HealItAll Holistic Health and Wellness

Welcome to my new Heal-It-All blog!

I’m excited to be able to post information here that I don’t include in my newsletter. Please add your comments or questions. I’d love to hear from you.

Yesterday, I was thinking about depression. It is an issue that runs rampant through our modern world. I’ve read that one in ten women in America is on anti-depressant drugs! That doesn’t even include men and children, or the depressed women who are not being treated. What’s going on here?

Something is wrong with this picture!! Not the one of me in the corner. I look happy there. (It was taken at my son’s wedding last year and I was having a great time.) But I’m generally pretty happy, anyway. I wasn’t always a happy camper, but I have trained myself to be happy most of the time, no matter what. You can do it too.

First of all, we have to ask what makes someone feel depressed? We’ve all been there at some point in our lives, for a few hours or days, but many people get stuck there for weeks or months, or even years. Sometimes it is a hormonal, or nutritional problem, but my guess is that it is most often the result of a flaw in our thinking, or even just a bad habit.

The funny thing is that happiness isn’t dependent on outward conditions. People who win the lottery and people who have limbs amputated are just as happy a year later as they were before they won all the money or lost the limb! We all seem to have what some have called “a happiness set point” that we will always bounce back to, no matter what happens in our outer lives. So, looking for happiness anywhere outside of ourselves is a big mistake. It just won’t work. It has to be an inside job.

But what if your happiness set point is low on the scale? Is it possible to raise it?

Yes it is! I know, because I raised mine. I just decided I was going to be happy and started looking for things to be happy about. Law of Attraction brings us whatever we focus on, if we hold our focus on it long enough. So one way to overcome depression is to STOP FOCUSING ON IT. Start focusing on things that feel better!

How do we do that?

Here we are, at a time when a large portion of the population is living in luxury, relative to our ancestors. We have hot and cold running water, indoor flushing toilets, soft beds, a wide variety of foods to choose from, excellent health care, freedom in our career and marriage choices, and closets full of clothes. When is the last time you really stopped to APPRECIATE all that?

Have you noticed that appreciation makes you feel happier? It does. Keep appreciating and you will find that you become happier and happier.

Here are a few other questions you might want to ask yourself or someone you know who is caught in the depression cycle –

• When is the last time you went out in the woods and really felt a connection with nature?
• How many times have you helped someone else this week?
• Have you spent any time enjoying yourself, just the way you are?
• When a depressing thought comes to mind, do you look for something happier to think about?

When we were children, we instinctively knew how to be happy. We looked for things that were fun and interesting. Our curiosity was overflowing. We had dreams – big dreams. And we believed we could be and do and have anything we wanted. Somehow, as years went by, most of us gave up our dreams and squelched our curiosity. In short, we shut ourselves off from the magic of life. But that magic is still there, just waiting for us to rediscover it.

One good way to get past depression and rediscover the magic is to reconnect with your inner child. Remember the things you loved to do as a kid and start doing them again. No matter how silly they may seem – finger painting, building go carts, looking for frogs, dressing up, or making mud pies can get you back in touch with the playful, fun-loving kid that still lives inside of you. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be FUN.

Take a look at how you are treating yourself. It’s never about how other people are treating you. They are just actors in your movie. You write the script. Are you kind and gentle with yourself, or do you constantly put yourself down and criticize what you do?

Are you eating well? You can’t expect to feel good if you are dumping toxins into your body. If you don’t feel good physically, you probably aren’t going to be overjoyed about life. Read my Nutrition Tips page for more information.

What about drugs, prescription and recreational? None of them are good for you. Over 40% of Americans, including children, are taking at least one prescription drug and many more people are self-medicating with all sorts of non-prescription drugs. That is absolutely shocking! Drugs may “cure” symptoms on a short-term basis, but they all have side effects. Before you jump on the drug bandwagon, try a holistic approach to your problem. EFT is a great tool for healing emotional and physical problems. Acupressure, acupuncture, homeopathy, flower remedies, massage, chiropractic, and a host of other modalities are available to provide healing in a natural way that will not disrupt your hormones and brain chemistry.

With proper nutrition, healthy lifestyle, and Law of Attraction, you can heal just about any physical or mental problem, but you have to be willing to change your habits of thinking, probably your diet, and your dependence on mind and body altering substances. Is it worth it for your own happiness? Only you can answer that.

Bottom line, look for things to be happy about and you will find them. Slowly but surely, your happiness set point will get higher and higher.