It’s Going to be a Good Day!

A daily startup for people with depression

It’s my contention that we who deal with depression get down and stay down because we focus on what’s wrong and go over it again and again till it’s all we can see. By what’s “wrong” I mean it’s not what we would have it be. We ponder some situation, compare our perception of its current status to a rosier version we think should be quite possible, and we’re disappointed this situation, or the people involved in it, fail to deliver what could have been. And then we dwell on it and may not even realize we’re doing so.

Well, we do need to realize we’re doing it! We need to name it, i.e. acknowledge it, and then replace that line of thought. What follows is a device that helps me replace it by getting me to focus on what’s right and go over that again and again till it’s all I can see. It’s a brief survey, or inventory, intended to help identify what’s right in five areas we tend to focus on.

1) Regarding your physical health:

• Are you able to lay out your day without having to plan around a physical ailment of some kind?
• Are you able to breathe without assistance?
• Do you enjoy periods of restorative sleep?
• Do you have pain anywhere in your body that is greater than 4 (1 being just a little uncomfortable, 10 being excruciating pain)?
• More specifically, do you have pain in your feet, hands, knees, or back that is greater than 4?

2) Regarding your emotional/relational life:

• Are you able to give and receive love?
• While everyone is somewhat unique, do you realize that you are not the only one who feels the way you do?
• Are there people in your life who accept you as you are?
• Is there something you enjoy (that isn’t harmful to you), and if so are you able to engage in that activity frequently?

3) Regarding your thought life:

• “My life is an ever-flowing river into which several good and positive tributaries flow” — ponder that statement for a moment and see if you agree.
• Are you receiving uplifting input into your thought life from an external source on a regular basis, i.e. through reading, conversation, or other media?
• Do you have an outlet by which to express your thoughts, like writing, creating art, conversation with others?
• Are you able to visualize something beautiful in your “mind’s eye?”
• When necessary, are you able to declutter your mind?

4) Regarding your self-determination:

• Are you in prison?
• Do you have something you’re looking forward to?
• Do you have dreams or aspirations you’re planning toward and/or living into?
• Are you free from addictions that would hinder your aspirations?
• Do you see yourself with options, the ability to choose a path in life and follow it?
• In a typical week do you have discretionary time available to pursue the “what’s next” in your life?

5) Regarding problems in any area of life:

• Do you have a steady stream of income, sufficient to meet the steady stream of expenses?
• If there are challenges, even battles you see coming your way, do you have resources available with which to engage the struggle?
• Do you know competent and helpful people with whom you can communicate about problems?
• Are you able to consider various, possible solutions to a problem and weigh the pro’s and con’s of each?
• Have you successfully solved, or navigated through, problems in the past?

I find that if I start my day with something like that inventory or some vehicle that brings me to realize, “You know what, I really don’t have it so bad,” I’ve taken an initial step in doing what I can do to make it a “good day.”

If today your physical health lets you breeze through those questions, and your emotional/relational life is such that you’re at least able to give and receive love, and your thought life is sufficiently fed so as to be able to conjure up something beautiful, and you have a degree of self-determination that allows you to feel free to chart your course, and you can see that five, ten, or twenty years ago you had problems that seemed overwhelming, but here you are today, then this day has potential! Dwell on that for a while!

Next time I want to share with you an insight about a prejudice many of us share that brings us to unfairly discriminate. It has nothing to do with race, ethnicity, or religion, and like me you might be surprised to discover that you too are guilty of this particular prejudice.

Originally published at http://aboutgoodstuff.wordpress.com on September 22, 2020.