We all have emotional let downs
from time to time. When it happens to me, I rarely go into depression,
but when I do, I seem to flounder in it like a helpless beached whale.
I've noticed when in that mood, that I don't really want help,
coaching or counseling. I just want to be left alone!
Why is that? I think it's
because a wiser part of me knows that I must experience the darkness,
before I can truly appreciate basking in the awe of a new sense of
enlightenment. It seems one of the rules of life is that a period of
darkness must always precede our seeing the light.
Every time I've experienced
that dark mood, I have come out of it with some new inspiration and a
project that I could get my teeth into and BE enthused about. In my
opinion, that dark mood was the ego dying, because the time had come for
creating space for a new way of BEING, an exciting new reality.
That may be what's happening
with you when you're feeling depressed or feeling down. Think about it
and in looking back, ask yourself what good new reality came into being,
following the dark mood.
In Chapter 19 - Find Yourself
on the Cycle from "Being The Solution", you'll be reminded that
the creative process in man is CREATE -
PERSIST - DESTROY. That truly is the
process, but I think the order may be wrong. The creative process
actually begins with DESTROY. Why is that?
Without a winter of the
soul, there would be no spring.
If you had never experienced darkness, you would
not know how to enjoy the light. If you can't detach yourself from the
old, no-longer satisfying reality, you'll not be allowed to create the
new one that's just outside the old box.
As you know, life is a journey,
not a destination. But our ego treats
each reality as THE FINAL DESTINATION.
Your ego has it wrong. From time to time in life, we must step back from
what's going on and realize (again) that you and I are not our
ego. We're the one writing the script for the role ego plays in life.
Every once in a while, the old
act gets boring and the Spirit of God in us decides it's time to move
out of that old comfortable box and into a new growing experience. Part
of that creative process is the ego dying, creating the space for being
reborn into a new reality.
Our true purpose in life is
that we discover who we really are (an individualization of God). Our
growing in consciousness requires four steps each time we create a new
reality with a new BEING choice:
-
First a separation from the
old unrewarding reality (depression is part of the detaching
process, maybe?)
-
Second, inspirational
"ah ha", breathing life into a new concept of reality
-
Third, a desire to BE more,
and
-
Fourth, a new BEING choice
that moves us beyond intellectual understanding to an inner knowing
and a new sense of aliveness.
But each time this happens,
it's just one more time around the creative cycle. Self-discovery is a
process that never ends. Each dying and rebirthing is just one of the
many steps upward, inward or around in the journey toward
self-awareness.
So, the next time you are
feeling down or depressed, recognize those feelings as the ego dying,
making room for the new reality you're about to create. The word
Destroy, is perhaps a misnomer, because that step in the creative
process is more of a detaching than a destroying process.
For instance, there is really
no need to destroy a relationship that's not serving you, when all you
really need to do is give up your attachment to it. The trick here is to
understand the detaching process and get it over and done with, so that
you can move onward and upward.
If you can accept depression or
feeling down as a necessary part of the DESTROY, CREATE, PERSIST cycle,
I would like to suggest a BEING Solution.
The first thing you will want
to do, is to choose to BE objective. See yourself stepping back, away
from the problem. You are now outside the problem looking in. Your ego,
not you, is depressed. As the interested observer, you are being aware
of your ego's thoughts and feelings, but knowing that you are not your
ego.
You are the Spirit of God in
you about to make a new BEING choice. That may be why your ego is
depressed. As the observer, you can empathize with your ego's problem,
but you are not buying into the emotion. You are there to see how you
can help.
Think of your ego as your best
friend. Comfort your friend. Talk to your ego; let it know that you
understand what it's going through. Take away its fears by letting it
know that there IS a light at the end of that dark tunnel.
Remind your ego that depression
is the first step in being reborn into a grand new reality and that it
will BE in charge of that new reality. Let it know that it will always
have the job of maintaining your reality.
These may all sound like things
to DO to solve your problem, but what I've given you here is a way of
being with depression that puts you back in charge of your life at a
time when it may have seemed like there was no reason for doing
anything.
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