All posts by Hugh Smith

Was I losing my mind?

My thinking started to change around the time that I found myself unable to execute simple activities, like getting out of bed.

I found that my mind was no longer calling the shots. All I wanted to do was sleep. Getting out of bed and going to work was the last thing I wanted to do.
That was then.
This is now.

“came to believe that a power greater than myself could restore me to sanity.”

In the second step we are reminded again that in order to begin the process of recovering from our sadness we begin to look into our lives where we need to find our sense of self and our power.

Our depression used to be our power in that it kept us shackled in depression, a veritable prison of despair and isolation. Now we see that the light is about to shine on us and we can develop our belief in a power greater than ourselves who will deliver us for hope.

To believe that I might gain deliverance from my depression is something that I am beginning to live with for the first time in years. I want to believe that with time, work amid discussion, I will
free myself from this depression.

I need now to write down a list of the things I want to believe in for the present and future so that I might hope that my life will be different.”

Copyright (c) The Depressed Anonymous Workbook.(2002) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville, KY.

Hugh S

Hope Is A Hard Habit To Break!

Habits are hard to break! A life filled with negative thinking is a hard habit to break. Smoking is a hard habit to break. Negative behaviors are also hard to break. Living a life filled with anxiety is hard to break.

Developing a new habit takes time, persistence, and a belief that I can rebuild my life. In our Depressed Anonymous fellowship, I have learned that motivation follows action. If we have a plan to break a habit, we must put that plan into action.

Depressed Anonymous offers us a workable plan to break our own negative habits. Our plan is proven to work. You can learn more about these plans by checking out our website at https://depressedanon.com, or Google us at Depressed Anonymous. Trust me, you will be glad that you did!

Hugh S., for the Fellowship

A Better Gift

Sometimes it comes to our mind that we have prayed a long time and still it seems that we do not have what we ask for. But we should not be too depressed on this account, for I am sure, according to our Lord’s meaning, that either we are waiting for a better occasion, or more grace, or a better gift.
Julian of Norwich

The Bright Light of Hope

If we have worked the 12 Steps on a daily basis, we now realize the value of surrender and the power that releases in us, just by making a decision in Step Three to “turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understand God” is the beginning of reconnection with life and ourselves. It is in the group that the depressed person begins trusting their members where they have admitted that their lives are unmanageable, and that they have made a conscious decision to turn their lives over to God, or the Higher Power. The Twelve Step program helps people to become God conscious. It is in working the program while making no excuses for the spiritual nature of our recovery, we can begin to attribute our new-found sense of hope and peace to the Higher Power. For the active member of Depressed Anonymous there begins to glimmer in the distance, the bright light of hope.

Submitted by Janet M.

Motivation Follows Action

AFFIRMATION
I promise to do something positive for myself today.
“When you are depressed you are plagued by tiredness. Indeed, there are many people who experience the major portion of their depression in tiredness.”

Copyright(c) Dorothy Rowe. Breaking the Bonds, Fontana. 1981.

I find that if I am depressed and want to start to feel better, or at least get my mind off of depression, I need to go for a walk and keep on moving. In DA we say MOTIVATION FOLLOWS ACTION. WHAT THIS MEANS IS THAT YOU’LL NEVER GET MOTIVATED TIL YOU GET BUSY DOING SOMETHING. This was my feeling a lot of time. It was only when I started walking that I wanted to walk. I didn’t want to do anything to help myself, until I forced myself to do something.

I believe that one’s tiredness when depressed comes from having too many things going through one’s brain at the same time. The strain of being overwhelmed is too much for the human brain and so it and the body begin to show the signs of stress. I also believe that so many unpleasant emotions constantly coming to surface and being felt by the body results in an overload situation in my brain.

Copyright(c) Dorothy Rowe, Breaking the Bounds. Fontana. 1981


QUOTE FROM:
Hug Smith. HIGHER THOUGHTS FOR DOWN DAYS. DAP. LOUISVILLE, KY. 2005 (January 24) Pg.15.

The Real Deal

One of my favorite TV shows is the Antique Roadshow. Every piece of furniture, painting, pottery, etc., brought to the show, has its own unique history. Each piece is appraised as to its present value by professional art dealers. That is the basis of the show, to help people discover how much that old letter, old painting or anything else that they bring to the show. seeking its worth. They can discover if their painting is an original, the real deal, or just a copy, or even a forgery. It is rare that an original masterpiece is ever discovered. Even so, there are times when a very valuable piece is discovered. People who come to show their articles, know that they can at least find out if they have something of value.

In ancient Rome, there were many sculptors, who sculpted pieces of artistic beauty. At times, when a sculptor’s chisel took too much granite off his work of art, he would cover his mistake with wax. So, if an artist wanted to sell his piece of art, it had to be noted that the piece was sincere, that is, without wax. No covering up mistakes.

So when I say that I am sincere, I am telling you that I am telling the truth. I am telling you that there is no coverup in what I am saying. (sine cera in Latin = without wax). In other words, it’s the real deal.

In our recovery program, Depressed Anonymous, we thrive by being sincere. We learn that it is when we admitted that we were powerless over depression and that our lives had become unmanageable, that we began to thrive and freed ourselves from the prison of depression.

Please come and join us in this Depressed Anonymous Fellowship. It is here where we can share our past mistakes and shortcomings – and our strengths – no more wax jobs – and find peace abd strength with folks just like ourselves.

DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS
Our website at DEPRESSEDANON.COM, will provide you with all necessary information, directing you to our online daily ZOOM meetings. We offer two meetings a day. You are always welcome!

HUGH S., for the DA Fellowship

Savor Life

“If I had my life to live over I’d like to make more mistakes next time. I would relax. I would limber up. I would eat more ice cream and
less bans. I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I would have fewer imaginary ones. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers.

I would have perhaps more actual troubles, but I’d have fewer imaginary ones.

You see, I’m one of those people who live sensibly and sanely, hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I’ve had my moments, and if I had to do it over again, I’d have more of them. In fact, I would try to have nothing else. Just one day after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day. I’ve been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat and a parachute. If I had to do it again, I would travel lighter than I have.

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the Spring and stay that way later in the Fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.”

Editor’s note:
The author, Nadine, wrote this at the age of 85. She died in a Louisville, Kentucky, nursing home, at the age of 88.

Copyright (C) THE ANTIDEPRESSANT TABLET VOLUME 4 NUMBER 3 SPRING 1993

So, I admit that I am depressed? Now what do I do?

“The first thing that I would do, would be to check out our Depressed Anonymous website @depresedanon.com. It is Here that you will be able to participate every day, with people just like yourself, who are seeking hope, and healing. This mutually supportive fellowship will lead you out of the prison of your depression and open your life up to hope, healing, and lasting friendships.

Even though we have a need to be by ourselves, and stay apart from human contact, we also have a need to be in contact with others. For to be in contact with others means that we will have to take some risks to make some choices. But when I am depressed and alone. I don’t have to make as many choices or take any action except to keep isolating myself and staying apart.”

Copyright (C) Depressed Anonymous Publications. (2002) Louisville, KY

The Three Needs and Storytelling

“In an article on AA’s Third Step (Richard Rohr) counsels that spirituality involves the “letting go” of three needs.

  1. The need to be in control.
  2. The need to be effective.
  3. The need to be right.

For alcoholics (and others) in early sobriety the last point may be the most important, for detachment from the need to be right, surrender of “demand to have the last word,” seems a prerequisite to the kind of listening that allows participation in the healing power of storytelling.

Source: The Spirituality of Imperfection. Kurtz and Ketcham. Bantam, NY, Page 173.

Quoted in THE ANTIDEPRESSANT TABLET. Fall 1996. Volume 8. Number 1. Page 8.


Comment: Control, I believe plays a big part in our own recovery. We tried to control others, manipulate our relationships, so that we came across as someone that we were not. We needed to have control of others, as only I knew what was right for them. We corrected others when we felt that we knew more about what they were talking about than they did.

As to my own recovery, I discovered that most of what I learned about recovery from depression was from others, like myself. who had weathered the depression darkness, by sharing their own story. By doing so, the deflation of my ego, took me out of being the center of the universe, to having this new belief that it was no longer I who was in control, but in fact, it was this power greater than myself who is now in control.

Amazingly, it was not only a story of my own brokenness and restoration, but was chiefly a story of how this Power put me back together. I now follow a path of serenity and hope, with the author of my new life who guides me every day of my life. My God always has the last word. BELIEVE!

Hugh S., for the fellowship