How to get out of seasonal depression

In rainy and cold weather, we are more vulnerable to depression than in spring and summer. Short daylight hours and lack of heat, of course, do not improve moods, but the reason is not only a change in external conditions. They are a catalyst for internal processes, says the Tibetan doctor Phuntsog Wangmo. “Depression indicates a violation of inner harmony, the integrity of the human spiritual world,” she says. To understand how to protect yourself from depression, let’s take a closer look at how it occurs. Plus some tips on how to get out of depression.

Three causes of depression

There are three main causes of depression. The first is purely individual, personal. This includes heredity, and negative life experience, and past traumas – both mental and bodily. The second reason is at the intersection of personal and public: poor living conditions, unsettled life. And the third is the cumulative problems of modern society, that is, the world around us in which we live.

In Tibetan medicine, there are two concepts that are most directly related to depression. One of them is “weak heart”: it refers to those of us who easily, literally on every occasion, enter into a state of dejection and sadness. Many of us are also well aware of the state called in Tibetan medicine “cruel morning” – when the whole world is not nice, when we meet the coming day gloomy, hostile and unfriendly. And sometimes this “cruel morning” can last for months, or even years. As a result, we fall into a protracted depression.

The flow of negative information that we are supplied by various media, including social networks, and which we pass through ourselves daily, also contributes to depression.

Method One: Avoid Bad News

The best thing you can do is to protect yourself from harmful influences from the beginning. “With the onset of the cold season, I recommend avoiding annoying and depressing factors,” emphasizes Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo. – Watch less TV, do not sit at the computer on the Internet. And of course, try not to participate in the discussion of political or other negative news. After all, they, as a rule, do not affect your personal life!” The abundance of information accumulated during the day leads to insomnia or chronic lack of sleep: the body falls asleep, but the mind remains in tension, it does not rest during the night. And this is also one of the possible causes of depression.

“At first, when I had just arrived here in the West, I wondered: why do such beautiful, physically strong people experience depression? – says Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo. – These people have a very comfortable life, they have everything – education, work, and a family … I even thought that perhaps they were pretending that maybe talking about depression is just fashionable now, that’s all. But then I realized that people really suffer. Conclusion: the more a person has, the more reasons he has for depression!

The advice she gives us is very simple: learn to see your inner light, to discern it in the darkness of circumstances. “That light can never be extinguished by anyone but yourself,” she says. So enjoy it! And then your phobias will decrease, or even completely healed. Look for moments of happiness in everyday life, sharpen your attention to them. She herself is even glad that there is water in the tap in the kitchen. We take it for granted, but for many people in the world, clean, drinkable water is a great boon.

Method two: find a reason to be grateful

By developing the ability to notice the benefits that we are surrounded by, not just take them for granted, but truly appreciate them, we have at our disposal another means to improve our mood. Which is also the prevention of depression.

In moments of spiritual decline, when depression is still approaching us, Phuntsog Wangmo invites us to remember that:

I am quite or relatively healthy, I have no pain.

Next to me and around me there is no war and cruelty.

It’s warm in my house.

I have such neighbors with whom it is quite possible to coexist as human beings.

There is food in my refrigerator.

“Try to arouse in yourself a feeling of gratitude to those people who live with you, tolerate your shortcomings, forgive you, need you. This feeling will make you peaceful and calm, she notes. – And talk to your friends on pleasant, happy topics! Or just sit alone, meditate.” The basis of such meditation is enjoying what we have, cutting off self-will and desires to get more.

Method three: “warm” diet

The products that we eat, according to Tibetan doctors, affect not only our physical, but also our mental state. Therefore, to improve well-being in the cold season, a special diet is recommended: it should include warm and hot dishes, including boiled vegetables, as well as seasonings that have a warm nature – nutmeg, cardamom. Food should be well cooked or steamed. It is necessary to wear warm clothes, in the evenings to do massages with warm oil.

“One of the causes of depression can be unhealthy kidneys, and in the autumn-winter period they are most at risk,” adds Dr. Wangmo and advises drinking less cold drinks, avoiding potatoes and buckwheat. These products, according to Tibetan teachings, are cold in nature. Frequent use of potatoes in the cold season can weaken the so-called digestive fire, cause phlegm, weighting of the kidneys, gynecological disorders. All this upsets the balance of the body and the inner, spiritual world and therefore can cause depression.

In autumn and winter, it is good to eat green lettuce, vinaigrette, radish. Grated ginger added to hot tea is especially useful. It creates an inner fire that has a positive effect on mood. It is also useful to add sesame oil to food. But for those of us who are predisposed to seasonal depression, Dr. Wangmo does not recommend eating carrots and cabbage in cold weather.

In cold weather, we should take care to nourish not only the body, but also the soul in an appropriate way. “Avoid loud music, discos,” concludes Phuntsog Wangmo. In a difficult period, you need calmness, a quiet pleasant melody, slow dances.