NeuroTalk Support Groups - What kind of things do you do to help get by depression?

Yoga. The ultimate mind/body exercise, you stretch yourself physically and mentally in yoga class. Between the deep breathing and down-dogging, you'll wonder why you felt so stressed before you got started.

Chant or pray. Whether it's rosary beads or Buddhist chants, the rhythmic singsong cadence of repetitive prayer or mantras may have a calming effect on the heart, according to some studies.

Give to charity. Nothing helps you put your life into perspective like seeing others who have more serious or even life-threatening problems. Volunteer at your local hospital, teach literacy classes, or dish up meals at the local shelter.

Massage. This may be your secret splurge that leaves you feeling your best. If you're a trembling ball of nerves as you head to the spa, a good massage will cut stress and leave you feeling relaxed and invigorated.

Humor. Even if you can't tell a joke, you sure can laugh at one. Studies have suggested that humor can lower blood pressure and boost levels of natural feel-good chemicals known as endorphins.

Create a personal oasis. Even if it's just a pot of pansies on your windowsill, or a scrunchy pillow on a favorite chair, create an oasis in your home that neutralizes stress. Surround yourself with pleasing pictures, airy plants, or scrumptious smells -- a veritable "perfect
storm" of feel-good vibes.

Drink Chamomile Tea

Affirmations To Paste On Your Mirror
1) I am at peace with the world, with myself and everyone in it.
2) I am financially free! My income greatly surpasses my expenses.
3) I love my work and the people love who work with me.
4) I now have only generous authentic loving relationships in my life.
5) I am physically healthy and feel safe, open and loving with all people.

Keep an Amethyst cluster at your desk or in your therapy room to transmute negative energy. Amethyst helps you think and act at your highest level.

Clear Quartz can be worn as a crystal pendant to deflect radiation from going to your body. Quartz is an excellent general physical system fortifier and protector. It increases mental clarity. Hold a clear crystal at your solar plexus and breath evenly for several minutes to
calm your emotions, to relax the body, to clear the mind, and to refresh your energy. Stare into the crystal to clear writer's block and to increase creativity.

Hematite reflects back negative energies to the sender (so you don't end up taking them on yourself). Hematite dissolves the issues when one meets with confrontation.

Rose Quartz is very protective and soothing for many issues. Place a large chunk of the stone at your Heart Center for 15 minutes to relax after a stressful day. Rose Quartz helps to unblock anxiety and to promote healing of private emotional issues. It allows one to become more receptive and open to challenges.

Smokey Quartz is an excellent stabilizer for mood swings. It helps ground feelings of depression, and both absorbs and transmutes negativity.

Stress balls - sand is a good filler - lentils or flax seed would work, too..... You can make them using two balloons - fill one and cut off the end, then stretch another over it (with the end also cut off).

A big bowl of chocolate kisses...

Relaxation or meditation tapes

A stuffed teddy bear...

Play with a yoyo

Write a list of the 10 things you enjoyed most about today. (Do this each day)

"Treasure Mapping" - Goal Setting Visual Pictures to Move Treasure Mapping" (creative collage, story-boarding, or printed visualizations) is a wonderful way to clarify and add passion to your New Year's resolutions. The concept is simple, find a bunch of old magazines, get a big piece of white cardboard, and start cutting and pasting. Create your vision, your collage, with pictures you like, words that move you, etc. When you're done, put it up in your office, and watch the magic happen. You'll be surprised, when you look at the collage a year from now, how many of the pictures on the wall find a way into your life! http://www.creatavision.com/treasure_mapping.htm

Speak to People. Even if you do not know their names. Nothing is as nice as a cheerful word of greeting.

Smile at People. It takes 72 muscles to frown and only 14 to smile. Your smile is one of your finest assets. Use It!

Collage Therapy
Creativity is a joyous expression buried deep within the soul which suddenly bubbles up to the surface and overflows. To be truly creative, one needs to be in touch with their inner child. This means knowing how to laugh, how to play, how to pretend, and how breathe and feel deeply.

Stop criticizing yourself.

Coloring Therapy
Spend 30 minutes coloring with whatever colors call to you. This is a form of meditation, good for hand-eye coordination, slows down the mind, and brings out your inner child....

Meditation

Breathing strongly influences mind, body and moods. By simply focusing your attention on your breathing, and without doing anything to change it, you move in the direction of relaxation. There are many worse places to have your attention — on your thoughts, for one, since thoughts are the source of much of our anxiety, guilt and unhappiness. Get in the habit of shifting your awareness to your breath whenever you find yourself dwelling on upsetting thoughts.

Bach's Flower Remedies, especially Rescue Remedy

Berry, Rose and St. John’s Wort Relaxing Water
Make a raspberry/strawberry mix water. Add a dash of St. John's Wort, add crushed white rose petals, as well. This water seems to have the effect of lifting moods and giving a sense of serenity , especially at tense get-togethers.

Aromatherapy with essential oils such as lavender and orange together, or bergamot.

Flowers for Depression
Flowers set in vases on a window or throughout a home always changes the mood / atmosphere from one of depression to one of nature, lightness, seduction, relaxation, and more.

Drink Pure Water - Our bodies are 70% water. Drinking impure water is responsible for many illnesses commonly attributed to other causes. Therefore, you should seriously consider installing a quality water filtration or distillation system. In addition, most people go through life dehydrated. Simply drinking when you are thirsty is not enough. Moreover, tea and coffee actually dehydrate the body even further thereby making the problem worse still. Dehydration also leads to many serious illnesses. You need to drink at least 8-12 glasses of clear water every day, and preferably more.

Forgiveness - Grudges take up brain capacity and prevent us from performing at our very best. What we focus our minds upon grows; this is true of hatred too. Therefore, it is impossible to truly achieve great things for ourselves when we have a lot of our energetic capacity tied up in negativity. Remember that forgiveness is primarily for YOU. It free up your energy tremendously. So forgive all grudges, no matter how old they may be, and seek reconciliation. If you find this hard, begin with the easiest ones first. Then gradually work up to the harder ones.

Clutter Clearance - If you want to let new opportunities into your life, you have to make room for them. Clear out the past - things you cling to that no longer serve any purpose, but which hold you back. This can be cupboards, the cellar, old clothes, old relationships, and outmoded ways of thinking. By holding on tenaciously to the past, we fail to make room for the future. So look in your closets and get rid of things you have not used for over a year or two. Review relationships in your life and see which ones are taking you where you want to go and which ones are holding you down. Clear your desk. Clear your computer. Then let fresh air flow into your life!

Goals - Have clear, specific, written goals with deadlines for their achievement in every area of your life - physical, mental, emotional, physical, career, etc. People who do are FAR more successful. People who don’t are like ships adrift on the seas. A person without clear specific goals is like a ship cast adrift on the ocean without a captain or crew. The chances of it arriving anywhere specific are minimal. Yet most people live their lives like that. Make it your goal to have specific written goals in every area of your life and review them every day.

Journal - A life worth living is a life worth recording. Keep a private journal where you can record events, your reactions to them, how you feel about situations, what you are learning. Keeping a journal awakens your intuition and deepens your contact with Spirit.

If you’re feeling down or stuck in your thoughts, look up! Really see the sky: notice its colors, the patterns of buildings or branches against it. Are there birds flying? Follow them. Are there clouds? What do they remind you of? Can you tell what time of day it is from the light? If you really pay attention to the patterns above you, you may see surprising things. What if you could accept, just for a few minutes, a belief of many indigenous peoples: that the whole world offers itself to us with the intention of giving us guidance? That the world constantly wants to remind us how deeply connected we are to all of it?

When you are lonely or frightened, talk to your guardian angel. You can do it out loud or inside your head—your angel can hear you. Ask your angel to be near you, to put his or her hand on your shoulder, to give you courage to protect you.

Exercise can help address, prevent or lessen the risk of a host of diseases and illnesses - including mild to moderate depression. A recent study showed that walking on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike for 30 minutes several times per week may be as effective as taking antidepressant medications or using cognitive-behavioral therapy. While moderately intense aerobic exercise had the best results, any exercise is beneficial. Even those performing low-intensity aerobic workouts and stretching can show improvement. I recommend walking, especially outdoors, for at least 30 minutes per day, five days a week. Try it for a few weeks and see how it affects your mood.

Create rewards for yourself. Ask yourself, What rewards would give me a reason to complete this activity? Be able to see the rewards in the outcome you desire. For example, if I were speaking to an audience, I'd see them applauding after the talk is finished.

Sing. Singing draws more oxygen into your body, enhancing mental clarity, and banishing fatigue.

Let in the light. One of the easiest ways to boost your energy is with natural light. Open the curtains, lift the shades, add a few lamps with full-spectrum light bulbs, and let the sun shine in.

Look. Feast your eyes on sunrise colors of oranges, yellows, pinks, and reds. These are the colors of fire, heat, and energy.

Bibliotherapy or reading therapy is a therapy in which a person suffering from depression reads self-help books and other motivational books in between therapies to speed up the recovery.

Antidepressant Tincture
1 teaspoon tincture of Saint-John's-wort leaf
½ teaspoon tinctures of licorice root, ginseng root, lemon balm leaf and ashwaganda leaf (if available)
Combine ingredients (if you do not or cannot drink alcohol, buy glycerites instead of tinctures). Take 1 dropperful 3 times a day.

Kampo - Japanese Herbal Therapy
Kampo is a Japanese system of herbalism. It is to treat disease and to return people to health. Kampo share the view with modern psychiatry that depression is a physical condition that manifests itself in emotional symptoms.

Slow, relaxing music helps some people deal with the root causes of their depression, such as anger, frustration, sadness or anxiety. Listening to the music for at least 20 minutes each day can help slow down your heart rate and other body functions and can help you focus on your feelings.

Take a Stimulating Shower: Start showering with warm water, gradually making it hotter. Then decrease the temperature as low as you can stand it. Cold water stimulates the nerves close to the surface of the skin and is rejuvenating. Do not do this if you have a serious illness or are pregnant, premenstrual, or menstruating.

Two hours of early-morning sun help lift depression. Spend as much time as possible outdoors. Take daily walks, preferably in the park or along the sea shore, to connect with nature and appreciate the beauty it offers. Fresh air and deep breathing exercises are both good in aiding relaxation and promoting good oxygenation of the entire body.

Have a good cry. If talking about your problems leads to tears, go ahead and cry. Crying is a wonderful release-especially if you know what you're crying about.

Acupressure and acupuncture

Auyruveda
From the standpoint of Ayurveda there are two main causes of depression.
An imbalance in the three doshas, Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.
A lack of awareness of one's deeper, inner Self.
From the Ayurvedic point of view, most depression is a kapha imbalance that is the culmination of vata and then pitta going out of balance. Initially the brain's electrochemistry has an erratic overreaction (vata imbalance), which triggers a loss of enzymatic activity in the metabolism (pitta imbalance). Kapha responds by trying to glue everything down, bringing about heaviness, darkness, and stagnation that the mind-body interprets as the negative message of hopelessness and depression. In other words, because of specific etiological factors, vata from the colon, pitta from the intestine, or kapha from the stomach enters the general circulation and lodges in the nervous system, interferes with normal functioning of the mind and nervous system, and causes depression.
http://www.holistic-online.com/Remedies ... urveda.htm

Imagery
If you're mildly depressed imagery or visualization is very useful. Doing an imagery exercise called the trapeze of hope may help brighten your outlook.
This is how: Imagine that you are a trapeze artist standing high in the air on a platform. Now see yourself swinging from the left on a trapeze bar. From the right, you see another trapeze bar swinging toward you. Keep swinging and building up your momentum. When you're ready, let go of the old bar, and reach out and catch the new one. See yourself landing safely on the other platform. Grab a golden rope and lower yourself to the ground. Tie the golden rope around yourself and someone you love. Now see both of you standing in a golden light.

Hydrotherapy (showers, baths, saunas, hot tubs)

Reiki Treatment

Plenty of sleep... go to bed earlier or take afternoon naps

Afternoon tea break, especially drinking green tea, enjoy with an apple or pear, a handful of nuts, and a piece of good cheese.

Visit babies in a hospital or elderly in a nursing home, or better yet, volunteer at one or the other.. Other places to volunteer... food banks, Habitat for Humanity, your local school.

Detox... cut out alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine..

But eat a piece of dark chocolate, just don't over do... everything in moderation.

Dance.. aerobics, ballet, bellydancing, or just move around the room to your favorite music.

Go to a performance that makes your spirit soar.. a theater play, the symphony, a ballet, the opera.

Get up early (or stay up all night) and watch the sunrise.

Walk around your town or neighborhood and take pictures... of things, of places, of people... (ask their permission first).

Get a piece of stretched canvas and some acrylic paints and paint your feelings. Don't worry what it looks like.

Make an adult blanket to cuddle with. Use a variety of soft fabrics; velvet, silk, satin, soft cotton... and sew them together as a crazy quilt.

Learn to play an instrument; piano, guitar, harp, cello, flute... provides a sense of accomplishment.

Plant and tend to a garden, even a container garden or herb garden.

Color raw rice with a few drops of one color of food coloring and a few drops of desired essential oil. Let sit and dry. Store in a low wooden box. This rice is very relaxing to play with, sift thru your fingers, fill small silver or wooden cups, pour out. Revert back to childhood.

Walk on a labyrinth.

Look at old photos, or better yet, put them in a scrapbook with colorful papers, stickers, die cutes, and journaling

Get together with friends, and pretend you are not depressed.

Jump rope, and see how many of the rhymes from childhood that you remember.

Write a poem, about being sad, about being happy... write lots of poems, and keep them in a notebook.

Join a club, often being with other people helps to lift depression.

Do a jigsaw puzzle

Blow bubbles, promises to make you giggle..

Learn how to juggle

Learn a language; French, Dutch, Japanese, Sign

Learn to cook, just cooking or baking can make you feel loved.

Go swimming, enjoy the freedom of being lightweight...

Phone a friend, and ask them how they are... don't concentrate on your own pain and depression... ask questions and listen, don't worry about what you will say.

Count your blessings.. Make a poster of those blessings.

Mood-Lifting Foods
Chocolate
Tuna
Bananas
Eggs
Milk
Avocados
Whole Grains
Sweet Potatoes

Fix your favorite "comfort food" from when you were a child. Whether it was Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup, or grilled cheese sandwiches, it is amazing how much that special comfort food from our childhood can pick us up today!

Turn off the telephone, lock the doors, run a hot bath with bubbles, add candles to the sides of your bath, and put on some soothing music (I recommend Enya!). Relax in your homemade "spa" for at least a half hour!

Art therapy - The therapeutic use of art making, within a professional relationship, by people who experience illness, trauma, or challenges in living, and by people who seek personal development.

Put a Clear Quartz Cluster in a glass container filled with pure filtered water and set in the sun for 3 hours. Drink a cup each day. Helps to lift depression and open the crown chakra.

Anxiety and panic can interfere with normal life and certain nutrients may help the body and mind to cope. The B vitamins (niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, B6, biotin, pantothenic acid, B12, folic acid) are all important for the healthy functioning of the nervous system, especially the production of the key chemical messengers in the brain called neurotransmitters. ...

Take Time for Breakfast. Breakfast is a source of energy, and you need it to replenish blood glucose levels in the brain.

Boost Your Day with Positive Thinking: Visualize a positive and creative day ahead of you, and think of all the good things you have in your life. Look forward to the good things that are coming your way.

AROMATHERAPY MODELING DOUGH

1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. cooking oil
1/4 cup salt
Essential oils of choice (One should obviously stay away from oils that could cause a serious problem to the skin, etc.). If color is desired food coloring or Kool-Aid powder work well. Kool-Aid also comes in a nice color variety:)

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until smooth. Remove dough from the pan and knead until blended smooth. If you want colors, add food coloring or a pinch of Kool-Aid now until the desired color is made. Let cool. Now to make it aromatic, roll the dough into a ball and push a hole in it with thumb. Add a few drops of an essential oil (usually 1-3 to start) and knead the dough thoroughly. Sniff. Keep doing this until you get the aroma you are looking for.

Here are some single EO's and color ideas:

Brown -- Cardamom, Frankincense or Cocoa Absolute
Orange -- Tangerine or Bergamot
Yellow -- Lemon or Lemon Balm
Green -- Mimosa, Eucalyptus or Spikenard
Red -- Rose or Geranium
Purple -- Lavender
Blue -- German Chamomile
Pink -- Pink Grapefruit
White -- Peppermint or Tea Tree

Lavender scented in a deep purple colored dough is wonderful!!

Make small quantities and use them as office toys. Why sit and squeeze a tennis ball or rub a worry stone etc., while on the phone when you can squish, squeeze, roll, pinch, mash, and sniff play dough?!

For packaging the dough as a gift, put each aromatic dough in a separate zip lock baggie and label according to scent with the color of the wording coordinating with the color of the dough. Leave the white one blank--it will give them something to think about. From there one could put all the zip lock baggies into a decorative container. The plastic containers baby wipes come in work well.

Written and Complied by Cindi Wafstet/Epona'Bri
© 2008
Permission to share freely as long as credit is given.