Category Archives: Higher Thoughts for Down Days

12 Step Meeting, Acceptance, Avoidance, Belief, Choice, Community building, Faith, Fellowship, Focus, Helpful, Higher Thoughts for Down Days, Honesty, Hope, Mindfulness, Mutual Aid, Negativity, Pain, Prayer, Step 01, Step 08, Step 09

101: How to eliminate wild weeds (Negative Thinking)

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Eliminating weeds from our gardens or from the Spring beauties who show their marvelous colors every year, makes it our major task to dig the weeds out, cutting down these thriving seeds of destruction. They become a pest when allowed to grow and take over what was hoped to be something beautiful and bountiful. Negative thinking is likewise that noxious weed- It yields no good fruit!
Our strategy, is to knock them out before they can get a root- hold, destroying our hard work and handiwork. Seeing the first sign of the noxious weed (negative thinking) tells us that more are on the way.

This I believe, serves as a metaphor for when a mind has been taken over with negative thinking and accompanied by a sense of hopelessness.
Our mind, if filled with uninvited negative thinking, cycling us down with a feeling of loss and hopelessness, we find it’s time to get into action, take a crack at that first negative thought–before it even gets a chance to sabotage our thinking, our feelings and motivation to change.
When the negative thoughts begins–say STOP–don’t go any further with a debate about that first thought. We refuse to get entangled with this tangent thought, always leading us to places where we don’t want to go. We have been at this point of thinking far too many times. We know now how to dismantle this crippling form of negative thinking. Change the script. You do the managing of what you think about.
First, cut the thought down to size–don’t let it scare you, but tell it “I’m not going to believe this anymore.” Another reccuring negative thought, for example might be, “You are worthless.” When this thought appears, we can replace it with a positive “sunspot.” This “sunspot” can be a positve recent mental image of a past event or a positive affirmation of ouselves. And with your own weed control operation, tell yourself as many good things about yourself as you want. What you can accomlish at this point is to see the weed (thought) for what it is. Cut it down, like a bad weed, and dig it out. Have an affirmation ready at hand, to replace each and every negative thought. Positivty thinking is what you are all about!

AFFIRMATION
“Making direct amends and using a personal inventory continues our progress and helps free us from all the hurts of the past. We know now that we can’t afford to think long about real of imagined hurts, or we will throw ourselves back into saddening ourselves once again.”

REFLECTION
One of the things that is toxic for the depressed peron is negative thinking. This thinking continues to grow, once nurtured by my attention into a large and uncontrolled wild weed, taking all the attention from the good things happening in my life. I know that I can no longer give into that first thought allowing to pound me to the ground. My negative thinking is very much akin to drinking for the alcoholic. Once I give into that first moment of self-bashing, the cycle of depression begins. There can be no second negative thought!
Hurts from my past continue to grow stronger the more I allow them to dominate my thinking and my behavior. Hurts are best eradicated (Seep 4 and Step 5) when I deal with them openly and honestly.

MEDITATION
The spirit hopes in God as we begin today with a prayer and a belief that this day can be a good one, like the days that I have had in the past.”

Copyright(c) Higher Thoughts for down days: 365 daily thoughts and meditations for 12 Step fellowships. Depressed anonymous Publications.Louisville, Ky. Pages 153-154. (September 17)

Copyright(c) Depressed Anonymous. Third Edition (2011). Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville, KY.

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12 Step Meeting, Acceptance, Affirmations, Choice, Community building, Depressed Anonymous, Depressed Anonymous Workbook, Faith, Fellowship, Focus, Helpful, Higher Power, Higher Thoughts for Down Days, Hope, I'll Do It When I Feel Better, Journaling, Meditation, Mutual Aid, Positivity, Prayer, Purpose, Spirituality, Step 11

Stick to the plan. A prescription for change today.

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It took me awhile to put into practice a simple idea. That idea is to do the same thing, day after day, in the same place and at the same time. If you have trouble following through on ideas or commitments, then you might feel better about reading the next few paragraphs.

With different situations in my life, some upheavals, some turning points, changes in my life goals, plus trying to do to much at the same time. It was somehow never easy to do what I knew needed to be dome. I used as my mantra “I’ll do it when I feel better.” In fact, this idea seemed to express perfectly, what I was doing, so I titled one of my books after it. Gradually, procrastination, I sensed, would not fit into my recovery program. I had put off for too long to knuckle down and start to do the work that I needed to do.

Here is my plan. I know it can work for you as well. There is no particular time limit on how long your prayer time is to be.

1. Everyday, I have found that morning works for me, I go to the quiet place that is best for my time alone with God, and start with a daily reading of Higher Thoughts for Down Days: 365 Daily Thoughts and Meditations for 12 Step Fellowships. This reading begins with an Affirmation, then a reflection, and a final meditation. I have my notebook handy and I write down a positive thought that I want to carry me through my day. Most of the time this is a simple single sentence.

2. I then read and reflect on a paragraph or two from our Depressed Anonymous manual.This is coupled with the accompanying Depressed Anonymous Workbook, where personal reflections, in the form of questions, help me clarify how I think about myself. These questions continue to uncover issues which I might have never encountered, becoming the positive basic building blocks, helping with an understanding of the nature of my own depression experience, and developing in myself strategies, the 12 spiritual principles of growth, for my personal recovery, day-by-day.

It’s not complicated. It’s a plan. This time of prayer and meditation is a powerful way to make “conscious contact” with the God of your understanding. (Check out Chapter 10 in “I’ll do it when I feel better.” This chapter discusses more fully the topic of prayer and meditation.

Resources

(c)Hugh Smith. Higher Thoughts for Down Days:365 Daily Thoughts and Meditations. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville, Ky.
(c) Depressed Anonymous, THIRD EDITION (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville, KY
(c) The Depressed Anonymous Workbook, (2002) Depressed Anonymous Publications.Louisville, Ky.
(C)Hugh Smith. I’ll do it when I feel better. (2020) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville, Ky.

+ These works can by ordered online at www.Depressedanon.com. Click onto The Depressed Anonymous Publications Bookstore.

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Higher Thoughts for Down Days

I found my depression a comfort

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It strikes people as a strange thing to say when I tell them that I found my depression a comfort. I found it convenient because I didn’t have to make my decisions about anything or anybody. I could medicate these thoughts of how bad I was and continue to meditate until I felt completely numb and immobilized. Thanks to the program and the emphasis on personal honesty, the more I got the courage to take charge of my life and change what I knew had to be changed.

Today, I am not going to allow myself to get into addicting to negative and unpleasant thoughts. I will risk being myself and step out of the prison of my depression into the fresh air of living with a certain amount of unpredictability and freshness.

Avoidance is a vast reality when you are depressing, as I learned through the Twelve Steps program. I don’t want to see, talk to or have anything to do with anyone else when I am depressed; I will have to force myself to get involved with other people if I want to have a chance of ever feeling better.

Reflection

Because of you, O Lord, I wait: you O Lord my God will answer.
Psalm 35:16

The more we work our Program, God is as near as we are to God. The more we open up our consciousness to the God of our understanding, the more God draws us to himself. We believe that as we wait on the Lord to speak to us, our God will speak to us in some fashion that we will recognize. (Personal comments).

Resource
Higher Thoughts For Down Days, © 2014, Depressed Anonymous Publications, Louisville KY. (Pages 157-158)

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Higher Thoughts for Down Days

I am depressed and I am wanting a change

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The past is always full of hurt and and unexpressed anger. The future never seems to be without its colossal fears and “what if’s.” Now is the time to accept the fact that I want to change the way I think, act and believe. Right now I am wanting a change and am willing to face the challenge that making changes bring. To do this is called living.

Higher Thoughts for Down Days: 365 daily thoughts and meditations for 12 step fellowship groups
Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. KY. January 7.

Hugh, for the fellowship

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Affirmations, Belief, Choice, Courage, Exercise, Faith, Higher Thoughts for Down Days, I'll Do It When I Feel Better, Mutual Aid, Necessity, Positivity, Purpose, Step 03

I will keep physically fit. Exercise is my priority now!

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MOTIVATION FOLLOWS ACTION

AFFIRMATION
I promise myself that I will walk today to regain a positive feeling about myself and my world.
Keep physically fit. It is a must for us who are and have been depressed. Walking not only restore harmony to the body, it likewise restores my self-esteem and self confidence. Remember that motivation follows action.

REFLECTION
How can motivation follow action? Isn’t it the other way around, namely that action follows motivation? In a sense the criticism is true, but in another sense, it isn’t quite that accurate. When speaking about the paralysis of depression the individual’s motivation is almost completely nonexistent. That is why it is important for me, a depressed person to force myself to get moving -that’s right, force myself into an activity because even though I say “I will do it when I feel better.” I never usually feel better. So I need to find that point in my day, when I feel better and get out in the air and walk, if nothing else, it tends to distract from my wanting to sad myself.
When I take care of myself physically and begin giving myself p[permission to express my feelings, especially the unpleasant ones, I begin to speak more assertively and begin to like myself.

MEDITATION
Today, help me sort out what needs to be thrown away and what we need to keep. Help us keep those memories that had love attached to them.

RESOURCES
Copyright(c) Higher Thoughts for Down Days: 365 daily thoughts and meditations for 12 Step fellowship groups. (2002)Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Ky. Pages 150-151.

Copyright(c) Believing is seeing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Ky. Chapter Six. Pages 33-36.

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Higher Thoughts for Down Days

Do I value myself?

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“I am convinced that when I am depressing myself, that is, talking to myself and telling myself how bad and unacceptable that I am, I probably come across to others in in the same manner. When I try to please people I seem to be more depressed than before. I want to have other’s approval so much because I don’t really have a self that I can approve. It is only when I begin to value myself that other’s may or may not approve of me. When I begin to look on myself more positively, it will be alright with me, if someone disapproves of me.
The more I value myself, my word, and my future, the more my depression is gradually diminished. ”

Resource

(c) Higher Thoughts for down days: 365 daily thoughts and meditations for members of 12 step fellowship groups. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville, KY. October 20. page 172.

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Higher Thoughts for Down Days

I want to get my life back again

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AFFIRMATION

I will express my feelings in an  appropriate and reasonable manner.

…In different contexts I would describe   how I  construe  anger: To me it is a human response to frustration.  It is not essentially evil, but it is a facet of our civility and creativity. Our task in dealing with our anger is to inspect critically the sources of our frustration and to develop ways of expressing our anger is to inspect critically the sources of our frustrations and to develop ways of expressing our anger which are socially acceptable and creative.”

CLARIFICATION OF THOUGHT

In my efforts, to find peace and sanity in my life, I am beginning to figure out a few things, namely., that if I want to get my life on track, I will  have to live by the principles of the spiritual program that we call Depressed Anonymous. In my doing the 4th and 5th Steps of the program, I am finding that, I must take an inventory of my character defects that have kept me from living with trust and hope in my daily life. The principles of the Twelve Steps are an assurance that my life can get better. The more  I work the Twelve Steps, the more that I must  develop in my life.

I need not declare that I will never get angry again–only that I will get  in touch with my feelings and express them appropriately. Once my anger is acknowledged, I hope in time, for my ability to forgive to grow and be expressed.

MEDITATION

We thank you, God, for your grace, a gift to be sure. We don’t have to be the most perfect ones to achieve it. We know it is from you  that we receive the courage to live our  lives in a more hopeful and serene manner.

RESOURCE
Copyright(c)  Higher Thoughts for Down Days: 365 daily thoughts   and meditations for members of 12 Step fellowship groups.  Hugh Smith. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville, Ky. Page 73.

 

NOTE:  Higher Thoughts and other  selections   can be ordered online.

           VISIT THE STORE

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12 Step Meeting, Higher Thoughts for Down Days

My frequent contact with friends in recovery…

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AFFIRMATION  FOR TODAY

“My frequent contact with friends in recovery enables me to speak the language of hope to myself and to others.”

“We have shared our problems and experiences, our thoughts, feelings and sorrows, our hopes and fears, our laughter and tears. Being in a group has offered us security. It has given us a sense of belonging and the feelings of a new beginning. It is comforting to know that the journey will never have to be traveled alone. Someone will always be there, if you are ever set to fall,  to encourage and support you along the way.

CLARIFICATION OF OUR THINKING

My depression thickens in the darkness of solitude; it  withers gradually in the light of open and frank discussion. By my ongoing and frequent participation in Depressed Anonymous (face to face or Online DA Skype Groups) and the other Twelve Step programs of recovery, I feel that I am no longer alone and vulnerable. I know now that there are other persons out there who understand what I am feeling. I won’t hear any “snap out of  it” nonsense. Usually said to us by folks who have never experienced the pain  of depression. I know  that the progress out of the desert of  depression  is slow and methodical. One Step at a time. I am willing to work on myself and I will be able to win over my depression!

But as I have been wounded by a group or individual ,  or my own family of origin, and those who comprised it, can now find a “surrogate” family and make a decision to choose new members of my family.

MEDITATION

God, help us to learn how to gradually express ourselves with other members of our group. We know that in helping others, we always help ourselves.”

RESOURCES

Depressed Anonymous Daily Online Skype meetings.

(c)Higher Thoughts for down days. 365 daily thoughts and meditations for members of Twelve Step fellowship groups. Depressed Anonymous Publications,. Louisville, KY. Pages 51-52.  March 27.

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Higher Thoughts for Down Days

Nothing is so simple that it has a single cause.

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 I know that millions of pieces of sand make up the seashore. I know that many drops of water make the ocean. I also know that many days make up the years of any one’s life. Many pieces and patches make up the quilt. I also know that today is that one piece of my life that I will  do all in my power to grow and work myself out of  sadness. I have only my one  day, this twenty-four hour period to be strong,  to  study and   talk to others in the program as to how I am recovering, by working my Twelve Step Program  of recovery. I am excited about the good things that are possible for me   when “I let go” of my need to sadden myself.

I am thankful that today I am finding a way out of my depression.  First of all, admitting that I am depressed. Secondly, Feeling  better knowing that just as there is a cause for my depression, with time and effort, I   will gradually the source of my sadness. Day by day, I am finding pieces of the solution due to  my recovery efforts.

I am alert to all knowledge that can  help free me from my sadness. I do know  now that what has happened to me in the past, continues to operate in me now. I am learning how to be aware of these unconscious motivators, which   suddenly and  inexplicably pop up out of nowhere saddening my self and lowering  my mood.  These bad actors will gradually be faced and examined as I work  through  the steps, at my DA discussion  meetings, the reading of Depressed Anonymous literature, and my ongoing   help from my sponsor. This is a promise.

RESOURCE

(C) Higher Thoughts for Down Days: 365 daily thoughts and meditations for members of Twelve Step fellowship groups. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. KY.

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