healfrmdepress

It has been exactly three years since I attended my first Weight Watchers’s meeting in August of 2010. On that day, I weighed in at 232.4 pounds. Today, I am 45 pounds lighter at 187.4 pounds. I describe how I was able to accomplish this on my web site https://healingfromdepression.com/depression-weight-loss.htm

I believe that being lighter physically has helped me to become emotionally lighter in two ways: First, I have been able to take up road cycling, which raises my mood through the power of exercise.

Second, after I made changed my diet, I learned that fruits and vegetables contain substances that have been associated with a decrease in depression. The most helpful of these are grapes, apples, berries, kale, onions and green tea–foods I eat on a regular basis. Also, by eating more complex carbohydrates I have been able to stabilize my blood sugar, thereby preventing the mood swings that can occur with changes in blood sugar.

All of this harkens back to one of the main premises of my better mood recovery program–that the starting point of healing from depression and anxiety is physical self-care. For as your physiology goes, so goes your mood.

A am reminded of this quotation by Laurens van der Post: “The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach.”

An attitude of gratitude enriches my body, mind and spirit.

I am posting this to share some exciting news for those of us who suffer from anxiety and depression.

I have been reading a book called “The Brain that Changes Itself.” The book tells us that far from being fixed, our brain has the remarkable ability to change its own structure and to compensate for even even the most challenging neurological conditions. Scientists have a name for the brain’s ability to change itself and to rewire its nerves–neuroplasticy. (neuro means “neuron” and plastic means “changeable, modifiable”).

For example, after a stroke, if one part of the brain experiences cell death, other parts of the can learn to take over the functions of the damaged area and perform its functions.
Similarly, whatever brain dysfunction occurs with mental illness is also subject to change.

Thus, you are not determined by your genetics or by what you have experienced in the past past history.

• You can adopt new beliefs.
• You can can develop new behaviors and habits.
• You can strengthen your “psychological immune system and learn new ways to respond to stress.

Through the tools that I and other mental health educators teach, you can learn to change your brain, and therefore change your life.
Here is an affirmation that sums up this good news. Feel free to use it to or to create your own.

I am not determined by my genetics or my past. My brain and mind are changeable, and as I take the steps to make this happen, I create a new and more joyful life.
I wish you the best in your healing journey.

Sincerely,

Douglas Bloch, M.A.

Healing From Depression

http://youtube.com/user/healingdepression

P.S. One way to create new neural pathways in the brain is to change our negative self-talk to positive self-talk. I have recently created a new website that teaches this process. It is http://affirmationsheal.com Feel free to explore it.

If you would like to learn how I used mindfulness mediation to cope with suicidal thoughts and feelings, click on this link.

Using Mindfulness Meditation to Cope with Suicidal Thoughts and Feelings