Compassion as cure for depression

Ever had the feeling that we see the world in our own self chosen colour, and that the fact that we are happy or unhappy has nothing to do with how the world is, but instead, it all depends on us? I think it is true, and while there certainly is the possibility that you are deluding yourself when you ought not to be happy, it doesn't seem like it works any other way. Just take a look at those righteously indignant people fighting for truth, justice, honour and what not- the moment they get some power, they go and stop people from doing the sort of things they don't want them to be doing.

Anyway all this is of no consequence, it is just that I was confirmed in my theory to read that compassion and kindness go a long way than anti-depressants in curing depression.

Rather than taking anti-depressants, people suffering from depression have an inexpensive way out - practising acts of kindness and compassion, new research claims.

Acts of kindness or compassion might serve as an effective treatment for depressed people, say researchers from the University of California, Riverside, and the Duke University Medical Centre.

I am reminded of this news item about something Dalai Lama said,

By feeling compassion for others -- seeing even our enemies in a new light -- we can ease our own stress and anxiety , the Dalai Lama told a crowd of thousands, gathered for his visit to Atlanta in October 2007. Through "inner disarmament" -- reducing anger, hatred, and jealousy -- we create a path to our own happiness and world peace, he said.

This has to be true- depression is more likely the result of your screwing up on people in your life, than some chemical messing about in your brain. In most cases, of course. There will be exceptions.

V.S.Ramachandran on a very difficult, almost impossible to think about, symptom, and more

My favourite intellectual: V.S. Ramachandran- TED Talk



via Body in Mind.

V. S. Ramachandran- TED Talk

This is great: V.S. Ramachandran on TED.

How to be happy...

This is from a book-review at WSJ:

"A University of California study, involving more than a quarter-million participants, "discovered impressive benefits of being happy." OK, fair enough. But how to arrive at this blissful condition? Mr. Wiseman's reading of the research suggests a range of strategies, such as "wearing more colorful clothing" and "talking in a more relaxed way." When others are speaking, nod your head often, he says, and when it's your turn use "positively charged emotional words" (like love and fond) and vary the pitch of your voice. When you walk, swing your arms slightly and put some spring in your step. It all sounds rather simple, if not simplistic, but Mr. Wiseman assures us that "incorporating these behaviors into your everyday actions will enhance your happiness.""

The Book is 59 Seconds, by Richard Wiseman.

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'aew' by padlaversusmoij via Flickr
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How to survive the dark- a darkness that gets progressively darker

"There is no saving grace in being confined to an iron suit, cold and unforgiving. The pleasures of mental agility are much overstated, inevitably—as it now appears to me—by those not exclusively dependent upon them. Much the same can be said of well-meaning encouragements to find nonphysical compensations for physical inadequacy. That way lies futility. Loss is loss, and nothing is gained by calling it by a nicer name. My nights are intriguing; but I could do without them."

Please read this article if you have time: the author is afflicted with ALS- in the poetic words of the author, "In contrast to almost every other serious or deadly disease, one is thus left free to contemplate at leisure and in minimal discomfort the catastrophic progress of one's own deterioration."


via
Night - The New York Review of Books

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'Freshwater lakes' by kevindooley via Flickr
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thanks, Sprixi

How to be more happy- Martin Seligman has been there, done it.

You can change, you know?

Or at least, you get to know what it takes to change.

Martin Seligman, the Positive Psychologist, is the man to listen to:

"I was a grouch. I had spent fifty years mostly enduring wet weather in my soul, and the last ten years being a nimbus cloud in a household of sunshine. Any good fortune I had was probably not due to my grouchiness, but in spite of it. In that moment, I resolved to change."

Positive Psychology :: Martin Seligman :: Global Spiral

Image Credit: 'Sun rays thru hole in clouds taken f...' by (Bill and Mavis)  - B&M Photography via Flickr. Image is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence. Thanks, Sprixi

How to find if someone is interested in you: Look at the eyes...

WISH YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR




If that is all I said, you might probably think I wasted your time, saying practically nothing much.

Well, not so.

There is a bit of a useful how to:

How to find if someone is interested in something: Look at the eyes-

"Recent research suggests that reward cues, in the absence of awareness, can enhance people's investment of physical resources (for an example, see this previous post). Bijleveld et al. make the interesting observation that pupil dilation can reveal strategic recruitment of resources when subliminal reward cues are presented. They make use of the fact that our pupils dilate with sympathetic activity and constrict with parasympathetic activity so that their size can be an unobtrusive measure of the resources invested in a task."

Via Deric Bownds' MindBlog

Now you know.

Image Credit:

'mírame - look at me' by ruurmo via Flickr

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Thanks, Sprixi