Why planning your day is important in lifting depression?

May 11 2010 Published by under Information, Inspiration

While it is common to blame inability to plan on depression,

I would like you to consider the possible costs of not planning your day in advance:

  1. You may believe there are no reasons to get out of bed and follow your morning routine.
  2. You may see no point and/or feel no urgency in doing anything during the day.
  3. You may engage yourself in negative self-talk and feeling sorry for yourself as soon as you are awake, as your mind is free of tasks, responsibilities and any excitement.
  4. You may feel pessimistic and lethargic during the day, as you follow no purpose and no passion. Nothing energises you!
  5. You may feel that your life does not belong to you and you are not in control of your decisions and lifestyle.
  6. You may feel drained and drowned by routine and boredom.
  7. You may feel stuck, trapped and powerless.
  8. You may feel overwhelmed by the amount of things to be done.
  9. You may feel unimportant and insignificant.
  10. You may deprive yourself of fun, hobbies and relaxation as you feel you don’t deserve them.
  11. You may feel stressed by things that should have been done yesterday or things that require your immediate attention.
  12. You may regret wasting another day away and go to bed disappointed and defeated.

As you can see failing to plan your day ahead of time is surely a plan to fail. This strategy will erode your self-esteem and will continue to drive you deeper into the darkness of feeling helpless, hopeless and inadequate.

When depressed, you cannot afford to enter another day without planning ahead of time!

Next time, I will illustrate this core message with some examples. Until then…

Stay strong, remain hopeful and seek inspiration!

Read the illustration here (Click on the title): To Plan or Not to Plan: A story of two approaches…

 

Photo by: 123RF Stock Photos

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Timeless teachings of a wisdom whisperer…(Cracked pots)

Mar 04 2010 Published by under Inspiration

I would like to share a story with you. I first came across this story about 10 years ago. I have kept it ever since, as every time I read it, it touches my heart.

Also, while I move through various stages and tribulations of my personal growth, I derive different meanings from this very simple and elegant piece of folklore.

Here it is:

Cracked Pots (Unknown author, retold by many).

A water bearer in China had two large pots, each hanging on the end of a pole which he carried across his neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer bringing home only one and a half pots of water.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the bearer one day by the stream: ‘I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.’

The bearer smiled and replied:

‘Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side?

That’s because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years, I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table and share with others.

Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty….’

Usually this story is followed by ‘and the moral of this story is….’ or ‘Each of us has…’.

I’m deliberately leaving no conclusions or explanations. I would like you to ponder over the meaning of this story in relation to your own life. I would like you to harvest the pearls of wisdom and treasure them.

I also hope you find courage and share your thoughts, as your insights could be life-altering gifts or amazing discoveries to all of us.

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Depression and failure: Edison’s lesson on handling failures.

Feb 11 2010 Published by under Decision, Determination, Inspiration

Today is Thomas Edison’s birthday. He was born 163 years ago and was one of the most prolific inventors in history.

I really like some of his quotes:

‘As a cure for worrying, work is far better than whiskey. I always found that, if I began to worry, the best thing I could do was focus upon doing something useful and then work very hard at it. Soon, I would forget what was troubling me’.

‘If we all did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves…’.

‘The three things that are most essential to achievement are common sense, hard work and stick-to-it-iv-ness….’.

‘Many of life’s failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up’.

I consider Edison my role model in how to handle a failure. He had pretty amazing attitude, patience and perseverance. When he was
designing a working electric light bulb, I believe he had over 3000 attempts that failed. Instead of giving up, he chose to focus on the valuable insight that these failures gave him, made some adjustments and tried again. He understood that failures lead to success.

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