I have struggled with depression for as long as I can remember. It is debilitating and difficult, but there is help available. Your good things list is already in the works.

I didn’t always know that depression was the huge weight I carried, but I kept the exhaustion of it concealed as best I could.

In my many journals, I wrote down the complicated feelings and desperation. I kept asking myself “How can a happy on the outside person could be so deeply sad on the inside?” Because I got up every day and did what needed to be done, I thought I had dealt with the trauma of losing my parents and several friends to early death.

Even though my life was by all measures a wonderful life, I wasn’t ok, at all.

My deepest greatest need was to feel better, even a little.

Those who struggle with the complicated layers of depression know that it can’t be mended with a fix all article or series of blog posts, but there are a thousand possible positive moments that strung together might start the process of feeling better.

Today’s blog post is meant to be another flicker of light in your string of feeling better moments.

First, invest in yourself. Try purposeful depression busters.

I say invest, because as simple as it is, there are things you need to do to reap the benefit. Start with making a list. No one else needs to see it.

Make a list on your phone, in a notebook, typed, or written on the back of that envelope in your purse/wallet/truck.

Record every good thing you can think of including the simplest of positive pleasures or blessings.

This list is an intentional gratitude list. Be assured, you and I are not ignoring the difficult or stressful. Instead, we are choosing to refocus on the good things in our lives at this moment.

Today my list would start like this in a random-no edit fashion:

I appreciate my incredibly soft bed, my little dog Janie, and the view out my window.

I am thankful for my grandchildren and my family, for life, for my husband, for a car that runs well. For my country.

Our bills are paid, we have electricity, and it is not raining. I like that it is brisk and breezy outside, so thank you God for that, and from where I sit, I can see a squirrel crazily hanging off a branch that makes me laugh. I am thankful that writing makes me feel better. I am thankful that I get to write at home and don’t go to an office. I am thankful for yogurt and walnuts.

It’s my list, so even yogurt gets a nod.

Make your own list. Try to fill a page or two.

There is so much good in our lives. Give your brain a chance to acknowledge it and it will reach your heart and cause a stir.

That stir sends signals all over the body. If we are what we think about as in “As a man thinketh so is he” then think about good stuff.

Anyone can use a tune up, so physically list every simple good thing in your life without editing or adding buts.

Count Your Blessings Therapy overrides the negative and reroutes your thoughts.

Force yourself to try this mind shifter. Make your list.

Take a moment and do it right now. Read it, read it out loud. Tell someone if you enjoy the results, but make your list and be thankful.

It is humbling and beautiful to acknowledge the good in our lives, no matter how small or ordinary.

Barefoot, making a good things list, and writing, 

Kim

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