DEPRESSED / NERVOUS??? MIX IT UP...

One way to beat those blues or nervous tension is to find MUSIC that resonates with YOU!

If you are nervous / or / anxious, get some music that you find relaxing. I found sounds of nature to be a good investment for me, also I have a machine that plays different sounds - rain, birds, waterfall, etc. Quite an amazing little tool.

For those of you with depression, find that music that lifts your spirits, it could be anything from a song you know and love from years ago that bring forth happy memories to anything current. Don't stick to one particular genre because, you will find that some days when one particular song works, other days it will not! Mix it up!

TIP: Get a whole stack of music you love and stick it on your iPod, or, make a CD or Tape that you can play wherever, whenever. I like setting my iPod up for certain music to play when I wake in the morning, it beats the old alarm clock!

ANOTHER GREAT TIP is, instead of relying on your car radio to keep you on a happy-note, play CD's & Tapes whilst driving instead. Keep a good collection from relaxation (not too relaxing:) ) to up-beat material.

DEPRESSED?

... Move your furniture around, this changes the thought-pattern and helps mix things up! Incredibly effective, A CHANGE IS AS GOOD AS A HOLIDAY...!

... Get ORGANISED - Clear-out old cupboards (bedroom, kitchen, anywhere). Tidy things up in general. To begin with, you may feel so overwhelmed that the thought of doing so seems too drastic! What you do is this... Every day, get a big garbage bag (or small, depending on where you are with this emotionally and clutter-wise) and make an effort to fill it with things as you go about your day, then, throw it out! You will be surprised how quickly things become more organised AND you will start feeling better within yourself!!! It is much more difficult to sit in a home that is neat & tidy and get a bout of depression ;)

MORE GREAT IDEAS TO COME

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!

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 .*.*.*