DAWN 2

It happened! Remember I mentioned on my last post that I woke up at a normal time, passing over the 4 am and 5 am visits by the Black Hole? Well..... this morning I not only by-passed those wake-up times, waking to my alarm, but I also actually felt rested! This is the first time in months that this has happened. I always wake up feeling just as tired as when I went to bed. AND I didn't feel as depressed as usual. I didn't just jump out of bed, by any means, but I did feel like it would be worth it to get up. Praise the Lord! And thank the Lord for Dr. Nedley's depression recovery program. Also, my sweet Mark gave me a lullaby treatment of relaxing massage and then reading to me from the Bible until I fell asleep. This is a wonderful breakthrough after years of dreading to go to bed, knowing that I'd only have to wake up again.

The more I learn about how to reprogram the frontal lobe of the brain and reverse depression/anxiety, the more I'm learning about myself. By the way, I really DON'T like talking about myself. In fact, that's one thing that I believe has prevented my own healing earlier is that I don't want to concentrate on myself. But when I committed to going through this program, I promised myself to concentrate on ME so that I can be well. And then I will be able to do what I really want to do..... concentrate on others. And do it with a sound mind and healthy emotions. I've wasted entirely too much life trying to deal with life using a defective brain. What a waste! Anyway, something I'm noticing is that I'm not freaking out inside when I speak up about something important to me. Usually, I end up fearing that I've offended or hurt someone by my words, and then go back and try to "fix" it. Invariably, the person assures me that they weren't even aware of what I was worried about. It was just part of my distorted thinking pattern in that way. But now, I am feeling that hold being released and my confidence is being restored.

Okay, so now I'm feeling that I need to quit talking about myself... So, I'll talk about God instead. PRAISE. That's something that has really been helping. Praise is not the same thing as "positive thinking". Positive thinking is not that helpful in my experience. It seems rather hollow in its effect because it so often seems to be simply the chanting of something that you wish to be true, but you know isn't. But praise is something different. Praise is stating something positive that is actually true. And the more I do it, the more I want to. For example, it's a hot day today. I could say, "I'm sick of this heat!" (negative comment) Or I could say, "I love this heat!" (positive thinking comment, which isn't true). OR I could say, "It's really hot today, but not long ago I was sitting in a cold classroom wishing for summer. So I'm grateful for this warm day of no coat or mittens." Do you see the difference? Anyway, that's one of the things I'm practicing. It may sound pretty elementary, but just try it and see how much better you feel. And it's also rather liberating to take hold and reprogram your thought processes. Power!