Asking Questions
There is no question about it: we will get more of whatever we focus on. Asking questions of ourselves can be powerful. It can actually change our lives. The two questions I asked in 2009 changed my life: “Do I really need to be on an antidepressant for the rest of my life? […]
What Labels Do You Define Yourself By?
When a person is fighting mental illness, it is easy to believe that the illness defines who they are. It is easy to believe that the label attached to the mental illness–depression, anxiety, bipolar, ADHD, OCD–is who they really are. The truth is, the person with the mental illness is, AT THEIR CORE, far […]
How Medication Can Help
I will forever be grateful that in the year 2000 when I went to my doctor and said, “I have so much to be grateful for but I feel so alone, so sad, so angry, so lost…” that he suggested that I might have clinical depression. I am grateful that he saw the signs and […]
Blind Devotion
Today I have tears of gratitude for the man at my side who did not give up on me, who believed in me even when the gut-wrenching days of depression did not. Perhaps you are not married. Maybe you are and your marriage is in shambles. Maybe you are and your spouse does not […]
The Truth Experiment – Dare To Desire
“Your beliefs act like filters on a camera, changing how you see the world. And your biology adapts to those beliefs. When we truly recognize that our beliefs are that powerful, we hold the key to freedom. While we cannot readily change the codes of our genetic blueprints, we can change our minds and, in […]
When Pen Meets Paper
I had an experience early this morning that reminded me that everyone is fighting a battle; everyone is facing some sort of challenge; everyone needs a little slack. We live in a fallen world which means there are obstacles. Without the obstacles, growth would not happen. Whether or not you are trying to unlock […]
How Do I Find Joy?
I had a very difficult time feeling joy during my journey with clinical depression. I did everything that was suggested today during a talk I heard: I read my scriptures, I prayed, I served, I loved. And I still felt like (pardon me) crap! I felt helpless to change…. I believed that joy will naturally […]
Postpartum Depression
I have five children. I had them in seven years. There were many days and nights, months and years, of “things being gloriously out of balance” as my husband would say! I don’t recall ever feeling anything more than the “baby blues” with my first four children. According to the Mayo Clinic (2012), symptoms of […]
Why Bottling It Up Hurts
In Mind Battles, I shared a small portion of a major piece of the puzzle that fundamentally brought me out of depression. I hope you took seriously the invitation to write down one battle that is raging in your mind. If you did not, I invite you to do so now. You see, the cells […]
Mind Battles
Here is an excerpt from a talk I gave several months ago: “15 years ago I began to exhibit signs of clinical depression. I remember wondering what was wrong with me. I had a great marriage, great children, believed in God, and had everything that I wanted. Yet I felt sad to say the […]