Hardest fight ever,the fight with oneself

[Former castleva]

Anybody suffer from mental unbalance,fight with yourself?/your spirit? I sure do.
Fighting depression is a long and bumby road.
Any ideas to share?

[No_Know]

Realize that you might not know. Then try to understand.

[anton]

I find meditation and physical activity (esp running) help me deal with depression.

[David Jamieson]

One of the hardest things to ask for is most often the help of another.

There are plenty of things in life which each of us is unable to deal with and we need help.
Keeping a positive attitude and outlook are key and looking at the world each day as if it was your last also makes life a little more wonderous.

Seek the help you need and keep a positive outlook.
It may work out for you after all :)

peace

[guohuen]

Don't worry, good weather is coming.
P.S. It's snowing here.

[premier]

Well. Visiting my godmother who's dying of ALS always puts things in proportion. When I see her in good mood and happy about little things like us visiting, I realise how stupid it is for me to be depressed. Life isn't supposed to be a blast all the time. There's ups and downs and when there's hard times, you need to see and enjoy those little things that make your life worth living. They're not necessarily easy to find, but no matter what the situation is, they're always there.


premier

[Mr Punch]

FC, the blues suck.

Listen to your friends, and your mates here. I'll just add this:

Be careful to eat properly. Sounds strange, and this does vary from person to person, but a lot of people who train a lot deplete various chemical reservoirs in the brain, through neglecting nutrition basics. Selenium, a micronutrient (you don't need much but you do still need it!) is a common deficiency, available in hard seeds and some nuts (like almonds). I think guohen (wasn't it?) answered my question on some of that business on the kf and health forum.

Without adequate selenium and antioxidants your chemical balance is going to get worse. Also try evening primrose oil or borage extract which help you absorb antioxidants.

Low blood sugar levels (also sometimes caused by inadequate carbs as training fuel) can cause fatigue associated nervous disorders.

However, don't let the food take over: you'll get yourself an eating disorder!!!

As for spirit, I dunno. Lots of possible solutions... for mind and body (and maybe spirit) I always try to go back to breathing from the tanden. Sometimes it does you good to focus the breath elsewhere, like the (aaaargh, wassitcalled?) point between the eybrows.

Good luck bro.

Premier: good advice. Stay strong yourself. Been in a similar situation.

[S.Teebas]

Kung Lek is right! Focus on the positive things. It takes energy to be either happy or sad...you choose how you use your energy. (I think being negative is really a waste of energy, you don't get much out of it)

As wierd or stupid as it may sound, you have to DECIDE to be happy before...before you become happy! :)

Good Luck man.

[Former castleva]

Thanks a lot,all of you.
No-Know,You mean I´m missing something I shall know or just know?
Guohuen.Haha,I certainly hope so,summer SHOULD be arriving right now but it´s snowing and rather cold.:D :cool:
I´ll be waiting.
Anton,I agree.I try to move a lot whenever I can.
Meditation comes to play soon when it´s warm.
And it is said to have positive influence for one´s brain (as you may know)
Mat,Blues really sucks! (I used to listen to it,but I changed ;) )
Seriously,good info.
To get one´state to tanden is great.
I´m not sure what you mean by point between eyebrows,I know there is a kidney meridian located at there (used for combat)
Kung Lek,well thanks.Same to you.
Teebas,take care.
premier,I see the situation,strength for ya.

[Sho]

As it is said in the Four Noble Truths in Buddhism:

1. All life is suffering
2. Suffering is caused by desire
3. To end suffering, one must overcome desire
4. To overcome desire, one must follow the Eightfold Path

The Eightfold Path stresses virtuous way of life and compassion for all living things. This leads to calmness and purity of mind.

[guohuen]

Sidenote to Premier. Oh Man I feel for you. My Dad died of ALS in '89.

[anton]

Originally posted by Former castleva

I´m not sure what you mean by point between eyebrows

Sometimes referred to in yoga as the "third eye" - Theres a proper name for this chakra but i cant remember. I've heard people call it "upper Dantien".

[Former castleva]

"Upper dantien".That sounds likely,or maybe both of them?
Lower dantien,like upper dantien? is a point where energy is meant to be circulating.
There´s also middle dantien located somewhere at stomach (could be near to solar plexus,but I´m not sure)
I usually hear everyone speak about lower dantien,but I´ve hardly heard about two other ones.
(dantien/tanden=elixir field)

[S.Teebas]

but I´ve hardly heard about two other ones.

I think there's like 5 altogether.

[bearpaw]

I just got off a long time effort of getting my some of my friends off commercial anti-depressents (what the hell do they have to be depressed about in the first place?? we live in San Diego ...). I got them switched over to St. John's wort (yes we did consult their pyscologist(s), doctor, and a herbalist). The problem with commercial drugs is that some people work up a tolerance for it and some times can be put in a deeper depression when taking off it.

Physical activities ( KF, running, swimming. and gardening) work best for me. Anything to take your mind off for a while ...

[prana]

Former

Everyones different but here is my 2 cents.

My biggest regret for depression is taking medication, but for some people, if they dont take medication, it can become dangerous, like wanting to kill oneself etc. So, if you dont need it, dont take it, but if you need it, for our sake take it. But for me, I needed to take it, and I went from average dum moron to very dum and forgetful too, I can hardly remmeber things in my childhood and I forget things (who said no siteeffects?).

For me, the best things that helped me come out of depression are these...

1. Sleep regularly if you can - try and wake up early, dont stay up too late...
2. Exercise when you are feeling crap but dont over-train, it can make you more depressed too...
3. Watch your breath when you are depressed, it becomes short, shallow. Just watch how it happens...
4. Watch your body's sensation when it happens, for me, a sort of sharp pain goes from my throat to my abdo, and out to my fingertips and it paralyses me for a bit.
5. Break out of the "zone".. I call it the zone when one starts feeling depressed, and realises he is depressed, and albeit the apparent "pain", it still feels good, and secretly wants to feel more depressed, wether it be by thining of his own death, or inflicting pain on oneself, or just emotionally hating oneself. See 3 and 4, watch these two things and dont let your "zone" catch you in a cycle.
6. Stay away from caffeine, it can make you depressed, and if it does, some ppl need to be off it for about 2 days before symptoms lift.
7. Reduce consumption of meat, garlic and onions. Garlic and Onions disturbs your lower energy centers (but I am sure others will disagree with me on this one). Meat in moderation, but I dont want to explain why, its up to you to try if you wish to...

Good luck, I finally snapped out of it completely, but you need to be willing to take the first small step, and the depressions come less and less frequent. Eventually, they just fail to become and no more zones, nightmares, screamings and zombies, you quench them like pouring water over fire as soon as they erupt and you no longer get caught in the zone....

[anton]

Originally posted by Former castleva
"Upper dantien".That sounds likely,or maybe both of them?
Lower dantien,like upper dantien? is a point where energy is meant to be circulating.
There´s also middle dantien located somewhere at stomach (could be near to solar plexus,but I´m not sure)
I usually hear everyone speak about lower dantien,but I´ve hardly heard about two other ones.
(dantien/tanden=elixir field)

Yeah... Nexus is a good person to ask about this. He showed some knowledge about this stuff in the qigong forum.

[S.Teebas]

I call it the zone when one starts feeling depressed

Hmm... interesting, we call the "Zone" the thing when you playing Tekken Tag on the ps2...and you become unstoppable!!!...you know, when you get in THE ZONE!!! :) "Man..he's in the ZONE!!!" :p :p

Oh yeah... why dont you eat much meat Prana? ...it's my staple diet!

[No_Know]

One is depressed because of Doubt--Not Knowing if it's true or will work and no Faith to see it through. This is a lack of Self-confidence or a search for reassurance. When we learn--understand that we heard wrong or were told only part or were told the wrong thing or they set us up to fail or they meant to mislead us and realize that we Did miss something (even though we thought we had all the necessary information. We feel not so bad or continue to feel bad a little longer or feel worse. But these are not bad (though usually considered so).

When fire is on my hand, even after the fire was out, my hand hurt. Some would say this is bad--it Hurts. However, When the fire was burning it was a perpetual, perhaps growing Hurt. When the fire was out there was still Hurt. Yet, I could then begin healing. And it was residual Hurt. Residual Hurt says to me that it won't stay as long as perpetual Hurt, and is leaving. Eventually, it will fade and I won't hurt there, from that cause.

Perspective: It could be viewed as your fault. But it could be likely to be viewed as their fault. And even Adam (Garden of Eden) could be blamed (domino blame). If you must blame, but doubt yourself, you will hurt. Some people have motives and manipulate, and promote Doubt. People feel pressured to adhere to Social practices--rituals to control the populace and present a sense of purpose/worth in a Chaotic life of possibilities.

When one feels that that one does not meet the percieved sociatal standard, that one feels a sense of Failure. That becomes Worry. It festers and weighs on one. One's thoughts. One's Heart. One's Soul/Spirit. Depression.

Great buildings that stand for decades were built with pieces. Not every peice was Perfect. Some peices were dropped yet were still functional significant players in the building. Theoretically, things don't go as planned in big business. But they don't stop, either. It can be considered an opportunity they didn't see at first. Some might pity that their plan would have been better, but it's about working with what you have, to your bennefit, within your moral thresh-hold.

Life is like an arcade game played with your last coin and just one play. Do other than lose on purpose. And, you Won't need to quit in order for the game to be over. Sometimes even when you are going forward you are going back. A tired vehicle stuck in the mud will alternate in the same vecinity going Both Forward And backward. But with enough of this, they Continue forward with great Umnffff!. And please notice, the vehicle is at All times facing Forward. :~>

You probablly are missing some information. You Are a good and competant person. You Can make it.

[prana]

Originally posted by S.Teebas


Hmm... interesting, we call the "Zone" the thing when you playing Tekken Tag on the ps2...and you become unstoppable!!!...you know, when you get in THE ZONE!!! :) "Man..he's in the ZONE!!!" :p :p

Oh yeah... why dont you eat much meat Prana? ...it's my staple diet!

Well it doesn't affect you if you are a naturally happy and peaceful person, but if you suffer from depression, excessive meat "can" cause you to topple over on the depressive side. This is not a meat versus vegetarian statement... just in case.

:D about the Zone ! ;)

[dezhen2001]

First of all FC, sorry to hear you're feeling down :( But brighter days are ahead i'm sure :) U just have to keep going, and take each day as it comes.

Recently, for around 2 or 3 weeks i suffered from a lot of i guess depression and stress. I had a lot of problems in both my private/family life, and my University life, which is not good. So much pressure on top and eventually i just 'caved in' and it got too much. It was then that i did one of the stupidest things (looking back in hindsight):

i stopped training my Qigong and Wing Chun.

Then as things got worse for me, i started to notice some changes both in my mind and my body.

1: Whereas before i was very 'clear' for want of a better word, my mind was now more 'cloudy'. Hard to think about things properly, and see solutions.

2: My body felt heavy. Usually i was relaxed and could always run up the stpes to class (7 flights of stairs). Now it was very tiring and i felt sluggish.

3: My body felt more 'aches and pains', than before. Just through constant worry.

4: It became very hard to fall asleep at night, as there was so much chaos inside my head.

5: Around people is fine, but when you're on your own it's real hard. That's when your thoughts get the better of you.

6: My attitude changed to a very pessimistic one. Even though i could be cheery and tolerant on the outside, inside i was not. (some ppl from KFO who chat to me around that time will know what i mean... and to them thanks :)).

7: i already knew the quote at the bottom of my post, but seemed to forget it. It was a real struggle to keep going.

8: My nature is to be determined and never give up. But for a while i basically did. It wasn't a good feeling :(

These are just some of the things i have noticed happening. Actually i'm still trying to sort things now, but lucky i have got the determination back. I'm training again slowly and surely building myself up, and actually i can say that it's helped a lot.

Also wanted to say: don't block out your friends and family. My gf and close friends (even those friends who reached out over the Net) have been very supportive and helpful, and to them i am very grateful. It's also quite trying on them because they can see the change i'm sure.

most of all, keep your head up :)
things always change, just have to hold on until it does...

david

[Mr Punch]

BTW, slightly ot, but at least it's in relation to something someone said here:

I was taught by a friend of mine (a yoga teacher) that there are seven chakra in yoga, and by my taichi teacher that there are five in many traditional Chinese systems.

Is it the solar plexus or the point between the nipples that the Chinese miss out? And the base of the throat, right?

I was also taught from various sources, that some disciplines move their breathing focus through various chakra/tanden for different effects. Does anybody here practice a kungfu style that does this?

[fa_jing]

If you feel like letting us know specifics as to what's bothering you, maybe we can help you better. Loneliness? Fear? Betrayal of a loved one? Some negative event? Disconnectedness?

So many reasons to thank God for this day of life, but sometimes it takes a loss to appreciate what you already have - that's my experience, for what it's worth.

-FJ