Depressed / Can’t Sleep

Whilst there are many things I have mentioned you can do on a personal level thought-wise to rid yourself of the blues / panic or insomnia, I also suggest the following:

First of all, if you’re laying in bed and you can’t sleep after 20 minutes or so, I suggest you get up for an hour and then try returning to your bed. Should you stay in bed and think and think and think, you are beginning the association with the bedroom as yet another thinking place to air all of your troubles! When you start to associate this room as ONLY a place for relaxing will you find it easier to sleep.

CLEAN IT UP...

If it is cluttered, it will only cause you to be less inclined to go to bed or relax. Get rid of those stuffed toys, sporting equipment, old clothes / shoes lying around on the floor. Keep it tidy!

BEDROOM COLOURS...

NEVER have your wall colour or decorations in dark colours (dark blue, black, grey, etc) or too bright of colours (bright red, yellow, orange, etc) in your bedroom. This will NOT help in your relaxing for stress or depression. These colours stimulate you to a point of over-exaggerating your problems be it from stress or depression! You are wanting soothing colours in your room such as cream, light blue, pinks, purples, something bright without the dramatic colours! You get the idea.

YOUR OASIS...

Put your stamp of approval on it, make it yours. It doesn’t matter what another thinks (unless of course your significant other happens to naturally get involved), make it your place for relaxation.

I have found that painting a room is one of the cheapest ways to improve the look!

BOOKS...

If you have a favourite self-help book, I do suggest you keep it on your night-stand for times when you are finding it difficult to sleep. Reading for me is one of the FASTEST ways to become sleepy and divert my attention! Purchase a good book-light, I suggest personally you google Think Geek (in the US) and search in their site for “book light”, it is amazing, it does not disturb your partner with light in the room, not like any other book light I have used, for me, it is ideal!!! I will put a link up here later for those of you wishing to find out more about them!

ONE MORE THING...

Should ANY of you have questions that have not been answered, PLEASE contact me and I will do my best to help you! If it is appropriate for this site, I will post, however I will NOT give names or personal details in this site!

LOVE
*.*.*. JOY .*.*.*

STOP LABELLING YOURSELF...!

Ok, now here it is, I personally refuse to use the words “mental-illness” and “clinical-depression” OR any other words that can describe (on a personal level to you) an inability to heal yourself! Listen, it will make sense…

It is fine if you go to your local GP and get diagnosed, nothing wrong with that what-so-ever. BUT, do NOT keep telling that story to others. Stop labelling yourself. What this will do is keep you in the rut you’re trying to get out of! STOP the self-talk about it also (the labels), it is the same as telling the story over and over again! You are only doing yourself a disservice by doing so! We all have someone in our lives who LOVE to lament the fact that they don’t have enough money, aren’t their perfect body weight, are still single, etc, etc, etc. Now, here is the clincher….. Do you see them getting more money, the perfect body, a partner??? NO, because, simply put……..They don’t stop talking about what they don’t want!

“STOP TELLING IT LIKE IT IS, IT ONLY GIVES YOU MORE OF WHAT IS” – Esther Hicks / Abraham

I am not asking you to lie about your situation, all I am saying is, don’t play that broken record for yourself or anyone else! Start by saying something different, when someone asks how you are going, play it up, tell them how well you are doing. Some days you will not want to sugar-coat things, you may very well feel too miserable to do so, in that case a simple “I’m getting there” should suffice!

Very simple steps, yet, imperative to your changing your outlook on yourself, life and the way the world sees you!

There will be days you wake up and nothing is bothering you, you feel GREAT, you feel INVINCIBLE, THAT is when you need to congratulate yourself for doing such a wonderful job, keep it up! The world did not decide to bless you that particular day, YOU made it happen with these (what seemed insignificant) simple steps. AND if you don’t acknowledge it, when you have a down day (like everyone else gets), you will think that the world has decided to curse you YET-AGAIN…

Make EVERY good feeling count! We don’t let the negative feelings get away without dissecting them, why not milk the good ones!!!?

LOVE

*.*.*. JOY .*.*.*

JOURNALING - A MUST READ!!!

I strongly suggest you start your own journal. TWO in fact!

Get yourself a couple of A4 Note Books.

1. Is for HAPPY THOUGHTS - I will explain below
2. Is for WORRYSOME THOUGHTS - Again, read below to find out more :)

Ok, you have your note books, now, what to do...

1. HAPPY THOUGHTS - I want you every day when you are feeling your best and ONLY when you are feeling your best (if you don't feel like it on one day, don't do it, it is not supposed to be a chore), write down EVERYTHING that you want. Every feeling you want to feel, every thing you want material-wise (car, clothing, shoes, money, etc), the type of person you would like to be (happier, healthier, fun, loving, etc), the type of partner you want OR what you want out of your current partner. ALSO, what already makes you feel good when you think of it! Write EVERYTHING THAT MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT and really milk it for all it is worth, all of the good feelings you can conjure-up, the better it will be for you. Nothing is off-limits here! What you are wanting to do with this exercise is to CHANGE THE MOMENTUM of your life experience and get your mind focusing onto things that make you feel good! In time (not so far in time either), you will find you automatically gravitate towards these things instead of away from them, this is what will WEAKEN YOUR NERVOUS / DEPRESSIVE / ANXIOUS THOUGHTS, YOU ARE LITERALLY DILUTING YOUR NEGATIVE THOUGHT-PATTERN! ADD PICTURES of things you want from items to happy people, etc. Once you do this, every night before you go to bed and every morning when you awaken, I want you to read this book and FEEL GOOD about everything you have written!
2. WORRYING THOUGHTS - DO NOT DWELL UPON THIS FOR MORE THAN 15 MINUTES EACH DAY - Set a timer and stop when the timer goes off. Also, if you don't feel like doing it DON'T! ONLY do this when you are worrying about something in particular, never over-indulge yourself in this book! What you do is this: Whenever you feel yourself worrying, allocate 15 minutes to writing as much stuff as you can that is troubling you, everything that you can think of, get it all out in the open. In time, or straight-away, you will feel a super-strong urge to cry! This is very Cathartic / Healing for you. I suggest you CRY and LET IT ALL OUT! What you will find is that when you do this, you RELEASE all of that built-up tension inside of you because over time, you have bottled these emotions up and created a pressure-cooker that is ready to explode. The more things you can LET-GO of, the quicker you can MOVE FORWARD and back into the GOOD STUFF :) You may also find that things crop-up out of what seems to be nowhere when you do this. I think of it like clearing out an old cupboard, the further into it you get, the more things you forgot were laying around, but, you don't dwell on it, just acknowledge it was there, be grateful for these thoughts (whatever they are) and then, clear them out also. You will be amazed at your own abilities when you get into this!

EXERCISE

Sometimes it is difficult if not impossible to exercise or even want to for that matter, so, here are some ideas for you to get started no matter where you are at regarding nervous tension or depression...

1. If you are finding it difficult to get out of the house, take small steps, for example, walk around your back-yard, go to the letterbox, even just outside your front door, wherever you are at is just fine! Keep testing yourself every day and build-up the momentum, don't forget to PRAISE YOURSELF for EVERY EFFORT you make! Wherever you are is perfect for you! Reel in the feeling of accomplishing this task!
2. Either start to or when you have conquered the first step, try a quick walk every day, it doesn't have to be long, it could be just a few minutes to a walk around the local block.
3. Go for a 15 minute brisk walk. I find walking briskly gets the nerves down and becomes relaxing (This releases ENDORPHINS in the body, like a HAPPY TONIC). The more anxious you are, the faster you walk because when you get home and sit down, you will feel more relaxed within yourself!
4. Go for a 20 minute walk (see where this is going?), gradually build-up your exercise regime.
5. DON'T THINK THIS HAS TO BE DONE IN A DAY, WEEK OR MONTH, THE BEST ADVISOR ON THIS TOPIC IS YOU. YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE AT EMOTIONALLY AND YOU WILL "FEEL" WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT TO INCREASE YOUR SCHEDULED WALKS - THIS GOES FOR ANYTHING YOU DO!

For those who have mastered the above or are already at this point, I suggest:

1. GET INVOLVED IN AN OUTSIDE ACTIVITY: Take that class you have always wanted to do, Meditation Classes (some may think this would be perfect to start with, however, sitting quietly with new people CAN (for some) be overwhelming to begin with), Yoga, Pilates, Boxing / Boxercise (a great one for stress, trust me;) ), Chi-Kung (very good, I love it), Table-Tennis, Chess (ANYTHING THAT GETS YOU INVOLVED IN THE COMMUNITY / MIXING WITH OTHERS), Art (My personal favourite).
2. Start an on-line chat group about something you ENJOY! PLEASE NOTE THIS: I would NEVER suggest you start one regarding Panic / Anxiety Attacks & Depression for the following reasons... I attended such a thing (Panic / Anxiety Group) and found it not only overwhelming because everyone wants to talk about their personal stories & problems, AND, they want to discuss the latest drugs on the market, etc. There may be some advantage, BUT, I did not find it. You can have friends with the same issues! The difference being, it is easier to tell them you don't want to hear their problems, just solutions and it makes it easier for you to change the topic should you become uncomfortable...!
3. Try to plan outings with loved ones, something you love to do, anything from a picnic at your local park to a day at the zoo, perhaps a bike-ride, the beach, an amusement park, museums, visit places that ring your bells. From that, each time you do this, you are WIDENING YOUR BOUNDARIES to the point where going to the local shops, work, etc seem INSIGNIFICANT in time!

That should be enough for today:)

One tip I have come across more recently and I am pretty excited about it. As mentioned on "Food Matters", they suggest for NERVOUS TENSION, to eat Cashews, this will help calm you down! You can check their link out, it is on the right hand side of this under "HEALTH MATTERS", they have a FREE PREVIEW AND YOU CAN ALSO WATCH THE WHOLE THING ON-LINE!!!

TO GOOD HEALTH

LOVE

*.*.*. JOY .*.*.*

NO NEED TO PURCHASE PRODUCTS

HEY THERE

I just wanted to quickly inform you all that my posts do NOT require you to purchase a book / cd or the latest anything in order to succeed.

I do in fact have a few adverts here for you if you like (perhaps want more clarity on a given topic, etc), HOWEVER, this is only the work I have personally purchased over the last 16 years and found useful. Having said all of this, I will be giving you (hopefully on a daily basis) ALL of the tips & tricks I have come across (also friends & family's tips) over time that worked for me! I have tried pretty much everything there is to offer out there in regards to my personal well-being from Aromatherapy, Massage (I am also a massage therapist out of all of this), Kinesiology, Accupressure, TFT, Meditation, Reiki, to possibly every book written on the subject. I would love to help someone SAVE $$$$'s and get to freeing up your life for all of the FUN THINGS ahead of you:)

One more thing: Should ANYONE feel like they have a question in regards to this topic that they have NOT found an answer for, PLEASE CONTACT ME and I will do my best to assist you with the best of my knowledge:)

Much Love

*.*.*. Joy .*.*.*

OUT & ABOUT

GOOD MORNING

Today I am going to discuss what to do when you're OUT & ABOUT and have a Panic Attack (P.A.)...

First of all, you want to keep a check on correct breathing, what I mean by this is, when we get anxious, there is a tendency to breathe in too much oxygen too quickly which CAUSES the dizzy-spells, numbness and that swooning feeling. There are a couple of ways on dealing with this, depending upon where you are at at the time. They are:

1 - If you are in full swing of a P.A., I suggest you go somewhere quiet (toilet is usually the best when out) and, instead of the old paper bag trick, you simply use your hands, cup them over your nose & mouth & breathe until you feel yourself starting to re-align again. This will help balance-out the over-oxygenated feeling & sensations. Time will vary on severity of symptoms.

TIP: TRY to go about your day by breathing through your nose whenever possible (preferably all day), this will help to eliminate getting too much oxygen in and keep you calm throughout your day :)

2 - Try to avoid caffeine where possible, this is a STIMULANT and will more than likely exacerbate these symptoms.

3 - Smoking is another one, BUT, only if you are ready to quit. I found that quitting was more stressful than the actual habit at the time!

4 - If you are at the point of feeling a P.A. coming on, DIVERT YOUR ATTENTION. This was a great tip told to me by a friend. When out, start to look at objects and name them, name the colour and then the number. For example: Lamp, Yellow, 1 - Desk, Brown, 2 - Chair, Grey, 3 - Plant, Green, 4, etc, etc, etc. What this will do is begin to disengage old thought patterns and begin new ones :)

Once you have the severity of the symptoms under control. THEN is when I suggest you concentrate on your breathing as mentioned previously:)

LOVE

*.*.*. JOY .*.*.*