Depression

Many people throughout the world suffer from depression. It is a living hell for many as it sucks the joy and will to live out of their lives. The basic cause is the gap between what they expect to happen in their life and what actually does happen. This can come about in two ways. If there is a strong , future based , expectation of what they think will happen which turns out differently, or for many , when the current circumstances of life pile up on them to such a degree that they mentally breakdown and cannot process the stress level it has created . Either way, this gap is the cause of suffering and turns into depression in the extreme form. There is fundamentally one way to deal with this problem. The person must totally accept the life circumstances as they are and emotionally digest them . If there is any resistance to life as it is, the problem of depression will stick and not be resolved. It sounds like an easy solution , however in practice it can be extremely difficult to go through. It is in a way a kind of ego death when a person goes through this. In a very real sense the person feels as if a part of them is dying. They have to remember the part they feel is not their true divine essence which never dies and cannot be destroyed. It is the illusory self that feels the sting of ego death. Ultimately, this is spiritually healthy if the person can surrender to the suchness or isness of life as the Buddha said . This doesn't mean that a person cannot change his circumstances if they are not pleasant or painful. However, first must come acceptance and alignment with life so there is no disconnection from lifes energy. Then a conscious response can be planned and executed to try to change things for the better. If this is done with awareness and consciousness then it is fine. If it is an unconscious reaction based on negative emotion, it is likely that the situation will not change and could get worse. Being totally aligned with life as it is can be the best remedy for depression. Allowance, acceptance, and surrender are helpful tools on this process. Try this approach and see what happens !