Become Depression-Proof
Life is an echo. What you send out comes back.

A recent University of Notre Dame study of 103 pairs of roommates found that negative thinking patterns can be passed from one person to another. Misery does love company!  Just like the virus, negative thoughts can be contagious.  It’s called “cognitive vulnerability”.  Although we know negative thoughts are not good for us, yet we accept these thoughts as part of life.  We see difficulties in each opportunity and become depressed.  How do we live without acquiring or absorbing these vibrations? A depression vaccine has yet to be discovered! 

Keep your awareness in the present.  Overthinking, a major cause of depression, will diminish and stop. Negative feelings are temporary. Our most valuable resource, the soul, is right behind our eyes. Turn within to check and change your mood and thoughts.

Love yourself, since you must spend so much time with yourself.   Look after your feelings so you are  not infected by anything. The longer you hold onto a particular thought, the more power you invest in it. You can only fix yourself.  What we focus on grows.   

Meditate, connect  with God’s unlimited love and choose to feel happy or neutral instead of negative.   

Practice compassion. It has become human nature to interpret negative comments as a personal attack. Instead, recognize them as a sign someone is suffering. A gentle heart never makes others feel guilty about their mistakes,

Don’t take things personally. To prevent yourself from reacting, don’t engage; be an observer.  Emotion is a limited creation; it will pass. Do not make it your identity.

Whatever  defects we criticize in others we also have that weakness. What you see in others also exists in you. Never look down on someone  - unless we are helping them get up!  To encourage and empower the ideas and ways of others means we are empowering ourselves.

Energy flows where attention goes. Start looking at life with joy and a big heart, and sadness and depression disappears.  Seeing the beauty of life, we see opportunities, not difficulties.  We cannot have heaven and hell together. We can have only one. The choice is ours to make. 

Sister Chirya is a student and teacher with               
the Brahma Kumari's World Spiritual University               
for over 40 years. She is published globally.