As we go into the holidays.

Take care of yourself and do a good deed for someone else.  The holidays is the perfect time.  Here's one I saw this morning, World Vision has some gifts that multiply 8x because they have people who will match other's giving.  So if you give 10 dollars, it does 80 dollars worth of good.  It feels good too.  

World Vision

An unexpected help for depression.

Okay, this is a weird one.   Apparently eating red meat halves the incidence of depression?   Who would have thought red meat was good for you?

Here's the article. 

Have a burger while you are reading it.

Self Talk in the Third Person.

Apparently, talking about yourself in the third person, acting as a narrator for your own life, helps you deal with stress.  It is well demonstrated in this video from Good Mythical Morning.   Here's a link to the study and to another article about it.   I wonder what other parts of my psyche this could help.  Could it help dieting?  Should I get up in the morning and say something like "D. is in control of her diet" "D. is looking forward to exercising today."  ?  Hmm.  It's funny how many of these little tricks there are.   This one is definitely worth a

try! 

Tah- Dah!

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/the-new-supremely-satisfying-way-i-end-my-day-248991


This is a link to a satisfying way to end the day, by writing down the things that you did accomplish and I think we should add also, things that went well.  One of the commenters, Jean, says that she does this every day and calls it her Tah-Dah list.  How clever is that?  Write down everything that you accomplished and everything that went well every day. 

More, More, More on Writing.

Turning Trauma into Story


Turn your hard time into a story and transform your life.


Trauma and the benefits of writing about it.


Don't just read these, actually do it.  Get whatever scrap of paper you can find, write out what happened to you and how it made you feel, as if you were writing a story, then throw it away.  Do it again tomorrow.  Then after that, start writing down things that you are thankful for every day, no matter how small and ridiculous they might be.  Write it down. 


It may save your life.

Write it down!

There are so many things that are good about writing.   It helps with grief and trauma and general sadness.  It helps in the short term and in the long term.


Trauma and the benefits of writing about it.


7-tips-for-writing-about-trauma


Writing

It actually helps with physical pain symptoms and causes a rise in immune system functioning.  It's amazing.

Narrative   Apparently it helps much more if you try to write your experiences as a story, as if you were telling someone else, rather than just listing things or writing randomly.  Something about trying to put your thoughts in order to make it understandable as if to another person, helps in the process.


Find a private space and write.  It will be hard, but it will help, both now and in the future and bring about that elusive posttraumatic growth.

Giving.

This is a great article about how giving to charity actually makes you wealthier.  It's very interesting and I believe it's a God thing. 


Why Giving Matters


If you keep reading down to the bottom it says this. 




"People who give to charity are 43 percent more likely than people who don’t give to say they’re very happy people. People who give blood are twice as likely to say they’re very happy people as people who don’t give blood. People who volunteer are happier. The list goes on. You simply can’t find any kind of service that won’t make you happier."


So, find a place to volunteer.  Look at Volunteer Match on line or call a local hospital or Head Start Center and ask to volunteer.  If you are not up to that, give money to a charity, even if it's just a little bit.  Put a quarter in a gumball machine as you walk by and don't get the gumball - let some kid get a great surprise later today.  Pay for the person behind you in the drive through.  Put a note that says "Treat yourself" and a 5 dollar bill in a library book.  (Maybe one about depression?)  Send an anonymous gift to someone.  Send a card to someone you appreciate and thank them.  The list goes on and on and on.  Reach out and make someone else's day brighter and brighten your outlook as well. 

Video Games Can Help.

Interesting article about video games by Jane McGonigal. Go read it.   It seems that video games cause a completely opposite reaction in the brain than depression does.  It seems that some people who play a lot of video games may be self medicating and it also says in this article that video game playing can be addictive. It does mention some good constructive games you might try.  I personally am going to play Beatles Rock Band with my kids.  Singing is good for you.  :-) 

Trying to get back to it.

I came back today to my own blog to look up some of the resources that I've listed before to help myself get back into a better frame of mind.  I've been doing okay, working on dieting and exercising and job hunting (still haven't found one!) and then suddenly this weekend, my husband said something that put me right back into the depression zone.  First I burned with anger for a couple of days then lapsed into despair.  If you're reading this kind of blog, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about.  I have spent the last 3 or 4 days trying to work up any kind of enthusiasm for life at all.  Really, it's not that bad, but I over-react.  I go from 0 to panic mode or despair mode or whatever, in less than a second.  I'm fine and then I'm not.  If you were here with me, you might not know because I keep it inside but wow, it's been a rough week.  Today, I got up and filled out 3 or 4 job applications online and I'm sticking to my diet goals for now but I thought - Hey, I need to look at those inspiring Ted Talks again and read some of those articles that I've linked to from my blog. So here I am, looking at my blog and realizing that I haven't written anything in a long, long time and maybe that's why I'm so quick to get off track right now. 


So, why don't you join me?   Let's go back and watch the videos that will help us as we try to cope with whatever it is that we're trying to cope with.


Here are some of my favorites.


The Game that Can Give You 10 Extra Years of Life


Reverse Bucket List


Fake Smiling Benefits


Looking at Baby Animals


Power Poses.




Now I'm off to watch the video, make a reverse bucket list, practice my power poses and fake smiles and look at some baby animals.


Join me. 

Okay, he's not a baby animal, but he's comical.  This is my dog, unretouched, I promise, after he went out in the mud.  :-)  His eyes really look like that.