(this and other articles in this online magazine are in no way intended as medical advice. If your symptoms persist seek medical advice from a qualified medical practitioner)

Depression, the silent thief that sucks your energy dry, leaving you on the couch or in bed wrapped in a blanket of insecurity and self doubt not having the desire or the energy to go out into the world and the overwhelming feeling that its all just to hard to deal with.  

Lets put depression into perspective; Did you know that 90% of people deal with depression in one form or another in their lives, it's not something rare it's not something to be ashamed of, yet depression is seen by most people as something they don't want to be around.  Why?

Sometimes, people are strugling themselves and just dont have the energy to help a family member who is in trouble.  Depression is a heavy energy, people suffering depression are often not communicative, or when they are its all tragety and drama, so friends and family not seeing that there is realy something wrong, can sometimes  just view the person as "no fun" and someone to be avoided till they wake up to themselves. 

The truth is often people just cant cope with someone elses problems, they simply feel inadequate to help the person suffering depression to lift up out of the malaise they are locked into.  The sad thing here is this compounds and the person who is already depressed feels even more rejection and distances themselves even more from their life due to their feelings of inadequacy and low self worth.  Ending in a viscious cirle headed downwards,

We all know that Depression can be the result of a chemical imbalance within the brain/physiology of the person or it can be through long term illness, stress or the result of trauma or shock, even menapause, midlife crisis, death of a loved one, or relationship break up, can be the trigger which ignites months of malise. There are many many complex medical reasons for even the happiest individual all of a sudden developing depressive tendancies. 

I have a theory I would like you to consider for a moment.  When we are loving life, satisfied with doing what we love, enjoying a healthy relationship keeping life in balance our attitudes are more optimistic and depression does not exist.  

Statistics today tell us depression is on the increase, more and more people are being treated with prescripion drugs and more people are commiting suicide, but why is this happening?  

The life we live today, the demands of busy lifestyles and demands often I feel create what I call "a boxed in soul."  A boxed in soul equates to someone doing something they dont want to do simply because they think they have to do it to survive.  People end up in relationships they dont want to be in, doing jobs they hate, living lives that hold no joy and wonder why they end up on medication?

Being mentaly, emotionally, physically healthy is all about keeping the balance in our lives, and when lives get out of balance, the natural outcome is depression.  I want to share with you today a new thought, something I have been working with for over 20 years now, something that if you are a depressed person this could unlock the mystery of how you can once and for all step out of your depression.   My work involves me energetically helping people on three levels, body, mind and soul, and in my years of work I have noticed that people who suffer depression also would a majority of times appear to be somewhat disconnected from their life path or life purpose.  Their spirit is lost, they are going through the motions of life, but not realy creating anything from their presence.

You see society teaches us that we have to be a teacher, doctor, lawyer, shop assistant what ever it is that is seen as normal in order to secure a financial future.  If you're someone who suffers from depression I want you to think back for a moment, think of a time when you had a passion for life. You may have been 12 years old and dreamt of being a playwright or a dancer or a magician you could have been passionate about being a lion tamer it doesn't matter what it was think back and ask yourself one question why didn't you follow your dream?  What happened when did you decide that you would conform in order to become what everyone else around you saw as being "NORMAL!"  

Depression is influenced by lack of personal joy and fulfillment, it is exacerbated by our day to day experiences, so if we are not living a life that is full of passion, purpose and self fulfillment, the result is often depression.  If our Soul has no means of personal expression the body's biochemistry does not produce the hormones and endorphins to manifest a sense of well being. And the body begins to shut down.

Depression is a modern malady it is the direct result of the choices we make every minute of the day, and those choices are often heavily influenced by what others see as fitting or acceptable behavior.  These choices may give us millions of dollars, or even fame and fortune, or they may lead to a totaly unfulfilled life because we didnt take that chance because everyone arround us told us we didnt have any hope of fulfilling out dream of (*******) and we beleived them.

Each and every human being has enormous creative potential, we are ever one of us unique in our perception of life, we are all unique in the gifts and talents we have within us that we are capable of contributing to our lives.  I am not saying that everyone should go out and quit their jobs and become an artist, actor or whatever, what I am saying is the first step to overcoming depression is to lift the lid on the box you have mentally placed yourself in. 

Find a life that brings you joy, fulfillment and expression of your uniqueness, paint that picutre, design that garden, climb that mountain, become a famous base ball player at 36, make a difference in the world - have the courage, find the courage to be unique, and you will be amazed how much better your life feels.