Sitting Out of Depression

DaltheJigsaw

In this post, I will tell you what I think of depression, my personal experience with it and how I managed to defeat it. I will tell you my personal story. I had a mild form of depression, so I can't talk about chronic, severe forms, because I've no experience with them. Here it goes.

I came from being constantly down in a bad mood sleeping 12+ hours a day first thought upon waking up "oh no, my life is real" ... and subjecting myself to compulsive negative thinking to ... loving life now. I've done it myself without the help of anyone (except books) - and there's the key. Well, actually, I haven't done a single thing. Let me tell you why.

What helped me? Just sitting. (Often referred to as "meditation", but I don't like the word since it comes from the latin "to ponder"; sitting being the very opposite of pondering.) Sitting helps not because it does something magical to the brains. I'm absolutely certain that sitting is just sitting, nothing else. It's not even a doing, it's an undoing, for the time sitting the person stops being a person for some time, it's a pause from being a human being. So also a pause from compulsive thinking, which is what usually drives us.

Let me explain my view of depression first - at least in its mild forms - is a form chronic selfishness, an extreme inverted narcissism. It is still narcissism (or egocentrism) but inverted. Everything is about the depressed person, but because it's negative, it allows the sufferer the secondary gain of being a victim, of being ill. So the depressed person will indulge in repetitive mental inverted narcissism of this form: I am worthless, I am nobody, nobody loves me, I am ugly, etc.

I know this perspective is not popular. But you must understand that to help the depressed, it's not good to give in to depressed thinking, because it's what created the problem in the first place. By admitting the depressed is a victim, by reacting to it with pity, we fuel the depression further. What helped me to suddenly wake up from depression was reading this Buddhist psychological perspective on it - it's where I saw the first time the idea that depression is a chronic form of selfishness. This does not mean I don't believe that the depressed suffers. I know they suffer, I suffered myself for many years. But they suffer from their own "self". The self is creating the suffering for them. It's there that all delusions start. Someone said - all delusions begin with the word "I".

http://www.netlorn.com/2011/07/sitting-out-of-depression.html

Mr_Serenity

Thanks for the write up Leon. Sometimes I get people that tell me "You're too arrogant." or they say behind my back "Oh yeah that guy is so arrogant!"

I got that from a few people who mostly knew me online. Not from too many people that knew me well in person. I was wondering for a bit, why do they call me arrogant? But then it finally came to me.

Depression is the opposite of egocentric, it's "self destructive thinking" always thinking you're worse than you really are. I was depressed and had many insecurities for a while, so I really had to work on myself hardcore to reverse this best I could. I still struggle with a few insecurities and doubts every now and then, but I am way better than I was in the past.

Any how, I realized that I work on creating so much positive thinking and so much self power, that is the reason people started to think I was arrogant. So after I realized that, the next time someone called me arrogant, I said;
"Why yes its true, I am arrogant. I need my arrogance in order to get up after every time I fall. It's my power of believing in myself."

They usually got a laugh out of it and sometimes they even got more angry after that lol. But really it shows their own immaturity, so I don't worry about it anymore. I embrace it a little bit.

But anyways the reason I mentioned that is because when someone is deeply depressed they're like a victim. When someone is in that cycle of self destruction where they're like a victim of everything and they can't get up, it's hard for almost *anyone to help them. Because they think they're a victim that cannot win. It's a well known psychological state where people actually get used to, and they like to play the victim.

That's not how you change things for the better. You do have to begin to become a little bit egocentric, you do have to tell yourself that you're the shit. That you can be confident in order to really pull yourself out of that. So it's ok if people think I'm arrogant. I need all my power that I have, and will continue to make more of it in order to build a better life for myself.

SimpleWitness

Thank you, LeonBasin! Just sitting, nothing else; no thought, no self, no other: only sitting. This give the mind a break from the negativity that it feeds the self.

You write with Clarity, LeonBasin.
Respectfully:
SimpleWitness

caz

Vitamin D supplements and time sitting out in the sunshine where a good help to me, I used to often suffer with winter blues but the vitamin D is a good help for restoring the bodies energy which when lacking can have a big knock on effect with regards to our mindfulness and mental stability in general, When depression sets in we need to take our mind elsewhere and of this subject completely physical exercise is very good and meditating upon watching the rising and falling of thoughts is helpful so we can disassociate with that particular mindset and replace it with a mind that is concerned with others.

SimpleWitness

@caz namyaw

Vitamin D supplements and time sitting out in the sunshine where a good help to me, I used to often suffer with winter blues but the vitamin D is a good help for restoring the bodies energy which when lacking can have a big knock on effect with regards to our mindfulness and mental stability in general, When depression sets in we need to take our mind elsewhere and of this subject completely physical exercise is very good and meditating upon watching the rising and falling of thoughts is helpful so we can disassociate with that particular mindset and replace it with a mind that is concerned with others.

The word (disassociate) doesn't seem to bode well, for some reason, caz namyaw; however, your remedy for depression, also, your experience as a witness to the rising and falling of thoughts is very sound and easily related to.

Thank you for sharing this information on LeonBasin's discussion. Vitamin D and sitting under the sun seems to be very a sound medicine. It is really grand to have read this post and discussion.

Respectfully, caz namyaw:
SimpleWitness

SimpleWitness

Vitamin D supplements and time sitting out in the sunshine where a good help to me, I used to often suffer with winter blues but the vitamin D is a good help for restoring the bodies energy which when lacking can have a big knock on effect with regards to our mindfulness and mental stability in general, When depression sets in we need to take our mind elsewhere and of this subject completely physical exercise is very good and meditating upon watching the rising and falling of thoughts is helpful so we can disassociate with that particular mindset and replace it with a mind that is concerned with others.

The word (disassociate) doesn't seem to bode well, for some reason, caz namyaw; however, your remedy for depression, also, your experience as a witness to the rising and falling of thoughts is very sound and easily related to.

Thank you for sharing this information on LeonBasin's discussion. Vitamin D and sitting under the sun seems to be very a sound medicine. It is really grand to have read this post and discussion.

Respectfully, caz namyaw:
SimpleWitness

zenff

In case of a clinical depression – just like in the case of any other mental disorder – professional help is what we need.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_depressive_disorder

“Just sitting” may be helpful also; but in case of mental disorders meditation-teachers are just quacks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quacks

caz

@caz namyaw

Vitamin D supplements and time sitting out in the sunshine where a good help to me, I used to often suffer with winter blues but the vitamin D is a good help for restoring the bodies energy which when lacking can have a big knock on effect with regards to our mindfulness and mental stability in general, When depression sets in we need to take our mind elsewhere and of this subject completely physical exercise is very good and meditating upon watching the rising and falling of thoughts is helpful so we can disassociate with that particular mindset and replace it with a mind that is concerned with others.

The word (disassociate) doesn't seem to bode well, for some reason, caz namyaw; however, your remedy for depression, also, your experience as a witness to the rising and falling of thoughts is very sound and easily related to.

Thank you for sharing this information on LeonBasin's discussion. Vitamin D and sitting under the sun seems to be very a sound medicine. It is really grand to have read this post and discussion.

Respectfully, caz namyaw:
SimpleWitness

To disassociate with certain thoughts is exacly what needs to be done though so it is very appropriate, Often because of our very strong self-cherishing mind we continously identify with what arises in the mind as being I and an intrinsic part of our self, Learning to seperate this habitual mind patern through observing the rising and falling of certain minds helps creates a mental barrier so it far easier to cope with life without the constant disturbence of unpleasent minds.

maarten

I recently listened to Thanissaro Bhikkhu saying: meditation is more than sitting and being, it is an experiment. I do think meditation (or more general: self-therapy) can help for mild depression, but especially when you try things out and see what works. Of course, just sitting an being is a very valid experiment too (and one that apparently has helped you), not denying that!

SimpleWitness

@caz namyaw

Vitamin D supplements and time sitting out in the sunshine where a good help to me, I used to often suffer with winter blues but the vitamin D is a good help for restoring the bodies energy which when lacking can have a big knock on effect with regards to our mindfulness and mental stability in general, When depression sets in we need to take our mind elsewhere and of this subject completely physical exercise is very good and meditating upon watching the rising and falling of thoughts is helpful so we can disassociate with that particular mindset and replace it with a mind that is concerned with others.

The word (disassociate) doesn't seem to bode well, for some reason, caz namyaw; however, your remedy for depression, also, your experience as a witness to the rising and falling of thoughts is very sound and easily related to.

Thank you for sharing this information on LeonBasin's discussion. Vitamin D and sitting under the sun seems to be very a sound medicine. It is really grand to have read this post and discussion.

Respectfully, caz namyaw:
SimpleWitness

To disassociate with certain thoughts is exacly what needs to be done though so it is very appropriate, Often because of our very strong self-cherishing mind we continously identify with what arises in the mind as being I and an intrinsic part of our self, Learning to seperate this habitual mind patern through observing the rising and falling of certain minds helps creates a mental barrier so it far easier to cope with life without the constant disturbence of unpleasent minds.

Is the word "disassociate" used within the context of having refrained from the identity of self that is defined by thought, to be as a witness, or denying the self to be identified as something else by thought?

It is unclear what is being conveyed in your quote; but, if it is as it seems, we may saying the same things. (:

SimpleWitness

@caz namyaw

Vitamin D supplements and time sitting out in the sunshine where a good help to me, I used to often suffer with winter blues but the vitamin D is a good help for restoring the bodies energy which when lacking can have a big knock on effect with regards to our mindfulness and mental stability in general, When depression sets in we need to take our mind elsewhere and of this subject completely physical exercise is very good and meditating upon watching the rising and falling of thoughts is helpful so we can disassociate with that particular mindset and replace it with a mind that is concerned with others.

The word (disassociate) doesn't seem to bode well, for some reason, caz namyaw; however, your remedy for depression, also, your experience as a witness to the rising and falling of thoughts is very sound and easily related to.

Thank you for sharing this information on LeonBasin's discussion. Vitamin D and sitting under the sun seems to be very a sound medicine. It is really grand to have read this post and discussion.

Respectfully, caz namyaw:
SimpleWitness

To disassociate with certain thoughts is exacly what needs to be done though so it is very appropriate, Often because of our very strong self-cherishing mind we continously identify with what arises in the mind as being I and an intrinsic part of our self, Learning to seperate this habitual mind patern through observing the rising and falling of certain minds helps creates a mental barrier so it far easier to cope with life without the constant disturbence of unpleasent minds.

Is the word "disassociate" used within the context of having refrained from the identity of self that is defined by thought, to be as a witness, or denying the self to be identified as something else by thought?

It is unclear what is being conveyed in your quote; but, if it is as it seems, we may saying the same things. (:

ShaneKarma

"Let me explain my view of depression first - at least in its mild forms - is a form chronic selfishness"

I believe this to be true and very honest,

footiam

I have a friend who got out of his depression by exercising. He said someone who is depressed needs to get the sweat out of his system.

caz

@caz namyaw

Vitamin D supplements and time sitting out in the sunshine where a good help to me, I used to often suffer with winter blues but the vitamin D is a good help for restoring the bodies energy which when lacking can have a big knock on effect with regards to our mindfulness and mental stability in general, When depression sets in we need to take our mind elsewhere and of this subject completely physical exercise is very good and meditating upon watching the rising and falling of thoughts is helpful so we can disassociate with that particular mindset and replace it with a mind that is concerned with others.

The word (disassociate) doesn't seem to bode well, for some reason, caz namyaw; however, your remedy for depression, also, your experience as a witness to the rising and falling of thoughts is very sound and easily related to.

Thank you for sharing this information on LeonBasin's discussion. Vitamin D and sitting under the sun seems to be very a sound medicine. It is really grand to have read this post and discussion.

Respectfully, caz namyaw:
SimpleWitness

To disassociate with certain thoughts is exacly what needs to be done though so it is very appropriate, Often because of our very strong self-cherishing mind we continously identify with what arises in the mind as being I and an intrinsic part of our self, Learning to seperate this habitual mind patern through observing the rising and falling of certain minds helps creates a mental barrier so it far easier to cope with life without the constant disturbence of unpleasent minds.

Is the word "disassociate" used within the context of having refrained from the identity of self that is defined by thought, to be as a witness, or denying the self to be identified as something else by thought?

It is unclear what is being conveyed in your quote; but, if it is as it seems, we may saying the same things. (:

To disassociate I mean we do not let our mind identify with this mind and clinyg to it we recognise it as not-self, In the greater scope of things we eventually recognise all mental phenomena as being illusion like but to keep things simple it is just dividing what we consider to be our positive and negatives.

SimpleWitness

@caz namyaw
Yes. Not self. We are saying the same things. I was mistaking what you meant by the word "disassociate."

My apologies, caz namyaw.
SimpleWitness
:P

caz

Namaste.

SimpleWitness

@caz namyaw

Namaste.

Jeffrey

Theres a difference between being very clear and matter of fact about limitations which can be even joyful and humorous and being a victim. Oh and victim does have a meaning when it is the case.