Living with Depression

Living with Depression

Mind Matters, and Living with Depression

Written by Guest Author:- Matthew Rigby

Depression; the world’s most inclusive disease. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are from, we are all vulnerable. We’ve all felt it, but society only seems to be starting to understand.

Sometimes depression produces such an intense experience that it manifests in physical pain, depression can be as debilitating as paralysis, sometimes it even feels like getting shot, but arguably depression’s biggest weapon is it’s ability to cut you off from everything.

Depression by it’s very nature is competitive. We all want to believe that we suffer the most – and so we do because only you can experience your struggle and it’s all encompassing nature. Suicide remains the highest killer of men aged 20-49 but that doesn’t have to be the end to the story.

We’ve all had those days where you can’t get out of bed in the morning, it feels like you’re bound and tied, the thought of leaving makes you want to bawl your eyes out. There are simple things you can do to help you break the cycle.

Breaking the cycle

There are endless Benefits of Meditation when struggling with mental health and it can often provide relief in moments of desperation. There are many ways to find relief from the mental turmoil you may find yourself in; while some are considered cliches, I’ve always found exercise to help with my depression – I’m a pudgy 27 year old so not too much! Cycling along the coast gave me great relief on days of despair and cold water swimming might just be my cure for a crippled mind.

Depression makes you lonely; you can’t have friends because you fear they won’t understand and you don’t want to see the friends you do have, resulting in a constant cycle of loneliness. Finding some hobbies is an essential tool to combating this. I always found playing music to provide an outlet that others couldn’t. Find something you’re passionate about and channel the feeling into it – some of the greatest art comes from pain and this inturn can provide your self-esteem a much needed boost.

The most important piece of advice for a person suffering from depression is to remember you’re not the only one; depression is isolating but with the help of others you can win.

Meditation will help

The Benefits of Meditation have been well documented in the last ten years and with MRI scanners now showing us the actual visible results meditation brings it’s all time we started this wonderful new science.

Meditation has a direct impact within our brains resulting in increased activity within the Anterior Cingulate Cortex, the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex and the Hippocampus region which is directly responsible for the grey matter produced in our brains. The possibilities this may have within the scientific fields of Alzheimer’s and memory retention are only just being realised

The reduction in Stress, Anxiety and Depression are reported in 95 percent of all participants from as little as two weeks of mindfulness meditation training. Imagine the benefits of keeping this wonderful and simple exercise up everyday.

Breathing meditation or Samadhi Meditation is by far the easiest of mindfulness training to grasp, however the untrained mind will find it a lot harder than it sounds. The good news is, just like going to the gym regularly you start to build those muscles up, and so too with meditation you powers of concentration become greater and meditation becomes easier.

Author: Mathew Rigby

Kind and Warmest Regards

Dhamma Tāpasā* (Andrew Hallas)

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