Last week I looked at a study that found Depression can raise the risk of diabetes by 60%… (1) The link between depression and diabetes is often the behavioral change that accompanies depression. Depression often involves lack of motivation to undertake healthy behaviors, like exercising, socializing, preparing food, doing chores, and taking steps towards our dreams. A large portion of people who experience depression turn to over-eating, eating more sweets, eating heavy and undigestable foods, etc. These cravings are as much associated with emotional distress, as they are related to adrenal stress.
The adrenal stress is a result of depression, the daily struggle… every day is a fight against world’s oppression or your own demons. Adrenal stress activates fight or flight mechanisms producing digestive cravings in some individuals. Adrenal stress and adrenal fatigue lead to weight gain which raises the risk of diabetes.
Here, I will share with you a daily exercise that helped me to break through my struggle with depression. This week, I came across another study that found the benefit of Self-compassion in fighting depression and diabetes… (2) This exercise I am sharing is a kind of mindfulness practice that invokes the powder of gratitude and self-compassion.
Oddly enough, I learned this from a patient; as something they used it to over-come anger… He did over-come successfully using this technique; I applied it to over-come the lethargy of depression.
Every morning I awoke, I listened for what was going through my mind… Whatever, it may be… I would say to myself, “I understand and I have a plan…” Then, take my journal and write out three things…
1) 3-5 things I am grateful for…
2) 3 things that are working for me…
3) 2 things I am working on…
And as I do this I take time to feel every gratitude; I am grateful for…
Gratitude is the engine that drive this vehicle – gratitude is inspiring and motivating, at once… This opens the doors of imagination and creativity in the mind. Improving skills of self-compassion and problem-solving…
And then, take time to notice 3 major things that is working – some may repeat from you gratitude; these are things that keep us alive, safe, connected, loved, interested in living…
And finally, observe the two desires that you would like to fulfill today… These are two steps you would like to take in a positive and beneficial direction to improve your life. Many days it is things like exercise, other days are more specific, like “work on being more grateful”, and other days it is “work on forgiveness” or “Cooking fresh at home” or “cleaning up the bedroom”
Also, thing about how can I use, “what is working” to help me to achieve my goal? What can I look forward to, when I have accomplished these things?
There are many days and weeks, we have to repeat what we’re working on. This is fine because every day there is new curiosity to understand the problem and new clarity to execute and solve the problem.
This way we accomplish more than before; the more we accomplish, the more excitement and motivation we can access, the more creative we feel, and the more we accomplish… and thus, the cycle of creativity continues.
And that’s the GOOD NEWS…
The struggle, the fight experienced by the depressed person is best treated through a clinical setting. But using self-motivating tools help over-come mental-emotional obstacles. They create new brain patterns and create permanent behavioral change… This allows people to make better choices and have the mental-emotional reserves to follow through with that choice…
2) http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2016/06/20/dc16-0416
3) http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-diabetes-self-compassion-idUKKCN0ZH54R
