The word depression literally means a sunken state or part, a surface lower then the rest of surrounding area. What I am trying to imply by this is that during depression you are acting lower then your full potential or capabilities. You can run 100 meters race and may even have the capability to defeat Usain Bolt, but you are not motivated enough to go to the race course. You can drive faster then Michael Schumacher, but you don’t even want to give it a try. WHY?? Simply because your mind is not interested enough to come back to normal by itself. It has to be fed to do so. And who will do it? You….only You. Not every time a person would be around you to cheer you up. You will have to help yourself. That’s the best way out.
Here, I have laid down 5 best self help techniques to overcome depression:
1.) Go out and Play: Remember how much you enjoyed playing out with your friends. You would finish up your homework fast just to go out and play. So what if your friend are not around anymore, or you can’t find people of your age, just join any random group of small children and enjoy. They will engage you so much that you would forget everything that might have bothered you till now.
2.) Walk like Mahatma Gandhi: Remember Mahatma Gandhi? The Indian “Bapu” who was famous for his “Dandi March”. get to learn walking from him. It is very helpful if you can walk more. Go out and walk as much as you can and as far as you can. Try some trick with walking, like, skipping one step, jumping after every 3 steps or walking backwards. this will ensure, your mind is engaged all the times in something creative or interesting. Once you are exhausted, your mind will try to switch things off. Come back home and lie down. I guarantee, you will have a very deep and peaceful sleep.
3.) Try Yoga: Well! this one must be on the top, but, since it needs some skills and knowledge to perform, it is at number 3. Yoga — the ancient Indian word for the union of mind and body — is more than a fitness regimen. Yoga is really about calming the mind through a combination of breathing and physical poses. There are 5 Yogasanas (poses) that I personally recommend to be adopted for curing depression, namely:
Child Pose
Forward bend
Backward bend
Legs up the Wall
Headstand
Deadman
Click here for photographs of these poses
4.) Hit the gym: Boost your strength, stamina and endurance and finally boost your happiness. It tires your muscles, tears them and re-furbishes them. A study of stroke survivors with depression has found that a 10-week strength training program helped reduced symptoms of depression effectively.
5.) Listen to music: Music has great healing capacities. It is a gift of God that has helped generations overcome anxiety, dullness and sorrow. A cheerful music number has a positive impact on your brain cells and they start responding immediately. Do it as often as possible. All it needs is an instrument that can play music.
So, why don’t you begin with one of these today, I am sure half the battle will be won the day you begin.
All the Best!