Interestingly, those who have suffered from depression and managed to come out of the depths often become helpers for others.
From each of these people, we get to learn that it all can be worked out, moving dysfunctional thinking out and creating what is true and workable. Add to this list below, the people who have "made it" even though dealt a tough hand: Bad Past, Good Life. Note what Byron Katie created after years of depression! And there are lots of examples to draw from.
Just know that it is entirely doable!
(See the Success Roster, to the left.)
A FEW OF THE SUCCESSES
(Note what these people did.)
A few of the successes. Some detailed below or in other parts of the site (so enter their name in the search engine), or, of course, you could do a general google search:
A. B. Curtiss - Prominent psychologist specializing in depression (story link
below)
Laura Berman Fortgang - Coach, several great books (story below)
Byron Katie - Prominent author and helper
Helen Keller - Valuable insights
Michael Neill - Great writer, especially on logical happiness
Look at the right, to see many famous people (use link provided)
Laura Berman Fortgang
One of the most practical coaches I've run across, Laura Berman Fortgang. now spends her life helping others create happiness and the lives they love. She herself is a shining example of how to learn to operate in a world that can be challenging at times.
The quotes are from her latest book "The Little Book Of Meaning." I loved her other books, among them "Now What? 90 Days To A New Life Direction", "Living Your Best Life", and "Take Yourself To The Top".
"The power of our own minds to distort meaning or create meaning is unending..."
"When we allow the brain to continue to malfunction, it trains itself to repeat the problem over and over."
"But for all of us, our very malleable brains will do what we program them to do."
"I started my mental shift...by drawing from one of the deepest wells the mind can dip from - gratitude."
"...in the throes of a deep depression, in the darkness of my apartment..."
"Despite the setbacks, it was there, on the inlaid floor, that I started to change my mind. As gratitude started to melt the faulty thinking that had kept me stuck, the darkness gave way to glimmers and moments of lightness..."
"Each peek into the light would multiply upon itself until it was more and more reinforced by new thinking, eventually resulting in my being re-minded. [From a chapter called "re-mind", from the idea that we created the old thinking, so we can create the new...] It took much attention, focus, and patience. I persisted until I could finally stop watching each thought and could begin to trust my own thoughts to be supportive vs. destructives. It took months."
She practiced yoga also. She learned that we can "stop reacting and have time to choose our rsponses. [Then] We are re-minded." She also repeats the words of one of her teachers: "Meditate, meditate, meditate."
A. B. Curtiss
From manic depression for 30 years to becoming an expert trained in the field with great personal results. Read his story at www.depressionisachoice.com.
