Five Ways To Beat Despondency

Have you observed that when you see someone in pain, you feel the pain too or when you see someone happy, it rubs on to you. When you read a news article about a rape victim, you feel angry. When you hear about a gruesome accident or a terror attack, you feel fearful. Even when you are watching a movie, you become a part of it and go through the roller-coaster of emotions.
We also go through some automatic reflexes. For example, when you touch something hot or cold, you immediately pull back your hand. When you see garbage and filth you hold your breath. When you eat something sour or even watch someone eating, your facial expressions instantly change.

We majorly perceive this world through our five senses – touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing. Hence anything that happens in our outer world generates an emotion within us. The emotions give rise to feelings that are further coloured by our memories, beliefs, experiences and our state of mind. The feelings later manifest in our physical body in a positive or negative way, depending upon the emotions that are generated. Let us broadly classify the emotions into ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ emotions. If it is a happy emotion you feel upbeat, optimistic, energetic, courageous, and hopeful. But if it is a sad emotion you feel pessimistic, depressed, lonely, lethargic, hopeless and despondent.

We are bombarded with so many situations several times that stir our emotions inside out. It could be, going through some major event in life such as divorce, break-up, losing your job, losing your loved one, arguments and disagreements with people around us, rejection from someone close, financial trouble and so on. Or it could be simply a feeling of void or directionless in life. Reasons could be many. But the fact is that these emotions if entertained for a longer time can lead to state of despondency and drags you down completely.

Typical signs of despondency:

Feel lethargic all the time: You feel so tired and low in spirits that you have no energy for any physical activity. You also tend to lose interest in activities you were concerned with in the past
Don’t feel like taking initiative: The drive to do something goes missing. This slowly slips in to victimhood leading to complacency.
Become reactive: You react to trivial things. Even the most unimportant things start bothering you, affecting your state of mind. Feel angry even at the smallest things
Feeling of ‘I am not good enough’: Your self-esteem takes a beating. You start doubting yourself, your decisions, your capabilities and your potential. You start feeling worthless. Even the slightest comment passed by anybody affects you deeply.
Feeling insecure: You become insecure about your future and you start fearing to do things which you quite easily did in the past.

You may experience all or some of these symptoms. In this state you may take wrong decisions, say things you shouldn’t, act thoughtlessly and then feel guilty and regretful.

Here are five ways that will help you beat despondency and elevate your spirits.

#1. Be in the Present Moment: Life is nothing but present moment. We become miserable only because we think about ‘what happened in the past’ or ‘what will happen in the future’. This gives rise to guilt, regrets, worries, insecurities forming a perfect foundation for a state of despondency. Because we are emotional beings, it is natural for us to wander back and forth on the time line. The trick lies in pulling ourselves back to the present moment. For example, ask yourself a question, “What is the problem I have in this moment?” and to your surprise the answer will be “None”.

There are various ways in which you can bring your attention to the present moment. The simplest of all is not thinking about anything. Easier said than done, isn’t it? Well, what you need to do is focus on your breath. SKY Healing, I found is one of the sure shot ways of springing back to the present. The idea is, your mind can do only one thing at a time, either it can observe thoughts or observe breath.

The whole idea is to change your focus. Whatever you focus on grows in your life. Shift your focus to more positive things in your life. Being in the present moment frees you of the burden of the past and anxieties of the future.

#2. Indulge in some Creative Pursuits: The two parts of our brain play a major role in determining our state of mind. The function of the left brain is logical thinking, decision making, and exercising choice, whereas the right brain relates to peace and creativity.

In the state of despondency, if the left brain becomes active it gives you more reasons to feel miserable and can convince you that you it is right to depressed given the situation you are going through. At such times, if you engage in any creative pursuits such as painting, singing, dancing or any other art form of your choice; the left brain shuts down and the right brain activetes. This not only ushers peace in your being but also shifts your focus automatically to the present moment.

#3. Avoid Triggers: When you are in a state of despondency, you tend to chew over and over again on how miserable you are feeling. You get into a kind of a whirlpool, which may seem to push you further down leading to a feeling of victimhood. At such times, you should completely avoid any trigger that may further aggravate the situation. For instance, if any relationship issue has caused this state, than avoid talking to that person and also talking about that person. If a financial issue had caused despondency, avoid looking at and thinking about how low your bank balance is and how financially sound your friend is.

#4. Shift Your Energy: Law of conservation of energy states that “Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it transforms from one form to another.” Shifting of energy thus, can create magic. You may just move out of that space, do some physical movements, laugh out loud, listen to a motivational speech, read a motivational book, and listen to uplifting music, or simply go on a drive or a nature trail. Doing any of these, will instantly bring a shift in your energy transforming it from negative to positive.

#5. Express Gratitude: There is nothing as powerful as expressing gratitude. Being thankful for whatever ‘you have’ or ‘don’t have’ instantly changes your state of mind. It changes your focus from ‘what you don’t have’ to ‘what you have’. It is also said that you attract that for which you are grateful for, in your life. For example if you are feeling low about your financial status, just express your gratitude for how well you have been taken care of in the past financially; or if a relationship does not work out, think about the wonderful people in your life and thank the universe for them.

Just expressing gratitude will bestow peace upon you and you will suddenly start feeling good about yourself and your situation.

If the disheartenment and hopelessness prevail for a longer time, it may lead to depression and lowering of self-esteem and confidence. This state of mind changes the brain chemistry. Research says that in a state of despondency, serotonin- a hormone responsible for maintaining the mood stability and social behaviour, appetite and digestion, sleep, memory and sexual desire and function, decreases; therefore the body’s ability to think, feel, move also gets depressed. Over time it may lead to serious health issues.

The state of despondency has a deep impact on your career as your productivity slows down. It badly affects relationships as no one likes to be in melancholy company.

But there is a hope even in a hopeless situation, and despondency can be arrested by adopting the five ways mentioned above. However, first, it is important to identify the state and acknowledge it. If we don’t let the clouds of despondency loom over our life for long; and quickly spring back, we can avoid a bigger loss of career, health and relationships in our life. Remember, you can handle any situation only when your spirits are high.