Tuesday 1 May 2012

Living with Depression

None of us are born with the tools required to live life to its fullest.

Whether it be in the area of marriage, parenting, grieving, or in any of the many and complex regions of our human condition, there is always something more for us to learn and apply.

A number of years ago when we introduced the "Marriage Course" in our parish, as the pastor, I sat in on the first course, to make sure that it contained the material and resources that I thought was required. It was and is an excellent course on developing better relationships in marriage. I did the course by myself, and my own marriage improved!!

My point in sharing that story, is that none of us are above learning how to improve our relationships, and none of us are above learning tools that can help us better cope with the very natural and normal conditions and experiences of being human.

The same thing happened when we introduced the parenting course 3 or 4 years ago. In facilitating the course, I learned things about parenting that I wish had known when my children were younger. Again, none us are above learning and becoming better equipped with the tools to better live our lives.

It is when we lack the cognitive, spiritual and practical tools to cope with life, that is when stress and anxiety can become overwhelming and debilitating.

Another area of life where we can be helped along and learn more coping tools is in the area of depression.

Depression is in every family. A lot of it is natural and normal and can be dealt with with understanding support and cognitive and spiritual tools;  a smaller percentage of depression is more acute and may have to be dealt with with medication.

Tonight, Tuesday, May 1, the parish of the Resurrection in South River will be introducing a 4 week course on living with Depression (a Holy Trinity Brompton resource).

The topics for this evening will include: a historical look at depression; the current view of depression; the most important things to remember about depression; and pictures of depression.

None of us are above learning more about how to live a better life.
Let us encourage one another to seek out and plug in to caring communities.
And let us become better equipped to live a more abundant life.

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