10 habits that helped me overcome depression

I decided not to take medication for depression and got more harmony with myself. That helped me to know what exactly made me feel better.

one of the key symptoms of depression is that there is no hope. But, at least in my case, there were a number of small (or large) things that helped me overcome it.

WHAT HELPED ME WHEN I WAS DEPRESSED

These are some of them:

1. NATURAL LIGHT

Sun, windows with open shutters.

2. TRAVEL

There is nothing new in your room that you should observe. No potential external threat, only internal ones. By getting into a new physical space, preferably in another country, you end up concentrating a little more on the world outside your head.

3. THE BOOKS

I read and read and read with an intensity I had never known before. The books were, in themselves, reasons to continue living. Every time I read a good book I felt that I was reading a kind of map, a treasure map, and the treasure to which I was being directed was really myself.

But each map was incomplete, and I could only locate the treasure if I read all the books, and so, the process of finding my best self was an endless search.

4. GO FOR A RUN

I had never been very athletic, so running was hard for me. It hurt But I convinced myself that by training my body I also trained my mind.

A kind of active meditation. Going for a run every day is like fighting a battle against oneself. Going out on a cold February morning gives you a great sense of accomplishment.

5. PRACTICE YOGA

I was always a yoga home, but now I am a convert. It's great because, unlike other therapies, it treats the mind and body as part of it all.

6. BREATHE AT A SLOWER PACE

Not with desperate deep aspirations. Soft. Five in, five out. It is hard to hold it, but it is very difficult to panic when you breathe in a relaxed way. Many symptoms of anxiety (dizziness, tingling, tingling ...) are directly related to shallow breathing.

7. MEDITATE

You don't need to chant mantras or anything like that. Just sit down for five minutes and try to think of just one reassuring thing. A ship moored in a shining sea. The face of someone you love. Or simply concentrate on your breathing.

8. ACCEPT

Do not fight with things; feel them. Tension is the product of opposition; Relaxation is achieved when you let yourself go. My trick is to make friends with depression and anxiety. Thank them, so they can handle them much better.

And the way I found to be his friend was to thank them for my sensitivity. I hate depression. I am scared of him. It terrifies me, really. But at the same time, it has made me who I am. And if for me it is the price of being able to feel life, it is a price that is always worth paying. One needs to feel the fright of life in order to feel its wonders. And ... are we not here to feel?

9. LIVE IN THE PRESENT

This is said by the meditation teacher Amit Ray: "If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live the moment. Live in every breath. " Getting rid of the self, and at the same time being open to mindfulness, seems to be a good solution when the self intensifies and causes us suffering.

10. LOVE

Anaïs Nin defined anxiety as "the greatest murderer of love." But, fortunately, the opposite is also true. Love is the biggest killer of anxiety. It is our way out of our terrors because anxiety is a disease that surrounds us in our own nightmares.

It makes us feel things that we can not ignore. Things that the arrows point towards. But having people who love us and those we love is a great help.

It doesn't have to be a romantic, even family, love. Forcing you to see the world through the gaze of love can be healing. Love is an attitude towards life. You can save us.