Turmeric as effective as Prozac.

That's what this study says.  I want to try it because I don't enjoy the side effects of Prozac and I do enjoy spicy food.   http://www.inquisitr.com/3574246/studies-show-turmeric-beats-depression-active-ingredient-curcumin-works-as-well-as-prozac/  In our quest to fight depression naturally, this seems like it would be a good ingredient to have on our side.    Unsure how to put turmeric into your diet?  I am too.  I found a few resources though.  Here's an article from Kitchn about how to eat it. and it includes this important note:


"Black pepper improves the bioavailability of turmeric, making smaller doses more effective" 


Here's a chili recipe that includes turmeric.   I may try this one.  Crock Pot 365.    I would think you could put a little bit in most chilis or spicy soups. 


If you don't want to eat it, or if you just don't feel like cooking (I understand) you can take it as a supplement.  Amazon


Apparently it has other benefits too.  Check out this article.   Apparently it helps with artitis and inflammation.  I'd better get onto making this chili.  :-) 

Anything that helps our depression is a tool we can use to overcome it and get back into life. 

So now, add failure to the list. Or not.

So last week, I took a job I had been offered.  I worked from Tuesday until Friday and then I quit.  I could not visualize myself staying in that job and the company I was working for needed me to commit there for a year.  So, before signing my contract saying I would work for a year, I quit.  It was especially embarrassing for me because I had put it on Facebook saying that I was starting a new job and also I put it on Facebook saying that I had quit, in order to stop a lot of the questions about how the new job was going ... etc.   Next time I will keep any new job starts to myself.  (I may not even tell my immediate family!)   Lesson learned.  As a matter of fact, I've learned many lessons this week.  That was #1.  Another one is not to be seduced by money to a job that I really deep down don't want.   Also, I learned that physically I can do a lot more than I thought.  All this exercise this summer has paid off.  I learned that I don't want to be away from my home and family 40 hours a week because that is where my heart is.  I don't know how much longer these 2 kids (who are pretty much grown up now) will live with us and I want to be around for them while they are launching as much as I can.  Soon enough, they'll have their own homes, families, jobs and I won't see them very much.  I learned that I need a job that aligns with my core beliefs and if it doesn't I won't last long.  I also learned that I need to be able to be genuinely me at work, which I guess is basically the same as the core beliefs thingy but this job required me to be falsely cheerful and talkative and I didn't feel very comfortable with that. 


Learning this many lessons in a week is difficult and I feel very vulnerable right now.  I'm afraid I won't ever be able to stick to anything.  I'm sure most readers are familiar with the voice of gloom and doom saying (in our heads)  "You can't stick to anything!"  "You always quit".  You're a spoiled rotten baby who won't ever amount to anything!"


Sigh.


Step 1 of starting over, go to the library and get a book that is designed to help people find careers that fit.  Step 2, make a to-do list and start doing it.  Step 3, try and keep the sense of humor and the faith.

Something I hadn't considered, anger.

This article on Psychology Today  has a some of the same things we've talked about on this blog to help with depression, including being active, reaching out to others, watching funny TV shows and laughing, but it also addresses something I had not heard of or thought about, repressed anger.  Now that I think about it though, I remember Dr. Sydney Freedman on M*A*S*H saying "Anger turned inward is depression; anger turned sideways is Hawkeye."  
This article encourages you to spend some time thinking about what you could be angry about and how you should acknowledge and try to accept your angry feelings.  I think, based on the research I have been doing for this blog, that the best ways to acknowledge and accept them, outside of your therapist's office (if you are like me and can't afford a therapist right now) is to write them down.  According to the article we read last week, it seems like it would  be a good exercise to write down everything you could be angry about as quickly as you can.  Get it out.  Then wad it up and throw it away.  I think you (and I) will feel better.

Let's give it a try.

More about journaling.

There's a great article about journaling, heBusiness Insider.   It not only lets you know (again) how journaling can be helpful, it has a writing prompt to use and explains why it is so helpful.  (As good as an antidepressant without the side effects!)  One of the things it says is to really write about what is bothering you and why this helps so much ...

re on
"The foremost reason is disclosure. Psychologists are basically in agreement that avoiding or inhibiting unpleasant emotions or suppressing your thoughts makes makes your body tense, your mood negative, and your cognition impaired. But if you access, express, and process those blocked-up emotions, you'll feel better, in all of the ways. For the same reason that talking about your breakup with your best friend makes you feel better, journaling about getting fired lets you process it."  

So dig in, start journaling.  Write the bad stuff out and then if you don't want to keep the notebook around, throw it away or burn it.  Get that stuff out.  

You will feel better.  

A simple change that can make a difference.

It's very simple.  At the end of every day, perhaps at the dinner table, you ask yourself or your family, what "went well today?"  I can see how this would help.  It's kind of a gratitude practice.  I didn't have a great day yesterday when I read about this, and I was thinking/focusing on the parts that did not go well, but then I read this and started thinking about what had gone well.
 A piece of mail that I've been anxiously waiting for for 9 weeks, finally arrived yesterday.  That was huge and in my mind, that detail was kind of buried in the stress until I took a second look at my day.

There's a little bit more to it, read the rest at Exuberant Lives

Money and Happiness?

How to Buy Happiness.  This is a link to a fascinating Ted talk that tells you what to do to make yourself happier with a little bit of money.

Unplug!

The news these days has been very depressing and sometimes its just best to unplug from it.  Will you being informed about the events as they unfold really influence the outcome?  What if you just checked in once a week?

This article lists so many reasons to turn it off and unplug!
The Guardian.



This one too.
Is the news making you depressed?  From AllParenting.

This article is good for dealing with your worst depression days.
What to do on the bad days of depression.

Also, remember what we've discussed on this blog, get outside and get some sunshine, fake smile, move around a little, do some art, play, do something that gets you into the zone.

This too, shall pass.   Don't take the whole world on your shoulders!

Looking at the sky.

Looking at the sky is good for you.  I like to look at the sky and I like to take pictures of the sky.  It's meditative to sit and look at the clouds and it's good for you.  Try it.
 This is an easy one.  Even on cloudy, seemingly depressive days, the clouds are always doing something interesting, making shapes, moving.  Look.

http://lauragraceweldon.com/2013/07/24/look-up/

Plan a Vacation!

Even if you can't afford to take one right now, planning one is beneficial to your mental health.  Really.  The optimal thing would be to be able to plan and take several small vacations each year, but if you can't do that, start a little savings fund and do a little planning.  It takes your mind off your troubles.

How Vacations Affect Your Happiness

Do Vacations Make Us Happier?

For more good advice on how to plan a vacation click to read more.  

One thing that can affect your happiness on the trip is to have realistic expectations, a daily plan or itinerary (at least a loose one) to prevent the "what are we going to do"? arguments/discussions that can take up a whole day and to take something you look forward to doing to do during the down-times.  I know that when our family of 5 has to adapt to a hotel room with 1 bathroom, waiting for people to get through the bathroom time to finally get ready to go is something that gets on my nerves.  For us, since we don't have cable TV at home, we often entertain ourselves by watching shows we don't get to watch at home, but sometimes there's not anything we can agree on, so we play board games or walk around the hotel while waiting.  It helps us not to grouch at each other and ruin the mood of the trip.  Also, with kids especially, it's good to have a budget plan and stick to it so that they know not to beg for souvenirs.  You might want to give them some trip spending money.  If you do, don't be critical of their buying choices.  It's budgeted, pretend like it is already spent and don't take this time to lecture them on financial planning.  It's vacation.  Have fun!

Here's a link to some travel planning apps.  Optimize your next vacation.

Personally, I love going on HomeAway and imagining vacationing.  :-)

Here's a fun article about traveling for free!  Budget Travel.  You can house-sit, pet sit, work on an organic farm ... all for free lodging!

Remember, one of the happiest parts about vacation is the planning, when anything is possible, so have fun with it!

Goals for 2015.

I came in to 2015 in a stress/survival state but I am going to leave 2015 in better shape.  Who's with me?  I found this 2015 Goal Setting Worksheet and I am going to fill it out, decide on my priorities and try and stopped being overwhelmed by all there is to do, so that I can feel more joy with what I have.  Come on, join me!

Gratitude.

Feeling gratitude is essential, I think, to feeling happy.  Take a minute right now to savor something in your life and feel happy about it.  One thing.  It might be that you are thankful for your eyesight so that you can read or thankful for your computer or phone that you can use to connect to others.  Science supports the fact that feeling gratitude can make you happier.  The Science of Gratitude.  Eight boosts of Gratitude Gratitude will signicantly improve your life!

Here's a free printable gratitude journal (Christian Faith Based.) and here are some tips for making the experience really work for you Tips for Keeping a Gratitude Journal and here are some free printables that are really cute and fun.. Gratitude Lists Free Download and here's a bunch of prompts that will get you thinking about what you feel gratitude for.  

Here at our house, we've started a blessings jar and we're putting in blessings and memories and then we will open it and read them all on New Year's Eve.  Here's a link to a Pinterest Board with a lot of ideas for how to make one.  Ours is very simple, a jar with a taped on label, but whatever works.  

Here is the most beautiful gratitude journal I have ever seen from Visual Blessings.  

Art as therapy.

I have made it through a lot of things in the past couple of years, my mom's Alzheimer's disease has been the number one stressor, but you can add to that working, raising teenagers, health problems, having to sell the house I grew up in (not to mention cleaning it out!) losing my job, having surgery ... it goes on and on.  I can't focus on it.  I just can't.  I try to do one thing at a time throughout the day until dinnertime and after dinner I try and recharge myself.  One of the ways I am able to cope is because I have started art journaling.  I draw flowers and trees and I don't actually draw all that well, but it helps me, it refuels me for the next day of coping with one thing after the other.  Art has been proven to help with stress, anxiety and mental health.

Doodling Your Way to a More Mindful Life


Happiest Activities are Art Related.


Doodle

Art Therapy

The Power of Pottery


Art As Therapy

You can do art therapy with a therapist, or just do it at home.  It might not be as helpful, but it can't hurt and it might help.  Give it a try.  It has saved my life.

Art Therapy Prompts.

Expressive Art Workshop

Art Therapy Exercises to Try at Home.

10 Easy Art Therapy Exercises to Help You Destress.

Read!

Reading is good for you in so many ways, getting lost in a story is a wonderful thing.  If you are depressed, though, you may find that it is beyond you at the current time.  When I have been grieving in the past I have not been able to concentrate on reading enough to follow the story.  However, if I set myself up with an audio book and my needlework or art journaling, I can escape into the story.

Reading improves cognitive function.

21 Reasons Reading Will Make You Happier

Read Something for Fun.

Take a break, sit down and read something that will make you feel better.  I recommend, Harry Potter, The Ranger's Apprentice or something else for the child in you.

Needlework!

This is something I have just recently started doing.  My mom always crocheted and knitted a little and tried to teach me when I was younger, but I was too stubborn to try when she tried to teach me.  Then, my daughter learned to knit and crochet in 4H classes and then wanted me to learn as well.  (Her Dad already knows how.  My husband actually knitted me a scarf when we were dating.)  Anyway, I resisted for quite some time and when I did try crocheting, I found it stressful at first.  My daughter, wise person that she is, told me to give it a few weeks and then it would switch and become relaxing.  I trusted her and she was right.  Since beginning to crochet and only learning one stitch, the single crochet stitch, I have made 2 complete afghans and am about halfway through another one and yes, I do find it relaxing at this point.  Will I ever learn to double or treble crochet?  Who knows.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  I'm not going to stress about it.  :-)

This is an afghan my daughter did a few weeks ago.  

It turns out my daughter was right and there is research to back her up.  Knitting and crocheting and other kinds of crafting are good for your brain and good for your happiness and now, thanks to the internet, it's easy to learn a craft.

Happiness is a Needle and Thread Away.  "Textile handcraft making was associated with the greatest mood repair, increases in positive, decreases in negative mood"  

Crochet Benefits  "But crochet has been proven to reduce anxiety of all kinds, including panic attacks, social anxiety, and generalized anxiety, making it an especially effective tool to reach for ... "


This is Your Brain on Crafts "There's survey evidence to support crafting's dopamine effect. In one study of more than 3,500 knitters, published in The British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 81% of respondents with depression reported feeling happy after knitting. More than half reported feeling "very happy.""

The Truth About Knitting

Health Benefits  

How to Knit - A video tutorial.

How to Crochet - A video tutorial.

If needle work is not your thing and never will be, do some of the other crafts mentioned in some of the articles, painting, model cars, drawing, paint by numbers.  Find something that gets you in the flow state of mind and relaxes you and then make time to do it!  

Make your bed!

There is plenty of evidence that making your bed every morning makes you feel happier.  It seems kind of silly and yet, sometimes the simplest things can have an impact on your well-being.  I personally started making my bed as my February resolution.  I decided this year to make a series of small resolutions and do one each month, adding it to the existing one.  January was prayer and bible reading and February was making my bed.  I've stuck with them both though mid March and I have to say, it makes a difference.  My March task was this blog and I started it and I plan to continue it, just as I have the other 2.  I think that doing one small thing each month and making them cumulative has been a good thing.

I work at home, in the bedroom, right next to the bed so it has an impact, visually, on me, all during my work day.  I make it up and I through the most colorful afghan in the world on it and then as I walk by it every few minutes, it makes me smile.  Also, the kids in my house come and lie down on the bed and talk to me while I am working and that makes me happy as well.

Here's articles on the benefits of making your bed.

Psychology Today  People who make their beds report themselves as happier.

Life Hack  It gives you a sense of accomplishment.

Apartment Therapy  Making your bed is a keystone habit, which means it is a catalyst for other good habits.

I told you this afghan was colorful!  It's also fuzzy and warm.

Who knew?

Get up and do it right this minute.

(Unless someone is in your bed sleeping!)

Sounds Fishy.

Fish?  Yes, eating fish fights depression and anxiety according to this article from All Africa.  I think we all pretty much know that fish contains Omega III fatty acids which are good for our hearts, but they are also good for keeping the brain fighting fit and help with depression.  Fish is not a normal part of my diet but I need to really seriously consider adding it in.  I will have to get some recipes because I don't currently have any.  

My first thought is a tuna noodle casserole, since that might be the best way to please the picky eaters around here.  

Here's one from Starkist Tuna.

Another one that is popular where I am from is Salmon Patties.  Here's a recipe from Chicken of The Sea.  (Which is a fun name for a company, if you think about it. )

In a pinch, if you don't feel like really cooking, I'm assuming that the fish sticks in the grocery will do just as well.   Don't make it more difficult than it has to be.  If you are dealing with sadness/ depression, even attempting to follow a recipe may feel overwhelming.    

Simply smile, even if you don't want to.

Yesterday, Huffington Post, published a simple guide to joy that is very basic, but very good.  It starts with taking a deep breath and continues through several steps until you are visualizing something you have to look forward to.  If you are feeling depressed and anxious, this is a good place to start.  Simple Guide To Joy

Scientific American - Smile!

What can you do to feel happier right now?  Smile at your computer screen, right now, while you are reading this, because smiling makes you happier.  It's true!

Smiling, the evidence that it works, video.

For today's smile, watch this video of Maru the cat!  

MARU

Something else to make you smile right now:

Amazing Facts to Make You Smile

Come on, give it all you've got!

It works!

Dirt?!

Dirt Can Make You Happy.  Yes, gardening is a good outdoor activity that produces something and can, in turn,  produce a feeling of satisfaction that comes from that, it also can get you out in the sunlight and make you exercise, both of which we know to improve mood, but it has an added benefit as well.  There is a bacteria in the soil called Mycobacterium vaccae which has been proven to raise serotonin levels in the brain, which is the important chemical to fight depression.  It seems crazy, but it is true.  Even if you don't garden, just standing barefoot in the soil or picking some of it up with your hands can help you feel better about life.  How to get high on soil.  So if you want to experience more joy in your life in a more natural way than popping a pill, go outside, preferably barefoot and better yet, plant something that you can enjoy later in the year.  Spring is just around the corner and it's a great time to start a garden, even if it is just a tiny one on the windowsill.  Just make sure not to get any kind of sterilized soil that has had the bacteria removed ... get the real thing.  :-)  Healing Landscapes.  There is even a possibility that a vaccine against depression may someday be available!  How awesome is that?

Trending today.

Today on Twitter, the hashtag is #makesomeonesdayin3words.

What are you going to stay to someone in your life?

You are awesome.
I appreciate you.
I love you.
I need you.
You are good.
You tried hard.
You have value.
You're a blessing.
You're a treasure.
You did good.
Take a break.
Have a chocolate.
Take it easy.
I've got this.

Go say it now.

Or text.

Or message.

Do one thing.

Rocking Chairs? Really?

Rocking chairs are good for you.  Who knew?  I mean I knew they were good for rocking babies but they are also good for recuperating from surgery, for arthritic knees, for weight loss because you burn up to 150 calories an hour in a rocking chair.    Check out this article.   They also help with balance, varicose veins and ease back pain.

So okay, if you are in a rocking chair rocking while watching TV then you're helping your back, preventing varicose veins, helping the arthritis in your knees and getting skinnier!  I'm in. The chair pictured above is from Walmart.com and is 89.00 plus shipping and tax.  That's not a bad price for so much feeling-goodness.

But wait, there's MORE.  Really.  Rocking in a rocking chair helps people with dementia feel less anxious.  A 2 year study in Rochester, New York, proved this a few years back.    Rocking chairs help kids with ADHD.    I think that the fact that they help the elderly and help children means that they probably are good for those of us in the middle too!