Let’s face it. Depression is daunting, but so are some of its treatments. SSRIs, MAOIs, TCAs, SNRIs, nerve or magnetic stimulation, seizure therapy, and even neurosurgery are available to battle depression. For the most part, drugs and intensive medical therapies are only necessary for severe or persistent cases of depression that cannot be resolved in talk therapy or by means of other alternate therapies. If you have recently been diagnosed with depression, if you suffer from a mild form of depression, or if you would like to consider reducing your dependency on depression medications, talk to your doctor or therapist about natural, alternative treatments for depression.

In addition to psychotherapy, a variety of natural methods have been shown to reduce symptoms of depression and restore brain chemistry to appropriate function. Individuals with Seasonal Affective Disorder, newly diagnosed depression, or mild depression may benefit from using diet and exercise to manage depressive symptoms and avoid or reduce their use of medication for depression or other medical interventions for their illness.

Eat Foods that Reduce Symptoms of Depression

Mother Nature was no fool. A variety of delicious foods naturally provide brain stimulation to produce feel-good hormones, regulate mood, reduce anxiety, improve sleep, and boost concentration. Include at least one of the following foods (preferably more) in your diet every single day for the most noticeable effect on depressive symptoms.

Whole Grains. Oats and whole wheat are essential for providing energy to your brain. Without it, your glucose levels can sink and your system will feel tired. When your brain and cells are tired, you feel fatigued and irritable.

Spinach and Bananas and Orange Juice, Oh My! The vital ingredients for mood and health are at no shortage in these foods. The three power foods provide antioxidants that help prevent your brain cells from damage and fight off fatigue, vitamins and minerals that carry oxygen to your brain to help chemical reactions take place and improve sleep, and amino acids to release feel-good serotonin and help you manage stress.

Walnuts and Dark Chocolate. What a delicious combo of mood-boosting foods! Walnuts help prevent irritability, anxiety, and insomnia while dark chocolate helps your brain receive vital oxygen and may even increase levels of dopamine in the brain. The healthy fats they carry may also contain vital nutrients for brain health.

Milk and Eggs. That’s right, down-home farm food is down-right good for your brain. The vitamins and minerals in milk may help reduce anxiety and frustration, while the protein and nutrients in eggs (including the yolk) help improve memory and bump up the brain’s level of serotonin.

Turkey and Salmon. Poultry and fatty fish provide loads of essential nutrients for brain health. The amino acids found in animal cutlets like turkey and salmon help you manage stress, increase your motivation, reduce anxiety, and release serotonin and norepinephrine so that you start feeling relaxed and clear-headed.

Exercise to Beat Depression

Exercise is another natural way to keep symptoms of depression at bay – in fact, some research suggests it can be at least as effective as medication in treating mild depression. Because exercise stimulates the production of feel-good hormones, even getting out of breath for a short period of time helps your brain promote bodily relaxation and tranquility. For the best impact on symptoms of depression, exercise 3 times each week for about 30 minutes per session. More frequent sessions of shorter duration may also be effective. Thankfully, whatever type of exercise you do can be equally beneficial provided you get your heart rate up and your blood pumping. Try some of the following suggestions to find an exercise routine you enjoy, or create your own for variety.

Practice Yoga, Pilates, or Meditation. These exercises can be practiced at a variety of skill levels and have been demonstrated to significantly reduce stress, anxiety, and pain for numerous health conditions. All three can improve mood and sleep, tone muscles, and potentially help you mentally work through some of the emotional complications of depression.

Swim. Not only is water therapy used as its own treatment for depression, swimming is also considered an easy exercise option for those with little prior experience with exercise and those who have weight issues or joint pain.

Take Jogs or Walks. Running, speed walking, or just strolling around the neighborhood with your kids or dog can bring immense benefits in terms of mood regulation, stress relief, socialization, and anxiety reduction. Taking your activity outside is ideal in appropriate weather, but if your only option is a gym, work hard to meet friends to multiply the benefits of exercise by also engaging your social self.

Spend Time in Nature. Climb a tree, take a hike, go kayaking or pedal boating, garden, or take up a hobby (such as nature photography) that will get you out and about. Explore on foot or by paddle, chase your kids at the playground, or mow the lawn yourself to get the benefit of the great outdoors in addition to the boost your brain will get from working up a sweat.

Fight Depression Naturally

Diet and exercise are two of the healthiest and simplest ways available to treat mild or seasonal depression. Always follow the advice of a physician or licensed therapist when designing a treatment regimen for depression, but be sure to ask about trying natural lifestyle changes before or instead of medication. In many cases, eating well and being physically active can work wonders in rebalancing the brain and preventing depression from taking control of your life.

Katie Brind’Amour is a freelance health and wellness writer and Certified Health Education Specialist. She has a certificate in Mental Health First Aid and is pursuing her PhD in Health Services Management and Policy. In her spare time, she blogs about friendship and life in the not-so-fast lane. For more articles like these, visit Danae’s Corner.

According to recent surveys millions of Americans report being in a bad mood this winter. According to researchers this shift in mood is a result of much more than the woes that come with Holiday depression. In current years, I have been among those millions. Maybe you are, too.

Psychologists call this phenomenon being “seasonally-affected.” Many in the scientific community consider it a temporary physiological change in body rhythms and internal chemistry due to more than just mood fluctuations during the Holidays, but giving credit to the lack of sunshine and light during these cold, dark months. After all, light is a source of natural energy for our minds and our bodies. So it goes without saying that the less light we have in our environment, the less likely we are to naturally feel exuberant like we may during the brighter months of the year.

Nonetheless, despite what we call it or what the reason behind it is, people from all walks of life are experiencing the “winter blues” at an ever-increasing rate. The good news is they are finding ways to cope with it. The bad news is their coping methods aren’t always effective or positive. We may even be contributing to other unhealthy symptoms and ailments, which may negate emotional well-being in the long-run.

For example, the most widely reported coping methods for beating the winter blues are:

• Calling in sick to work in order to escape the “daily grind”
• Finding personal leisure time (reading, relaxing)
• Stress alleviation techniques (like Yoga or meditation)
• Dietary supplements (such as calming herbal remedies or even multi-vitamins)
• Sleeping in or sleeping extra (guilty as charged)
• Resorting to “comfort” foods (guilty as charged again)
• Resorting to drugs or alcohol…

I’m not on anyone’s personal ethics committee (at least not to my knowledge) but we can’t help but notice the potential harm in some of these coping strategies. Obviously, some of them are positive, such as finding ways to unwind and find stress alleviation naturally, through Yoga, breathing exercises, meditation. Even using quality, wholesome nutritional supplements seems positive and highly beneficial.

But, it’s also obvious that some methods – such as drugs, alcohol, and even indulging in comfort foods – are not only negative ways to cope with winter blues and stress, but they always do more harm than good in the long run.

Alas, there is hope. Following are five extremely positive and healthy ways to cope with the blues this winter which others and myself have found incredibly effective and useful:

1. Make Time for Your Self. I don’t just mean to find time for leisure or to do nothing at all when you do find time for your self. This may entail taking time for your own personal development and growth as well. Commit to reading books or finding programs that help you to achieve growth and mastery of your well-being. Take night classes on a subject you’ve always had an interest in learning but have never taken the time to engage in. Stimulating the mind through learning new information and skills as well as improving your social life never hurts! Putting yourself first means you’ll always be able to give your best to everyone else in your life. (Note: If you find that leisure time leaves you thinking more and more about being depressed or in a hopeless mood, this is an especially useful technique. Sometimes doing nothing isn’t always the key to having quality time to your self. Life is really about balance, so find out what works for you and stick with it.)
2. Create and Be Your Own Sunshine. For those who do suffer from the winter blues it may seem like an impossible task for us to be happy or joyful during these months of the year when the world around us is virtually devoid of all light and sunshine. One method for increasing energy and well-being is to create your own sunshine. This means you create your own internal sunshine by illuminating on your positive traits and characteristics, on your unique strengths and value, by stating them in the form of positive affirmations. Affirmations are self-empowering statements that can be used to accentuate our positive qualities and communicate in a more effective way to ourselves. They are used the world over (even by many practicing psychiatrists and therapists) in order to help people with mood or depression issues focus on their own positive competencies, those things about their self which make them feel good, expansive, light and joyful inside. We all can do this. It’s merely a matter of saying good things about our self, instead of habitually saying (or thinking) bad things. In doing so, we may create our own sunshine and be happy and joyful by experiencing the internal light we produce. After all, the old saying is right: “True happiness comes from within.”
3. Beat the “I Don’t Feel Like It” Syndrome. Listen folks this one is a biggie. How many times have you had the intention to get out of bed early to exercise or begin a new life habit (especially this time of year!) only to find yourself hitting the snooze button over and over again, justifying your reactions by saying “I just don’t feel like it”? Suffice it to say, I am no exception. This is what I’ve come to call the “I Don’t Feel Like It” syndrome and it rears its ugly head in more ways than one: “I’m not in the mood,” “I know I should eat ‘this’ healthy food instead of ‘that’ comfort food, but it doesn’t sound good right now.” Not being in the mood, not feeling like doing something, etc., basically means we have allowed ourselves to turn on the auto-pilot switch in our minds giving our body’s feelings and emotions the power to tell us what to do as well as how and when to do it! Specific phrases such as: “don’t feel,” “not in the mood,” or “doesn’t sound good/ does sound good,” all indicate we are allowing our body to tell us what choices to make instead of exercising our gift of free will in order to choose our actions based on what we value. The most definite step for overcoming the “I Don’t’ Feel Like It” Syndrome is to simply ignore and dismiss the emotional trigger that tells you to say in your mind that you don’t feel like doing something and consciously choose to do it anyway! Always easier said than done, I know. But a little awareness goes a long way, and with consistent, persistent mindfulness and practice you will eventually be able to overcome the most prevalent “syndrome” in our modern culture that keeps us from experiencing the changes we so desperately desire.
4. Get Physical. With a nod to Olivia Newton John, modern research is constantly finding new evidence to support that there is a definite mind-body connection and that how we treat our bodies has a direct and noticeable effect on our mood and feelings. For example, a helpful practice in improving mood (especially when you’re “not in the mood”) is to make the conscious choice to get up and get physical, to exercise and move. Even if all you do is go for a walk, you’re going to reap more positive benefits than if you do nothing at all. Exercise also stimulates the release of endorphins and dopamine, two “feely-good” chemicals our brain makes to keep us feeling happy and motivated. The less we exercise, the less we have the “feely-good” chemicals percolating throughout bodies! Also, exercise – especially if it’s at a high enough intensity – stimulates a certain part of the nervous system, further aiding in appetite suppression so that those comfort foods don’t look quite as appealing anymore. And that makes way for my final positive coping method…
5. Focus on Food. There’s no denying that foods make us feel a very specific way, physically and emotionally. Comfort foods make us feel comfortable, hence their names. So what’s the problem with comfort foods then? First and foremost, the majority of comfort food is treacherously unhealthy and leads to imminent weight-gain, an inefficient metabolism, and is generally laden with bad fats, processed carbohydrates, and other chemical additives. ‘Nuff said on that.

Second, comfort foods give us the delightful sense of immediate gratification. Basically, we condition our mind and body to accept a manner of eating which causes us to feel good while we are eating and maybe a short time afterward. But we neglect the healthier, mood-enhancing approach which would be to eat in a way that makes us feel good all the time. You see, food affects mood, because mood is the result of different chemical processes in the body and brain. Food has a direct effect on these chemical processes. By choosing foods that contribute to a better mood, we’re not only making healthier decisions for weight management and nourishment, but we’re gaining control of our feelings, too.

For example, foods high in whole proteins, such as lean meat, eggs, fish, beans, and legumes are known for improving mood and helping us feel better by providing our brain with the amino acids (building blocks) it needs to produce the chemicals and hormones in our bodies which may improve mood naturally and stave off food cravings. (Note: Using dietary or herbal supplements may be a good idea as well. Just talk to your physician about it beforehand or seek the advice of a Registered Dietician)

For 2012, let’s make this the year where we finally say goodbye to our winter blues for good. I’m confident that we CAN and WILL defeat negative feelings and emotions, find balance and true happiness all year round, with the right coping strategies in place.

About the Author: Ronnie Brown is a writer and educator of personal growth and development, with a focus on teaching and coaching others in his systems for Dynamic Health and Emotional Mastery. Visit him at http://ronniebrownlifesystems.com/.

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The American public is starting to make other choices for health care, because there is one aspect of the American Spirit that always holds true: if they get frustrated, they will find an innovative way to do something better… and there is nothing more frustrating than having too many medical bills for a treatment that did not work.

Here are some good reasons to seek natural therapy:

Cost

In today’s economic climate it is difficult for most people to get modern healthcare. In many cases, wives or husbands are keeping a job that they really don’t like or get enough pay for simply because their job offers good insurance for health coverage for their family. To buy the insurance separately is not affordable and most households have often gone broke from medical bills that were just too high – even with insurance.

Your Own Healing

Hippocrates is more closely followed in holistic healing programs like naturopathy; the theme is “do no harm” and “educate the client about the therapy”. The results can be spectacular. One of the reasons is the client is directly engaged in their own recovery and when they have healing breakthroughs, they feel a sense of accomplishment, which in turn raises their self esteem; solidifying another crucial part of the healing process—reversing the damaging psycho somatic influence that low esteem can bring into a renewed state of well being and confidence.

Support

The person that is involved in their healing will not have to call the doctor or go to the hospital whenever they get sick. Because they are further along with their own knowledge and abilities; they learn more about herbs and how foods can be medicine. They may not always have the answers, but when they do visit their Natural Health Practitioner they get deeper help and assistance. Over a longer period, when function is restored, the consultations become less frequent, long term costs are lowered and when the consultations do take place it becomes a one-on-one classroom for learning about healing.

Personal Triumph

It is interesting to note, that the Royal Family in England only use homeopathy. Of course they have a different lifestyle than anyone, but more to the point, these homeopathic medications are the most harmless on the planet. This family could afford any kind of care in the world, yet they choose natural therapy and homeopathy. Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth never take pharmaceutical drugs. Could it be because they are directly involved with their homeopathic doctors who educate them over the years, and in this case over generations; that they are directly involved in their own healing? Queen Mum, Elizabeth’s mother lived to 101 years. She still rode horses in her golden years.

None of us are royalty, but we do have choices.

Johnny Delirious holds a Masters Degree in Natural Health, with an emphasis on Nutrition & Wellness Modalities from Clayton College of Natural Health, Birmingham, Al and is a Ph.D. candidate at the same college. He currently lives in Texas and enjoys a fruitful and healthy life. Learn more at www.hepatitisccured.com. Contact Johnny at jdelirious59111@yahoo.com.

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Some people think that they are always unlucky, stressed out and unhappy.

No matter what the day is, no matter what the season is, when you meet them, they start out with their problems (I will define what’s a problem and an activity, later in this post) and magnify every little point to larger than life extent.

If not their personal problems, they start blaming others, government, politics and you name it they have their negative remarks ready for it. In other words they flood you with negativity and you start wondering that life is so unfair for them.

This article is for them. If you are one of them, then this article is for you.

Because I truly want to you help you and make you life more enjoyable and stress-free. I want to elevate you to a higher level and equip you with tools and action points to handle problems (wait for my definition of a problem). Be with me for the rest of this article.

Difference between a problem and an activity

When you face an unexpected situation or unplanned task, instead of embracing stress and start getting panic attacks, stop here for a moment.

Is this really a problem? Or it could be an additional activity you need to perform. Then just do it. Don’t think too much that why this is happening for you. If you don’t know what is that additional action you need to take, then just ask others and seek help. Finish the matter. Become stress free. Now tell me was that really a problem?

Let me reverse engineer the situation for you. You would have considered this additional activity as a blocking stone and kept on procrastinating and increased your stress levels reaching nowhere.

No, I don’t want you to do that. I am provoking you for an action. Problem solved.

Activity is different than problem. Activity is something you need to do anyway and you know how to do it. Problem is you don’t want to do it.

So plan well, get information, finish one task at a time. Be happy.

Stop the negative streams

Yes, stop it. If you feel you are getting negative news from TV then stop watching that channel or even better switch off TV. If you think you are constantly influenced by negative thinking friends, then deal with them.

Don’t expect perfection in everything

Don’t expect perfection in everything you see. Mistakes do happen once in a while from everyone including you. When someone commits a mistake, point it out positively and offer the solution. We are only human.

Involve yourself in a hobby

Whether it’s listening to music or learning a new language or playing chess. Make sure that you give yourself a leisure time. Read inspiring content and motivate yourself.

Stop comparing yourself to others

This may be the one of the root causes for your so called unhappiness feeling. Understand that everyone is unique and blessed with their own happiness or faced with own challenges (note that I have not said problems).

So focus on yourself. Reduce distractions. Invest in yourself. Eliminate fluff. Don’t fall for the comparison trap.

Free up yourself from undue stress.

Do above small changes to your life. Your unhappiness is just an illusion. You are already happy. You just need to realize it.

About author: Naveen Kulkarni writes about ideas for enhancing your life on his blog Winning Ideas.

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Some people appear to be hopped up on happy pills, being oblivious to any bad events going on around them. Others are all too quick to express their disgust at anything that doesn’t go exactly their way.

Could it be that the healthiest emotional mix is somewhere between the extremes? Say, four parts good feelings to one part bad feelings, shaken not stirred, and served with a twist of lime?

We all know that some people seem determined to be miserable. The other day on the radio, I heard about a study that found many people actually resist being happy. It turns out that trying to reassure someone when they’re depressed is likely to make them feel worse.

The suspected reason for this is that some people feel the need to stay attached to their perception of reality. They make a negative statement like “I hate my job.” Then someone tries to make them feel better by saying, “It’s OK, your job isn’t that bad.” But this statement conflicts with their perception.

They may resolve this conflict by saying, “Yes, my job IS that bad, and I’ll tell you why…” Feeling that they’re forced to prove their point, they end up making themselves feel worse.

Of course, there’s no need to prove that you hate your job. Instead of remaining attached to that perception and defending it against any evidence to the contrary, you could instead change your perception. Everything can be seen from multiple perspectives, and if you choose to look on the bright side of things, you’ll dramatically boost your happiness.

At the same time, do you want to improve your life solely by forcing yourself to see the good side, or do you also want your life to actually get better? Here’s where negative emotions come in. They tell us that something’s not right, thereby steering us towards what we want.

Consider the evolutionary purpose of pain. If you were to stick your hand in a fire, it would hurt. The pain would make you quickly recoil your hand and run off in search of water. Of course, you wouldn’t enjoy the pain, but if you didn’t feel it, you’d leave your hand in the fire and cause serious damage or death. The pain tells you you’re doing something wrong, and provides some very strong motivation to correct it immediately.

It works the same way with emotions. You may not like feeling negative emotions, but if you felt perfectly happy regardless of your circumstances, why would you ever try to make the right choices?

Even homeless people have a lot to be thankful for. But if a homeless person is constantly overjoyed with their life, they won’t be motivated to change it. On the other hand, someone who feels the fear of becoming homeless will do whatever they can to prevent that from happening.

The purpose of pain is to make you avoid danger. But once you’re doing everything you can, feeling more pain doesn’t help. If something is medically wrong with you, then a little pain is good, because it makes you go to the doctor. But chronic pain after you’re already receiving treatment is bad, because it hurts without a purpose. Likewise, negative emotions are bad once they get beyond the point of being constructive.

There are two extremes that you want to avoid. Staying constantly focused on what’s wrong with your life may make you determined to fix the situation, but it will put you through far more misery than necessary. On the other hand, acting like Pollyanna on Prozac all the time may make you feel good, but it won’t inspire you to action when something is going wrong.

The best mix is to enjoy good emotions most of the time, while allowing negative emotions to serve their purpose now and then. By looking for the good side in everything, you’ll make the most of what life has to offer. And by periodically acknowledging what’s not working for you, you’ll keep up the motivation to work towards what you really want.

Hunter is a Guest Blogger for PickTheBrain and a personal development blogger, seeking life lessons wherever they may appear.

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When I’ve got a case of the blues, I sometimes cheer myself up by buying a new book or two on Amazon. Perhaps you have some similar habits: you know what cheers you up, whether it’s going shopping, eating a giant bag of chips, opening a bottle of wine, lighting up…

The problem is, a lot of these little habits don’t really cheer us up, and, over time, they can have a very negative effect on our health, our wallet, or both.

These are some perennially popular ones – and reasons why they’re not a good idea:

1.    Comfort  Eating

Do you ever turn to food when you’re bored, stressed, or feeling low?  Many of us have a long-established pattern of eating for emotional reasons – this may be something we learnt as small children, if parents gave us candy as a comforter (or to keep us quiet!)

The problem with comfort eating is that, even if a king-sized candy bar dulls our misery temporarily, we usually feel worse afterwards. If you’re trying to take care of your health, or lose weight, you’ll probably feel guilty for using your bad mood as an excuse to succumb to temptation.

A short-term sugar crash won’t do much for your state of mind, and your long-term health is likely to suffer if you regularly over-indulge in sweet, salty or fatty snacks.

2.    Alcohol or Cigarettes

When I realized in college that I often felt I “needed” a glass of wine at the end of the day in order to unwind and relax, I knew it was time to go teetotal for a while. You might be far from being an alcoholic – but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a drinking problem.

Turning to the bottle when you’re feeling blue isn’t going to help. At best, you might forget about what’s troubling you for an evening – but your problems will still be there the next day (and they may well be accompanied by a hangover). If you’re starting to feel that you “need” a drink in order to de-stress, be careful.

I’ve never smoked, but a few of my friends are smokers, and from what they’ve said, I know that cigarettes do provide some stress-relief. This comes, however, with a hefty price tag, both in monetary and health terms. If you’re putting off quitting because you can’t relax without a cigarette, start exploring some better stress-busting techniques.

3.    Shopping

There’s nothing wrong with using your money to buy things that bring you enjoyment. If you regularly go shopping to lift your mood, however, there’s a good chance that you’re buying a lot of stuff that you don’t really need and don’t really want.

If you get into the habit of shopping when you’re down, you’ll be more susceptible to succumbing to cunning marketing ploys. As with comfort eating, alcohol and cigarettes, excessive and unnecessary shopping won’t make you feel good about yourself the next day.

Plus, if your financial situation is a bit rocky, shopping will add to your worries.

So, if these popular mood-boosters don’t really work, what does? There are a whole host of things you might try, but three that are pretty much guaranteed to lift your mood are:

1.    Exercising

Don’t groan! Getting your body moving is a great way to boost your mood (and, of course, it’s good for your health). Have you ever had that satisfied, completely de-stressed feeling after a workout? Or have you ever gone outside to “walk off” some excess nervous energy, or to get some space and recover from a bad mood?

If you’ve tried exercising in the past, you’ll know how effective it is. Over here in the UK, doctors are increasingly encouraging patients with mild to moderate depression to exercise regularly – it can help people to manage their depression without the need for drugs.

2.    Doing Something for Others

Many volunteers find that giving their time and energy to a good cause helps them to feel fulfilled and satisfied, and that it can be a great way of meeting new friends with similar interests and values. Knowing that you’ve used one of your skills to help someone in need can give your confidence and your sense of self-worth a massive boost.

You don’t necessarily need to join a formal scheme as a volunteer. How about dropping in on a lonely neighbor, doing a favor for a friend, or taking the time to phone someone who you know will appreciate a chat?

3.    Get On With Something Absorbing

When you’re feeling down, it can be hard to feel motivated to start on anything. Perhaps you’ve got a stack of emails to reply to, but you just can’t face them. (Indeed, a backlog of work might even be the cause of your bad mood.) Maybe you’ve got a particular hobby or interest that you never seem to get time for any more.

Getting on with something – anything – can sometimes be enough to lift your mood. It might mean throwing yourself into work, or enjoying a chapter or two of an engrossing novel. Sometimes, all that’s needed for your mood to lift is to simply find an activity that occupies your brain.

How do you lift your mood when you’re feeling down? Do any of the above tips work for you, or do you have some of your own to add to the list?

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6 Motivation Tips When You’re Feeling Depressed

Depression is a difficult illness for even the most iron-willed of individuals. Whether you’re clinically depressed or just in a rut, depression can make basic tasks like cleaning the house, taking a shower and even getting out of bed incredibly difficult and physically and mentally draining. It is important to stay motivated to continue to live your life and work towards feeling better, even when you’re at your lowest point. Here are some simple ways that you can motivate yourself on a daily basis:

•    Don’t be too harsh with yourself. It’s going to take time to get things done like you used to and to feel like your old self. Changes are not going to happen overnight, so don’t be overly critical of yourself if you make mistakes or don’t get as much done as you’d like. You’re having a hard enough time without getting on your own case.

•    Be realistic. Making a laundry list of things to do is a surefire way to set yourself up for failure. Start with small positive changes and work from there. If you’re not realistic you’ll just end up frustrated and more depressed.

•    Surround yourself with people. While you may just want to curl up and be alone, this isn’t the best or easiest route for you when you’re depressed. Having others around you to give you a helping hand, talk to you and provide you with inspiration is important to feeling better and getting back into the swing of things, even if you feel like you just want to shut everyone out.

•    Move around. Lying in bed all day or hunkering down on the couch isn’t going to do much but give you more time to feel bad about things. When you force yourself to get up, even if only for a short walk or to tend to some plants outside, you’ll be helping yourself feel better physically and mentally.

•    Start a project. For many, this may seem like that last thing they want to do but an enjoyable project can give you something to concentrate on that will bring your thoughts away from depression and give you something to feel proud of when you’re done.

•    Make a plan. If even the smallest tasks seem like a chore, start small with planning out what you’re going to do each day. In the morning, write down the things you’d like to accomplish and in the evening, go back and check off what you did. This can help you regain your sense of control over your life at a time when it seems the most chaotic.

Recovering from depression is a hard road, but with some planning and slow but steady progress you may be able to start feeling optimistic about your life again. For a list of more great depression resources, click here.

Meredith Walker is a guest blogger for PickTheBrain.com. She writes about online nursing programs and welcomes your feedback.

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The Real Key To Life

Image courtesy of SeanRock.

One tenet you’ll often hear in personal development circles is that “it’s good to talk” or “a burden shared is a burden halved”. Sometimes, though, when feeling down, you’ll talk to a spouse, parent or friend about how you feel … and you’ll find that you’re just dragging yourself into a deeper and blacker mood.

So why is it that talking doesn’t always help? And how can you help someone who wants to talk to you about their woes?

Talking Often Focuses on the Problem

Perhaps you’ve been feeling a bit down recently. Maybe you have bleak days when it seems like you’ve lost your direction in life. You might talk to a friend about it, detailing all the things you wish you could do (if only you had the money, or the time, or the skills), and endlessly dissecting everything that’s wrong in your life.

Talking about everything that’s wrong just reinforces your focus on things that aren’t currently working. If you’re already in a bad mood, it’ll send you spiralling further and further down. Have you ever had the experience of “working yourself into a state” – feeling a bit anxious or angry about something, and dwelling on it until the molehill becomes a mountain?

Tip for Helping: If someone wants to talk to you about everything that’s wrong in their life, encourage them to find something that’s good. Ask “what’s been better recently?” This is a technique that the coach Mark Forster uses and explains in his book How to Make Your Dreams Come True.

Talking May Mean Saying Something You Regret

When you’re in a bad mood, or feeling very fed up about something, it’s easy to think that your state of mind represents your real feelings about a job, relationship, or life situation. The truth is, how you feel when in a bad mood is no more “real” or objective than the way you feel when everything’s going swimmingly.

One danger of trying to talk through your bad moods is that you’ll end up saying something you’ll regret. Perhaps you’ll think, at the time, that you’re telling your friend a few home truths … but later you’ll realise that you don’t really think that of them at all. Maybe you’ll tell colleagues that you hate your job, despite finding it perfectly pleasant most of the time: do you want your words making their way through the office grapevine to your boss?

Tip for Helping: Try to treat anything that someone says in anger, or while upset, as something that they don’t really mean. If you do end up saying something that you regret, don’t be too hesitant to apologize once you’ve calmed down.

Talking Only Works if Someone Listens

Unfortunately, most people in the world are not good listeners – and I include myself here. When listening to someone, it’s easy to let your mind wander, or to stop concentrating on their words in order to think about what you’re going to say next. We often don’t even hear the actual words that are said – let alone the intention behind them, and the wealth of stuff that is implied.

You may get frustrated when you talk about your problems because people just don’t seem to understand. Perhaps they brush off the major issues as unimportant, and attend to the minor ones; perhaps they offer advice when all you wanted was someone to listen patiently. Maybe they’ve completely missed the point.

Tip for Helping: Learn how to listen actively. If you’re seeking help, try going to a life coach, counsellor or someone else who has been trained to listen and to help you work through problems.

Do you find that talking to someone when you’re in a bad mood helps you to feel better – or does it tend to make things worse? Have you been able to help people by listening to them when they’re going through a bleak spell?

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Image courtesy of Rumpers.

Everyone smiles.  From industrialized nations to remote tribes, studies have shown that smiling is universal.  Even more stunning is that people from all over the world smile the same way.  Even blind children begin to smile without seeing others smile.  It’s ingrained in the very code that makes us human.

Although smiling comes in many forms, most are actually fake.  In fact, there is only one smile that is genuine. When the corners of the mouth go up, the eyes narrow slightly creating crow’s feet, and the upper half of the cheeks rise, you are experiencing the Duchenne Smile, named by Paul Ekman, an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of California at San Francisco after Guillaume-Benjamin Duchenne, the French physiologist who first studied the muscle that surrounds the eye in 1862.

The Duchenne smile is the one true smile that is a direct result of feeling happy.  But, how do we FEEL happy?  When we receive or give a gift, or see our children smile and laugh, physiological changes take place.  Our hearts beat faster and the flow of blood increases. Skin temperature rises, which makes the skin slightly damper and our fingers tremble.  The experience of a compliment or gift is a trigger.  The trigger sets off changes in the body, which signal the brain to feel happy.

Although this may sound odd at first, try forcing yourself to feeling happy when your muscles are tense, your face is frowned and your brow furrowed.  The involuntary emotions cause our body reaction to signal our brain, which means that happiness arises as much from our body as it does from our thoughts.

The emotions associated with feeling happy are involuntarily controlled by our automatic nervous system.  This is why we cannot simply decide to be happy by influencing involuntary body function.  It is impossible for us to command our blood to flow faster.  We do, however, have the ability to bypass the automatic nervous system.  We have the ability to smile, even without a trigger.

Ekman’s work corroborated that if feelings can come from the body, then happiness can come from a genuine Duchenne smile.  Ekman trained his subjects to control the movement of the muscles that surround the eye to achieve the Duchenne smile.  The result was a signal of happiness without a trigger sent to the brain thereby proving that happiness doesn’t flow in just one direction, and smiling alone can make us happy.

I suggest that we take the work of Ekman to the next level.  If the bodily movement of smiling can make our brains experience feelings of happiness, then why not use the smile as a trigger for others.  What you put out into the world comes back to you.  The next time you are introduced to someone, just give your first name and watch what happens.  More likely than not, they will return the introduction with their first name.  Offer your first and last name, and you will receive the same.  Try it with a smile.  I’m sure you will find a smile in return.  This effect can influence your happiness and the feelings of everyone you come into contact with throughout your day.  By smiling more and passing it along, you truly put the Duchenne smile effect into action.

Tommy Galan is a guest blogger for PickTheBrain. He is the author of HappyUniverse.com, a blog dedicated to designing happy lives through exciting goals and healthy lifestyle.  A few of his many adventures include performing on Broadway, earning a Juris Doctorate, finishing marathons, and traveling the world.  He lives in New York City with his wife and son.

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The 6 Components of a Happy Life

• Life is a drag.
• What’s the point of anything?
• I’ll never be happy.

Do any of these gloomy thoughts sound familiar? It’s likely they do. The occasional case of the blues is perfectly normal, but that doesn’t make dealing with it any easier. If you allow them to, negative thoughts can fester and lead to serious depression. That’s why it’s important to take action early to bust yourself out of a slump.

While these suggestions won’t eliminate your problems, they can help you break a negative thought pattern and stop feeling depressed. If you think you might have a serious mental health problem, don’t hesitate to see a medical professional.

1. Understand the emotional cycle – Life is an emotional roller coaster. Some days you feel like nothing can stop you. Other days you feel utterly hopeless. Most of the time you’re somewhere in between. Understanding the pattern of positive and negative emotions will help you put your feelings in perspective. Next time you feel down, just remember that it’s a natural emotion that will inevitably pass. Knowing that a feeling of depression is only temporary makes it less dreadful.

2. Spend time with positive people – Nothing affects the way you think and feel more than the people you interact with. Thoughts (both positive and negative) are contagious. If you are surrounded by negative people, it’s only natural that you’ll start to think and feel the same way. To improve your outlook on life, spend time with positive people. Search them out and try to understand the way they see the world. Chances are their happiness will rub off.

3. Reflect on past success – In the wake of a colossal failure, it’s easy to forget everything you’ve ever done right. Take a few minutes to remember your past accomplishments and build yourself up. What made you successful before? What are your strengths? Frequently, this exercise will build self confidence, help you figure out what went wrong, and generate ideas for success in the future.

4. Focus on gratitude – It’s human nature to measure ourselves against those ahead of us on the social ladder. Studies have shown that people care more about being richer than their friends than actually making more money. When you consider everything good in your life and compare it to the problems of less fortunate people, the issue that’s making you depressed won’t seem as serious.

5. Change of scenery – One of the best ways to change the way you feel is to change your environment. When you get in a slump, you start to associate your problems with everything around you. It can get to the point where your environment is a constant reminder of your problems. This can be a dangerous cycle. The solution is to change things. Change doesn’t have to be radical. Cleaning up, adding more lights, or including pleasant decorations can completely change the mood of a room.

6. Break your routine - Going through the same routine, day after day, can be monotonous and depressing. It often leads to getting caught in a rut. To get out of it you need to temporarily change your routine. If you can, take a day off from work. Do something you don’t normally have time for or something you’ve never tried. In the long run, taking a day off every now and then to get out of slump will make you happier and more productive.

7. Interact with animals and nature – It’s funny when you consider how humans put so much importance on their own tiny problems. Animals don’t think this way. A little bird doesn’t mope around because it isn’t an eagle or because another bird beat it to a tasty seed. Animals live in the present moment and they show love unconditionally. Observing and interacting with them will help you get over your problems.

8. Get moving – As Johnny Cash famously suggested, “Get a rhythm, when you get the blues.” Moving to a beat makes everyone feel better. The same is true for movement in general. Hitting the gym or going for a walk will help you shed the lethargy that comes with feeling depressed. The more enthusiastic your moments, the better you will start to feel.

9. Think about the big picture – As Carl Sagan made evident with the Pale Blue Dot, we’re insignificant creatures living in a vast universe on a tiny planet. In the long run, everything we do will probably be forgotten. Some might find this depressing, but it shouldn’t be. It means that all our problems are illusory. In a million years no one will remember what you did or didn’t do. What matters is the present moment and enjoying every second of life that we’re blessed with.

10. Do something to help yourself – Above all, the best way to stop feeling depressed is to take action. What is your biggest problem? How can you alleviate it? Once you decide to stop moping and start moving forward you won’t have time to feel depressed. Action will occupy your mind and give you something to look forward to. Once you get some results, you’ll build momentum and positive thinking will keep getting easier.

Eliminate your stress

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