I haven't been feeling so great lately. I will be the first to admit that I have been eating things which are not raw, and even a few things which are not vegan. Probably doesn't help. I think looking for work is another challenge.

I am doing my best to be optimistic, but I think there has to be something I need more than that. Its late fall/early winter, so light is probably an Issue. Finding meaningful work is another. Is there some vital nutrient(s) which people tend to be missing, or something that people eat which shouldn't be eaten? Which tends to produce depression, lack of energy, unsocial tendancies? It could very well be just part of who I am. But I always wanted to be more social, outgoing, bubbly etc...thats what a lot of people think of as being a good person. I may not get to bubbly, I don't even know if I want to be honest, but I do want to be more energetic, and feel connected more. I don't know if this makes sense. Maybe food will do it, maybe food has nothing to do with it.

hi
sorry to hear your feeling that way...i have to say that im in the same boat ; i feel terribly down at this time of the year (usually after the time change) and in the past i would take antidepressants during the winter months but i defenitely dont plan on resorting to those THIS time around!!
I DO think that food has something to do with it but im sure that theres more to it... if anyone has ideas i would love to hear them as well

I hear you. Opinion: Your GOALS will do it. Your outside circumstance will never tell you FULLY who you really are. That includes people....feelings....thoughts.....situations.....etc.

-More sunglight can't hurt. Remember: When you are pursuing YOUR most passionate dreams.....even the most horrible events are just fuel in the rocket....and can be ACCEPTED. This liberates their stuck energy....do you follow?

Tip: Engage in service work...that you can sink your soul into.....which will liberate you from your 'self'.

-What would happen if you no longer felt bad ABOUT feeling bad? If it could be fully accepted?

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

hey mislu ... what david Z says about the service or volunteer work is a great idea ..anytime that i have found myself without a job i did volunteer and the networking alone from that always found me a new job ..

in 25 years of working i can honestly say all but 2 jobs i evergot was from coldcalling resume type ...the rest were through leads through friends , family or networking contacts

and it makes you feel good to help others

back in october you said you were embracing the time to work on your healing ..well part of the healing is acceptence

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

i like what davey mason and jgunn says

really nice and nicely put

i fake and bake in the sunless months if i feel down. a visit to the elecrtic beach costs me $5 and 5minutes once or twice a week and cheers me right up.

gabriel cousins has a terrific book called depression free for life which i highly recommend. and the book Loving What Is by byron katie really, really helped me to see things in a new light. i can't recommend that book enough.

oh, and sex helps too. don't mean to be crude, it works. exercise in general, but sex in particular.

feel better.

Hi Mislu--
Coco mentioned exercise, and I find that's a really helpful option in combatting stress and depression. I find in late fall I feel a little off at first, due to the lack of sunlight, but if I get a good workout in every day I feel fine in no time at all.

Even going out for a long walk will do it-- doesn't necessarily have to be super-high intensity. Another possibility is yoga. I've started doing hatha yoga again, and getting the blood moving, internal organs stimulated and muscles worked by a good yoga routine makes you feel like you've just had a soothing massage; you just glow all over.

Hope you feel much better soon and find your dream job too!

Sharrhan:


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Mislu...Sorry to hear about you feeling sad... I feel the same way when this colder weather comes along... a few things that help me get through:

- Walk everyday in the sunshine for an at least a 1/2 hour. I am up here in Canada and no matter how cold it gets, I MAKE myself do this.

- Are you getting your Omega 3 oils... you should be taking these every day.

- If you are indulging in cooked food, please make it is healthy. If I indulge in cooked, I make sure it is steamed veggies or a baked potato.

David's suggestion about volunteering is awesome... you will feel so empowered by helping other people and will get your mind off your own problems. Also too, make sure you get out every day to look for jobs. Sitting a home on the couch would just add to the depression.

Good luck!

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I made myself get up a little earlier this morning. I just want to sleep, I had no idea. Then maybe I need the sleep? I don't think so, because usually the extra sleep makes me feel more tired, not more refreshed. Good volunteer work sounds like it would be helpful, especially if its outdoors for awhile. I just looked outside, it looks like 'lord of the rings' out there when frodo got attacked by a spider. I halfway expect to see gollum out there...precious. Its not really that bad. I just like comic relief via going to the extreme imagination.

Cool...I just noticed my fingers seem more fleshy, usually I have very bony fingers. Maybe its not depression, maybe I really do need more rest. Could my body be doing stuff?

Sometimes from inside the house, it can look pretty bleak outside. but once you're outside it's usually a lot better.

Selenium deficiency is linked to depression (google selenium, depression). Selenium can be difficult to find in raw vegan foods, but just 1 brazil nut supplies 137% of the RDA for selenium (nutritiondata.com).

For me, an ocassional water fast or fruit fast can really help rewind the old batteries, as long as I'm getting everything I need when I'm NOT fasting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2007 08:24PM by suncloud.

When I'm tired, I try to rest.

Depression is a very real, serious matter. Try to take care of yourself. Have as much compassion for yourself as you would have for someone you love. Be good to yourself first.

If service work helps you, do it. If it doesn't, spend that time nurturing and caring for you, exercising, feeding your body mind, and soul in whatever ways are best for you.


Lee

coco is smart

Hi Mislu I understand exactly how you feel, infact I was depressed for the past couple of months, though it was not very severe.
for 3 years prior to raw I suffered a very severe depression, the only thing I can compare it to is Sylvia Plaths experience in The Bell Jar. Once I went raw my mind cleared out so much, but it did not totally wash away all the feelings I had before.
Only in the past month or so have I realized that most of the problems I was having were more external than internal. I turned to nature and found peace. I have been spending more time outside, more time in contemplation, more time in breathing and relaxing and observing her beauty, and her medicine has been working. Perhaps you need to get away and vacation, or just spend alot more time outdoors. Also staying raw really does help. Cooked foods can really fog up your mind, and emotions. Do not feel guilty about what you have and have not done, and why you are not more optomistic and cheerful like everyone else. Maybe subconciously you are sending yourself a message, which can only be received once you tune into yourself. Things will get better, I promise.
All the advice everyone has given is wonderful, especially about charity work and making and keeping goals... sometimes when I am feeling low I realize there is someone worse off and it snaps me out of my funk, it does not fully take it away though. Try the DHA and EPA oils suggested. And also maybe try upping the fruits, and cutting out the fats, this helps to clear the mind.

Whatever you do don't give up, and keep searching inside yourself for the answer, because eventually you will find it.

When I said cut out the fats I meant to exclude The Dha,Epa and omegas, since taking a tablespoon or so of these a day would not count for too high a percentage of fat, plus their effect would deffinately be more beneficial than detrimental.

I was depressed for years. I would have crazy ups and downs, I would have a hard time getting up in the morning. I would feel totally disconnected and shy, and then I would drink to feel social and EVERYTHING was hard to do. Especially getting myself motivated.

I went 100 percent raw two months ago and my depression is completely gone. The only time I've felt a little bit depressed was right around when I got my period,but it only lasted two days.

I think my depression had everything to do with the food I ate, and the way I felt about the food I ate. It was like this awful circle of eat and feel guilty and feel crappy because of all the bad stuff I was polluting my mind with.

Your mind is being damaged by cooked food, just as your body is, sometimes people forget their brain is effected by what they eat too. Its easy to see that your body is effected when you gain weight or break out with pimples, and depression is like that, except your feeling it, not looking at it.

Take care of yourself, you can get out of it!!!!

Mislu, I too hear you. Hope you feel better today.
Volonteering to help others is very effective to uplift one self, then we stop lookink at our problems and most often things around appear with a new perspective.
Blessings
Cynthia

hey mislu!

i feel exactly the same way. i hope you feel better soon.

i think exercise is the key for me. but when i feel down like this, all activity sort of stops for me. like you, i just want to lay in bed. sometimes i wish i could just fall asleep and not wake up! morbid, i know. but this is how i feel now.

thanks for posting. its nice to know that i am not the only raw vegan that falls off the wagon at times due to my emotions.

i think we just have to try to move on and start fresh!

Zeolite (Natural Cellular Defense).

Its negatively charged ions clear away toxins while giving you a warm fuzzy feeling of well-being.

But as the winter months progress and nothing seems to be working, then you need some vitamin D. I learned this last winter - I was baffled as to why even on zeolite I still felt like crap - then someone on here suggested vitamin D (it was January) and it straightened me right out!

pihourova --

Hey, me too. I've been feeling kind of crummy over the last couple of weeks with the onset of fall's darkness, and also perhaps because I've been doing a little too much fasting and cleansing. I fasted on water yesterday and all of a sudden I was just so depressed! I feel fine today though. It's great to know some of us are in this together-- :-) -- makes it easier to cope and climb back out of the pit.

Sharrhan:


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Today was much better. Thank you all for the support. My mood seems to come and go. I tell you that a few days of the vitamin D, and b12 has made a world of difference! I can't yet say that I feel fully alive, but I DO feel less dead! Not totally optimistic, but its an improvement! I'll that that!

Suncloud,Fuzzy socks, Kwan, everyone! I know I missed some..
thank you for the suggestion about selenium. I did a search and found the following:
[www.healthyplace.com]
I didn't know that folate was also connected to depression. It makes sense, I remember feeling the most alive after eating fresh wild greens, which probably have very high amounts of folate, but also a number of other nutrients.

I have been starting to eat some mung beans, i hope this ups the folate. I do eat greens regularly, and fruit daily. But, I don't know if american agriculture produces nutrient dense foods. I have been forgetting to eat spirulina, that would probably help. I wish i had a big bowl of miners lettuce, that really makes me feel supper alive. Also fresh osoberries, or Indian plums. The wild foods are available so briefly...darn!

I have been saying written prayers, they seem to be helping. I generally consider myself to be non-religious, but I have come accross a very positive religion, which was quite unexpected for me. I don't think I am ready to convert, as I don't know the whole story. but It enough for me to try for a few weeks and see what happens. They end up being more like a mediation.

Yay, Mislu! I'm happy for you. :-) Hope you feel better and better! (And in the meantime, have a beautiful weekend.)

Sharrhan:


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Kwan,
I sent you a private message. i am not sure if it went. it was quite lengthy. Have a great one also!

hi...depression is always caused by wrong thinking. Turn your thoughts to good thoughts . Every time you think a negative thought..you will start to feel bad. Stop it in its tracks. Also..walk every day for at least an hour fast and look around you at the colours and the beauty that you see and be thankful. When you feel happy inside..you will become the person you should be.....Linda

How ironic! I was listening to a Russian Music CD to get energized and feel upbeat. I just learned that the name of the album is "sad Tales" by "Vistors from the future". I could be way off, my russian is really bad. Does anyone here speak and read russian?
Here is a sample of their music.

[www.youtube.com]

It sounds pretty upbeat, but then again I don't know what is being sung. But, then again there are a number of songs on the album which do sound pretty 'serious'. I guess it could be that I have some distance from my own emotions. What do you think of the sample above? Does it sound serious or sad? What about the images presented? It sort of looks 'mock serious'. It might be even better if you don't understand russian, just listening to the general music and looking at the body language. I find it funny listening to the *BEEP* word. Censorship in Russia, well what did I expect?!!

Wow, I think I don't understand russian as well as I thought. The images are much more racy than i envisioned from just listening to the music. Its funny, but in this video, she looks a lot like one of the raw foodists which posts here. I won't identify! But its a good thing, shes a pretty lady. I looks so much like here, i wonder if it IS her!
[www.youtube.com]

Now this one is definately serious!
[www.youtube.com]
Now, this one I did actually visualize some street fight, or drug deal or something. I just watched the glass shatter, you don't hear that on my cd version. But the images are pretty dark.Truely a sad tale.

Some people are singing another song from the album. It sorta sounds like the same song, but of course the band sings it better. I think they are making fun of it. Singing it way faster than the original.
[www.youtube.com]

I'm really enjoying going through the videos. I found a number of songs I never heard. I find this one incredibly romanic.
[www.youtube.com]
What incredible talent. I can see why the band is a best seller on Russian charts. I never knew how popular they are.

Well, sorry to get so far off of raw foods, and so self involved in russian pop music. I just hope you all like it! I can listen to this over and over all evening.

Hi Linda,

:-)

I believe what Zen teaches: that the full range of emotions, including sometimes feeling sad, depressed, or anxious, are all okay and natural. They come and go; it's unnautral to try to exert undue control over them or blame yourself over them. Denying them doesn't work as well for me as letting them move through me like waves. They are part of life, and life is not all positive all the time, despite our fervent desire that it be so.

Sharrhan:


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Hi Mislu,

When things get bad I have found that making one doable goal a day and then doing it helps. For instance, vow to wash your car (if you have one) or something you think you can reasonably accomplish.

This way at the end of the day if you are not feeling like a million bucks at least you will have accomplished SOMEthing. But do make it something you can do because if you dont do it you will likely feel bad again.

Hey, if you are really feeling down just start by vowing to clip your toenails or something. At least you will have done that, right!

Good luck, better days ahead

Kit

eat light (not less!), and exercise for a few days in a row and see how you feel.

Kit--
That works for me too when I'm feeling blah or down. I make myself do the wash, clean up the bathroom, do a workout at the gym, make some phone calls I've been putting off, simple stuff like that. Then I feel a lot better and usually by the next morning, if not sooner, I feel really good again.

Sharrhan:


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Hey Mislu!---
I tried to PM you but your inbox is full.

Kwan