Beating Depression, One Breath, One Step, One Moment, One Feeling

When all is lost, making the choice for “just one more” can make all the difference.

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One breath, take just one more breath.

I know it’s hard, the world has closed in and there is no light, no escape, choices have fled, there are no options present. I know you reach for friends, for strangers, for anyone. A thousand silent screams that never leave your tongue hoping someone will throw a lifeline in the dark. Yet you can still breathe, just once more, and then again. Feel it as it enters your chest, there, right there, that’s hope. When everything is darkest you can always breathe. I can’t tell you the dark will go soon; sometimes it will take time, lots of time, before it shifts, before you can see the path in front of you again. Breathing though, breathing is always a choice you have, so please, one more breath, a gasp of hope. Light is out there, waiting, you will find it and the darkness will clear.

A thousand questions of which no one knows the answers line the way ahead. Yet you can still walk.

One step, take just one more step.

I know it’s hard, there is a mountain of memories blocking the way ahead and time has closed the path behind. I know you hope to meet fellow travelers, people who know this mountain, who have traveled this path before. A thousand questions to which no one knows the answers line the way ahead. Yet you can still walk, just one more step, and then again. Feel the ground beneath your feet, there, right there, that’s purpose. When the path seems lost ahead you can still walk. I can’t tell you that your path will be easy, sometimes it will be steep, treacherous and sometimes the scree will send you stumbling so that time does not feel like it’s your friend. Walking though, walking is always a choice you have, so please, one more step, one foot closer to your purpose. The plains, forests and oceans are out there, you will follow your path and one day the mountain will grow distant.

One moment in time, take just one moment in time.

I know it’s hard; there are so many moments you would like to forget yet always those moments surface. I know you see other people and life seems so simple for them, they seemed so blessed, so ignorant of the weight of the world and you want to know what that is like. There are a thousand feelings carried on your shoulders, feelings no one seems to know the names for. Yet you can get lost in a moment, just one more moment, and then again. Feel how time has no meaning, how you were lost just being, there, right there, that’s passion. When time seems like an uncontrollable river you can always take a moment. I can’t tell you all your moments will be enjoyable, sometimes they will be scary, you will have little control and events drag you as they will. Pausing though, taking a moment is a choice you have, so please, one more moment for the weight of old moments is lifted by the buoyancy of passionately engaging in new moments. One day you will fly, you will fill your mind with new memories, feelings and experiences and those past moments will no longer hold you back.

Great pain opens your heart to accept the most vivacious colors of life.

One feeling, just accept one more feeling.

I know it’s hard, there are so many feelings raging inside which you don’t know how to contain and you’re afraid of losing control. I know you see other people, so calm, so collected and so in control and you want to know how they manage their feelings. There are a thousand actions you could take but always your feelings say fight or flight. Yet you can feel, just feel once more, and then again. See how it changes you, notice how it shapes your view, can you see the colors feelings bring? There, right there, that is living. When feelings close in you dull them but you already know that you can’t just dull one feeling, all must be dulled. I can’t promise you things won’t be grey again. Once you know the trick the temptation to turn the world grey is always there, to dull the pain just one more time. Feeling though, feeling is always a choice you have, so please, feel just once more, one more feeling because if you feel pain then you can also feel joy, love, happiness and peace. Feelings are the spice of life, the reason for living, that which gives live so much richness and color. One day you will understand, you have been given something so few truly understand; great pain opens your heart to accept the most vivacious colors of life, colors not many people are blessed to see.

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*A minstrel was a medieval European bard who performed songs whose lyrics told stories of distant places or of existing or imaginary historical events. Although minstrels created their own tales, often they would memorize and embellish the works of others. The Modern Minstrel observes the world around him and shares it with us as lyrical story. This series was inspired by Luke Davis, whose eye for story and ear for lyrical prose are featured here.

Photo: Flickr/Tobiasvde