What Can You Do About Depression When You Are Healing?

Depression underlies many physical conditions, either because it was part of the cause of the illness or because you are feeling the pressure of your physical limits.

While my book, The Root of All Healing wasn’t intended to be a book about alleviating depression, as I began to answer this question, I realized how much of it really does speak to natural approaches to addressing depression.

In a sense, it has to, because if you are healing the root cause of your illness, the root cause of your depression is part of or contributing to your physical and emotional challenges.

When I was young, I was extremely depressed. In fact, in my twenties, I spent far too much time thinking about how bad my life was and wondering what it would be like if I just ended my life. I could see people around me and I knew that some of them were genuinely happy. Amazingly to me, some of them were happy most of the time.

I was extremely jealous of their happiness. I felt more depressed around them tha
I did when I kept to myself, and yet a part of me wanted to know what it was like to be happy most of the time. I also wanted to know what it was like to be healthy most of the time.

Ultimately, that became my primary motivation for healing—I wanted to know what it felt like to be really happy.

The motivation that takes you beyond your depression will be uniquely yours. Somewhere deep inside you, there is probably a burning desire that will carry you from depression to the emotion you truly want to feel day-in and day-out.

Discover what motivates you and knowing how to lift yourself out of depression will show itself to you.

When you are feeling depressed it is easy to look at depression as though it is a curse, but depression has its gifts, if we choose to be present to and compassionate with what we are feeling. Here are a few of the discoveries I made about the gifts of depression.

I discovered that spending time with Mother Nature is powerfully healing for the soul and body.

I learned that creativity allows one’s Divine nature to express and when we in our own unique expression of Divinity, we have fewer problems and experience greater happiness.

Depression led me to meditation, because something deep inside was telling me that if I found stillness, my raging and sorrowful emotions would quiet down and I would find inner peace.

Becoming free from depression and finding long-term happiness was one of the major motivators in my healing. My motivation led me into a path of discovery about how the choices we make affect our illness and our wellness, and that eventually was written down in a book to share with others–The Root of All Healing. As I share in the book, it ultimately led me into a deeper realization of my own Divine nature.

Some of the greatest healers I know, at one time felt immense depression. Depression is only a curse if we allow it to be one. It can, if we choose, become a doorway into Divine awareness and the realization of our capacity to love.