I’m Depressed…Is It True?

I’m depressed – is it true?

Yes.

Can I know for certain that is true?

No.

Who am I, how do I react when I believe that thought?

I put myself into a category; I label myself, “I am a…” I then give myself an excuse to behave, think and feel a certain way. I think, “I feel sad, because I have depression.” As if I give myself good reason to feel sad. I then follow the distinctive, familiar patterns of a depressed person, including the anxiety, lethargy and apathy that go with it. There is also the tendency to fall into the trap of feeling like a victim of an unfair world. “I’m depressed and it’s other people’s fault. If the world was not so unfair – maybe I wouldn’t have depression.”

The world is how it is; my emotions are the way they are. When I think the thought, “I’m depressed”, it is as if I am limiting myself to the thoughts, feelings and actions of a particular group of people. Why don’t I allow myself to feel the way I feel, without judging myself, categorising things and blaming other people?

Releasing through the Sedona Method or Release Technique works by allowing and welcoming your thoughts, feelings and desires; allowing yourself to be just the way are in this moment. The understanding is that as soon as you allow your thoughts, desires and feelings to be the way they are without attaching to them with the mind – those very things just dissolve.

Can I allow myself to be the way I am right now, without giving it a name or category? As soon as I identify with a particular state of being, I consign myself to it right there and then. When I declare myself to be in a state of depression – I act, think and feel just like a typical depressed person. Why don’t I just take the labels off myself and see how I go from there? If I’m going to feel like crap for the next couple of hours, so be it – but do I have to give it a name? It’s like looking at the sky every morning and feeling compelled to say, “Oh look, it is a blue sky. This sky is definitely blue in colour.” The sky is what it is without me having to identify with it, analyse it and categorise it.

Who would I be without that thought?

I would just be who I am – without attachment to thoughts and feelings; without labels and categories. Perhaps that feeling of sadness would just lift off me when I stop looking at it, thinking about it and resisting it. Well, that wouldn’t be very like a depressed person if I only felt depressed for a couple of minutes – would it? Well, who said I was depressed? I did – but why? Do I achieve anything by calling myself such a name? No, I don’t.

If I did not think the thought, “I’m depressed”, every time I feel a sense of melancholia, I would be free to experience my emotions without the constraints of labels; I would be free to be as sad or happy as I am. I believe that when I resist a thought or feeling – it holds it in place. So if I did not think the thought, “I’m depressed”, perhaps those feelings would just melt away and I would be left feeling a sense of peace.

I can certainly say that labelling me as “depressed” certainly does nothing to make me feel happier – so I might as well live my life without that label, without those thoughts. I believe my life would be better for it.

Let’s turn it around…

I am not depressed. I am who I am – I don’t need to label or categorise that. My feelings are what they are.