Try it.

On this blog, I try to be encouraging and I know that when you are depressed and just overwhelmingly sad, it is very difficult to think that anything will help but some of these things really, really do.  It's crazy, but as I have journeyed to the place I am now, off meds and coping better than I was on the meds, there are a few of the things that have been really helpful to me.  One is needlework, in the form of crocheting, the second is the art journaling/doodling stuff that I do and the third which may actually be the most helpful because it is portable and easy, is, believe it or not, the fake-it-till-you-make-it, fake smiling.

One of my art journal pages.  Drawing these big flowers is relaxing to me.

It's seems crazy, I know, but it is true.

Forbes on fake smiling.

For resources on the art journaling if you don't know where to start, you can try some happiness journals.


The Happy Book

How to Be Happy

For needleworking here's a video on how to crochet.

How to Crochet

How to Knit

Try anything that will help you feel happier, within reason.  Don't hurt yourself or anyone else.  That doesn't work.

Take care of yourself.  I know the holidays can be hard and seriously, (because it looks kind of creepy) every time you go into the bathroom, give yourself the biggest smile you can and hold it for as long as you can.  Crinkle up your eyes.  Get all into it.  Seriously.  It does help.

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!

Coloring.

The Guardian, adult colouring books anxiety-stress-mindfulness

Adult coloring books are all the rage now.  I know that when I started to get really depressed over my mom's situation (Alzheimer's disease) and all of the other things I was going through, I started doing a form of art journaling, which for me, basically involved writing bible verses and drawing flowers beside them.  As the last couple of years has unfolded, not in any way I'd want them to really, I've done a LOT of art.  It has saved my sanity.  Right now, I'm off of my antidepressant and in a pretty good place.



I drew this this morning and wanted to share in case you want to color right now.  :-)  Just right click it with your mouse, save to your computer, then you can print it out and color it.  If the bible verse offends you, color the background black or cover it with a sticker.  No worries!

A couple of articles.

The first one is a list of 10 things you may be doing that have been proven to make you less happy.  It's a very wise article.  The things include thinking too much about yourself and not getting enough sleep.  There are others there that might not be as easy to guess and you should go read it.



The next one is a list of 10 foods you should eat every day to help fight depression.  Hey, if we can beat this thing by eating, I'm all over that.

Keep fighting it.  It is winnable.

A little food, a little wine?

Of course we all know the Mediterranean diet is good for us, we've heard the news, but I didn't know that it was good for depression, but it turns out it is.  When I think of the Mediterranean diet, I think of olive oil, fish, veggies all washed down with some wine.
 I have a hard time following diets, changing my diet (although I have made some changes),  Go read the article.  It has a guide to the Mediterranean diet to help you get started and the encouraging news that you only have to moderately adhere to it, just make a few changes.

Waiting it out?

We get happier as we get older with happiness levels at 70 the same as at 21. Wisdom may bring happiness with it when it comes.  

Here's the link:  Aging has an upside - Happiness

"So perhaps, as it turns out, pursuit isn’t the best approach in the quest for happiness. Patience offers better odds. 

It appears that happiness sidles up to us gradually, gently, borne on a lifetime’s accumulation of adaptability, acceptance, appreciation and experience. A fringe benefit of age.

Another year older; another year happier. Light the candles. Cut the cake and celebrate as the double digits climb."

Middle age can be hard, but hang in there baby.  

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/

Video Games?

Of course, there are video games to help us.  My favorite is The Sims which is silly, but it's play and play is a helpful thing, so I go with it. I played it daily for a while after my dad passed away.    I also have found that there are games which have been specifically designed to help with depression and anxiety.  There is a good list here, with links.

Tech-Mic  - Video Games

And here is another good list.

Venturebeat

I have not played any of these so if you have, let me know if it helped and if there are any ratings related things we might need to know.

There's also a web site with calming, happifying activites called Happify.  It has a subscription fee but is very highly rated, so may be worth it for you.   I did try this with a free subscription and found that it was not for me, not my style, but it might be yours.

There's an app for that?

I guess I should have known that there is an app for everything but I didn't think about it, until today, to wonder if there was an app for depression.  Turns out, there are a ton of them.

Healthline has a slide show listing 18 of them, can you believe it?  Here it is.

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America has rated several of them for ease of use and helpfulness and you can find that here.  

I'm still going low tech for stress relief and coping with life, art journaling, crocheting and exercising. 

I haven't tried one yet, have you?  I do think that I need to spend a lot less time on Facebook and I will be happier.  I may need to find an app that tracks my Facebook time and locks me out.  

(going looking on Google ....)

Found it!  An app that keeps you from spending too much time on social media sites.

Keep Me Out

Art. I knew it.

Last year when things were pretty dismal in my life and I kept feeling like I was having the metaphorical rug pulled out from me about once a week, I just felt overwhelmed.  I felt hopeless.  I didn't feel that I had the mental capacity to read or crochet.  Taking a walk or going around people just seemed like more than I could handle.  That's when my art exploded.  I just wanted to draw all of the time.  I had begun doing artwork a year or so before and helped me cope with my Dad's passing and my Mom's Alzheimers, but when everything came raining down on me, I retreated into my art to recover.  It helped immensely.  I personally write bible verses on all of my art, so that got me reading and finding quotes about hope and that helped even more.  I feel like my art pulled me through the tough times.  I would say that most of it is not very good, but sometimes I get lucky and all of the elements on the page blend together and it's good and when I look at it, it makes me feel happy.  In searching the web, I have found that doing art has been proven to make people happier.  I knew it.






Here are a few facts about art and our mental health.

1.  Four out of the six happiest activities are arts related.

2.  It's kind of a chicken and the egg thing,   Creativity Breeds Happiness   "Richards, the researchers note, wrote that day-to-day creativity “is both a cause and consequence of positive development."

3 You don't have to be good at it to reap the benefits.

4.  Just looking at art makes us happier.    

Resources. 

Here are a bunch of art therapy prompts to get you started if you don't know what to do at first.  Expressive Art Inspirations

Coloring in coloring books and doing paint by numbers are also ideas.  I don't know if there have been scientific studies done about these, but they sure are popular right now.

Adults Are Coloring.

Coloring Books for Grownups are a Thing.

Here's one of my drawings without any color, for you to download and color if you'd like.  Right click with your mouse on the picture and you can either select save image or print right from there.

Sing in a choir.

Singing in a choir makes you happier.  It boosts all the good hormones in your brain.

Heres an article:  Slate and here's an excerpt.

"Music is awash with neurochemical rewards for working up the courage to sing. That rush, or “singer's high,” comes in part through a surge of endorphins, which at the same time alleviate pain. When the voices of the singers surrounding me hit my ear, I'm bathed in ...


dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain that is associated with feelings of pleasure and alertness. Music lowers cortisol, a chemical that signals levels of stress. Studies have found that people who listened to music before surgery were more relaxed and needed less anesthesia, and afterward they got by with smaller amounts of pain medication. Music also releases serotonin, a neurotransmitter associated with feelings of euphoria and contentment."

How cool is that?  

Here are a few more articles for those who like to read everything (like me!) 

Singing Changes Your Brain

Imperfect Harmony  (Love that title!)

10 Reasons to Make Singing Your Happiness.

And from Deep Fun (a site I just love), an article on Complaints Choirs, which joins snarky comments and singing!  So.  Much.  Fun.  You have to go read it and take a listen.  

Here's a directory to find a choir in your area.  ChoralNet   and here's another one.  Vocal Area Network

If you can't find one there, remember most churches have a choir you can join and community theater groups often need ensemble singers.  

Posture!

Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are!  Go now and watch this video.  I'll wait.



Now spend 2 minutes adopting one of the power poses that make you feel more powerful and able to take on life's challenges.  It's worth 2 minutes of your time to try isn't it?

If for some reason you can't watch the video, here it is summed up.

Wonder Woman Did It Right

Here's a quote.  "Our body language is always influencing how others perceive you, but more importantly, it changes how YOU feel. Amy Cuddy’s research showed that not only does your posture change how you feel, but it also changes your hormone levels in a significant and meaningful way. "

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!

Talking to yourself.

WSJ

Inc

Annie Murphy Paul

Three articles but they basically are about the same thing, talking to oneself.  We all have self-talk, whether it's inside our heads or out loud or a combination of the two, but how you refer to yourself, it turns out, is important.

"The way you address yourself matters, too. Research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in February found people who spoke to themselves as another person would—using their own name or the pronoun "you"—performed better under stress than people who used the word "I."

Referring to yourself in the as if you are a friend, using you or your name makes you feel less anxious and less stressed when performing a difficult task.  

I find it fascinating, what do you think?  

Coffee?!

Here's the article in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  Coffee to prevent depression?

Here's a quote:  "Conclusions In this large longitudinal study, we found that depression risk decreases with increasing caffeinated coffee consumption. "   

I don't know about you, but I love coffee and increasing my coffee consumption a little bit might not be a bad thing.  :-)  I think it's going to be one of the things that I routinely do, along with getting more sun and eating more yogurt.