Ernest Hemingway got it right! I believe that if you were ever depressed and began to find yourself gradually finding hope, is it because you have become strong at the broken places of hopelessness and worthlessness. It seems like a paradox doesn’t it? How can I become strong at the places which nearly destroyed my life, my purpose, and my peace?
In Depressed Anonymous, the author speaks about how “we had given ourselves to the belief that this growing feeling of helplessness is what must govern our lives, mood and behavior. We have given it license to run roughshod over every part of our life and over our relationships. Most people can’t see inside us and discover the pain that make up our every waking lives. For the most we are able to hide how miserable we feel. ” (Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition).
This book, written by those of us who were depressed, using the 12 Steps of recovery, discovered a way out of those places where we were broken. We have become stronger because of what we have learned about HOW our lives had became broken.
” As soon as we admitted the possible existence of a creative intelligence, a Spirit of the universe underlying the totality of things, we began to be possessed of a new sense of power and direction, provided we took other simple steps. We found that God does not make too hard terms for those who seek him. To us, the realm of the spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe to all men (sic) …We needed to ask ourselves but one short question. Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?” As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way. It has been repeatedly proven among us that upon this simple cornerstone a wonderfully effective spiritual structure can be built.” AA, Pages 46-47.
As Bill W., (co-founder of AA) tells us, “our seeking always brings a finding.”
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SOURCE: Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition (2011). Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.