Episode 5: Mindfulness Tools for Depression: Softening

Did you ever think that depression is really just anger turned inwards towards yourself? As a pendulum swings back and forth anger and depression can also pulse back and forth from one polarity to the other. The intensity of the anger you feel can quickly switch to that same degree of depression, especially when there is no outlet to express the intense feelings that you may feel. Anger is a very common emotional state and probably one of the easiest ways to express emotions. It is a secondary emotion, second to many other emotions. When we feel sad, it can be expressed as anger. When we feel overwhelmed, it can be expressed as anger. When we feel nervous, it can be expressed as anger. When we feel disappointed, it can be expressed as anger. So you see how common anger is, it’s a simple way to dump all of our feelings and emotions into one state as if this is going to solve the problem. This is why it is so important to learn how to identify and feel each emotion without avoidance, but to just sit with any uncomfortable emotions that surface.

This week our mindfulness exercises will be built around learning how to identify emotions and sit with any emotion that surfaces until we are ready to let it go softly and gently without avoiding difficult emotions.