panaceas

Not really; I just like that word.  In my endless altruism, I have decided to devote a post to, and elicit suggestions for, home-remedies for temporarily curing sadness and/or depression.  Not that I would ever need to make use of these.  Here are a few of my own (in no particular order)...

- cleaning: a really thorough housecleaning

- singing: preferably full-volume to a loud, angry or epiphanic song (like Salisbury Hill)in the car

- dancing: preferably some form of thrashing to a full-volume angry or sexual song in the privacy of one's own home - going dancing with others is a milder anti-depressant, but with longer lasting results

-reading a book: given the title of this weblog, I feel obligated to include this option.  It has worked for me many times in the past, and is a slow-acting, but relatively long-term palliative (relative to a three minute song, that is).  Haven't been able to apply this measure lately, because if I have the time to read a book I should really be working on the play, or cleaning, or doing yoga, blah, blah.

- playing guitar: this is hit or miss, since I really can't play guitar; sometimes it can disintegrate into self-loathing over my laziness, my late start on the instrument, my inability to play barre cords, but that hasn't happened often.  I can play a few songs I like (badly) and sing along with them, and that's usually enough.

  - hiking or any vigorous physical activity; walking sometimes works for me, but other times it merely creates a rhythm with which my disturbing thoughts can hum along

- looking at your life as though it were a movie: this is a good Buddhist trick, but one I've been doing in one way or another for years; I used to write about sad or traumatic times in the past tense, as if I'd already gotten through them, and it helped me to believe I would. Objectivity is a great gift.

- meditating: I'm not very good at it yet; it doesn't get rid of the sadness, but makes it softer and more manageable

- camping &/or naked river swimming (see previous post)

- writing: sometimes....  Writing about something other than the thing that's making me sad almost always helps, but I can't always avoid the pressing issue.  Although sometimes my sophomoric ramblings about my own bullshit are pathetic enough to make me laugh, so....

- losing yourself in the misery of the world: this is a tricky one, because while your own worries will seem insignificant, you will run the danger of becoming truly despondent about genocide, hunger, environmental devastation, take your pick, and these things are actually worth getting upset about.  You're really better off...

- doing something about the misery of the world: even picking up the trash in the park across the street can give you a feeling of accomplishment (bad ego, bad) and actually have positive reverberations in the cosmos

- smile: ah, crap, this actually works.  Apparently the mere act of smiling has a physiological effect.  There is some disagreement about this in the scientific community, but I've noticed that when I force myself to maintain a "half-smile" recommended in one of my meditation books, I have a hard time getting deeply down. Here's an interesting tidbit: "a specific impairment in the ability to smile may elevate the risk for depression, with patients experiencing a reduced physiological feedback associated with smiling as well as the social consequences of the inability to communicate positive emotion." How awful.  Just found that online, but now I've forgotten where.  With the human flaw of insisting on the accuracy of our interpretation of others' responses, I can just imagine the social horror of being unable to smile, to reassure the insecure, needy vessels around us that we like them.

- "enjoy the human dilemma Lily; that's why it's there": a line from Why We Have a Body.  Sometimes that's all it takes - knowing that it's all just human drama, human weakness, the human desire to torture ourselves and see our sadness, our situation, as something unique, separate, and special, rather than just a little piece of the human dilemma, one that also allows us to experience love and joy and exaltation for no good reason whatsoever.

p.s. I have a new photo album up if any of you are interested- childhood pics I recently scanned.

Comments

[Janis]

Laughing helps a lot. Works the muscles in the face, neck, chest, belly, diaphragm. Stimulates the cardiovascular system and lungs. --As it subsides, these muscles all relax profoundly. Benefits can last up to 45 minutes, longer with more intense laughter -- not bad.
And to quote ?: "Accept that some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue."

[Kathleen]

Brownies
Milk
Repeat until full

[Rit]

Put a spring in one's step, along the same lines as smiling, laughing, singing. I got into doing a silly Molly Shannon character for therapy a while back, I would say a few lines and do some of her moves and it was impossible for me not to get into a better mood. Ala Stephen Book - if you move the body, the mind will follow. Seems like it's all about changing up the molecules. I think the challenge may be finding the will when feeling low.

[Rit]

Damn you were cute!

[Travis]

I don't know, but every time I see the headline to this entry, I read "pancreas". What's that about? LOL.

Travis

[Lisa]

Glad you received the starverock pic Jess! I laughed at your title choice of the photo of us wrapped in towels. It fits very well since what stands out for me is how badly I wanted to be home in my own bed. Sadly, my attitude about camping hasn't been very positive since I can't get past how intense our childhood camping experiences were. I don't recall much joy in them. Ah, but there's hope. I'm an adult now. There's always room for more fun. :)

Love ya!

Lisa