercut the whole low-self-esteem thing, I learned to accept that those thoughts were running through my mind, and that it wasn’t the end of the world that I felt that way. Then, I was able to rationally argue against them. This is better, in my opinion, than denying that that such feelings even exist. It’s the difference between the childish trick of covering the ears and shouting ‘BlahBlahBlah’ in order to not hear someone, versus listening to what they say and then disagreeing. Once a thought is present in the mind, it is a fact. We can either deny and ignore it, or we can accept it and work on it. It’s a balancing act, of course. There is a point where one needs to simply redirect the thinking. But it is easier to do that from the place of ‘I can tolerate this but I choose to end it’ rather than reacting with fear and aversion. But I agree wholeheartedly that the mind can lie, distort, and feed negative energy into our experience.

–Will

Thank you for the glass of bubbly.

–Will