Meditation to erase depression

[August Campbell]

How lucky I am that I never get bored. Even if I had no internet at all, I would never feel bored.

 

[August Campbell]

Today was a good day for me because I practice stoicism which teaches that every situation has both joy and troubles. In other words, when you expect trouble, then you won't be disappointed. Because stoicism teaches that both joy and pain co-exist, they are inseparable. Once I realized that, then I gained peace of mind and contentment.

 

[user 150037]

That's an interesting thought.

Totally agree with every situation having pros and cons - you can get something good, but sooner or later you will notice that it isn't perfect.

For example, making friends usually brings you joy, but also gives you more people to spend all your time irrationally worrying about!

Maybe you can't have joy without pain...

 

[Running Alone]

That's an interesting thought.

Totally agree with every situation having pros and cons - you can get something good, but sooner or later you will notice that it isn't perfect.

For example, making friends usually brings you joy, but also gives you more people to spend all your time irrationally worrying about!

Maybe you can't have joy without pain...

Agreed.

Another problem with having many friends (when you're chronically single and lonely) is that sure, they're a great distraction, they keep you busy in your free time, in fact I like to think you can almost make it through life without romance if you surround yourself with enough close friends (and family), I repeat, almost. This is my world, I'm very blessed to have more close friends than I deserve and we're all always seemingly doing things together or in little sub groups, etc, but sadly, when I head home or leave the company of my friends I'm quickly reminded how lonely I am, only it feels amplified in some weird way now, as if it'd be better to not have them in the first place. Depression creeps in. I wonder sometimes if I wasn't so unlucky in love - would I trade all my friends for true love? At this stage of my life and having been single for decades (I'm 55), I'm afraid I'd say yes, lose the friends and gimmie a friggin' woman. That's shallow I know - but Christ, I'm not gonna live forever, I'd like some scrap and sense of romantic love before I croak.

 

[user 150037]

Agreed.

Another problem with having many friends (when you're chronically single and lonely) is that sure, they're a great distraction, they keep you busy in your free time, in fact I like to think you can almost make it through life without romance if you surround yourself with enough close friends (and family), I repeat, almost. This is my world, I'm very blessed to have more close friends than I deserve and we're all always seemingly doing things together or in little sub groups, etc, but sadly, when I head home or leave the company of my friends I'm quickly reminded how lonely I am, only it feels amplified in some weird way now, as if it'd be better to not have them in the first place. Depression creeps in. I wonder sometimes if I wasn't so unlucky in love - would I trade all my friends for true love? At this stage of my life and having been single for decades (I'm 55), I'm afraid I'd say yes, lose the friends and gimmie a friggin' woman. That's shallow I know - but Christ, I'm not gonna live forever, I'd like some scrap and sense of romantic love before I croak.

Totally with you - we only meet up a couple times a month and it doesn't feel like it's enough - I'm always left craving more afterwards. I know it's more than I've ever had, and some of the people on here would love to have friends they see once a month. But it's like the more we get the more we want - we're never truly satisfied.

With you on the romance part as well.

 

[NoxApex(N/A)]

I wouldn't say that it erases depression, rather that it helps to explore depression to better understand it. The idea being that with depression being more explored and better understood that the passivity of depression is better managed and potentially redefined out of the negative and more into the positive by a factor of familiarizing yourself with that which is unfamiliar.

I guess a good example is that there's a difference in feeling between being in a dark room that you're familiar with your physical surroundings and being in a dark room where you're NOT familiar with your physical surroundings. It's THAT, but for the mental headspace instead of the physical eyesight.

If you're in a dark room you're familiar with the physical layout for than after your eyes adjust to the darkness you'll be able to better navigate through approximation and familiarity. Whereas if you're in a dark room you're unfamiliar with, any attempt to move around is kind of hands and feet moving slowly out and about to feel out your surroundings so you don't bump into something, trip, or knock something over.

Depression would be the dark room with unfamiliarity, meditation the dark room OF familiarity.

It lightens the blow. Helps relax the experience of depression. And it can teach you how to learn to navigate it a bit better so you're not fumbling around in the dark as detrimentally.

I wouldn't call it a solution to the problem, but a tool to help combat against it, yes.

 

[August Campbell]

Thanks to my practice of meditation, I've built up my tolerance level. That way I don't let resentment fester in me, because I tolerate when people mistreat me. Because I realize that reacting and retaliating will make a situation even worse.
When I realize that pain is part of life, then I tolerate. Let's face it, pain is part of life, pain is part of everybody's life. Once we accept it, then we reduce the pain. The key is acceptance.