Jan 26, 2021
Depression — The Cure
Children know it.
The cure for depression is easy and simple; it is purpose. All that is required is to observe preverbal children. They can’t do depression.
Being active physically towards goals ensures mental vibrancy. Being active mentally towards goals is not enough on its own and must be augmented with the physical movement. Preverbal children are innately motivated by the experience of difference and will actively, physically, pursue it. Without language all they have are their sensory representations; seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling, moving. Without the secondary model of language to impose on experience they entertain the Universe through sensory representation alone without any motivation to ‘talk’ about it.
That internal dialogue can become a world unto itself and I can ‘talk’ myself into something and ‘talk’ myself out of something. As a consultant in Neuro-Linguistic Programming I recognise the process by which I can ‘talk’ myself out of doing, physically doing. I know my clients have done the same.
I can represent a future and then think about how unpleasant it would be thus turning myself off from that endeavour having created a seemingly lifelike representation of it and adding unpleasant feelings to it such as ‘What’s the point?’
Although I said it was easy and simple, how can I be motivated naturally to pursue this physicalness? This is where I know to encourage myself to access childlike states of mind where purpose and motivation are innate. The doing always results in the experience of difference and newness through my senses rather than just a re-presentation in my imagination. Imagination is the motivation to move and yet I can also use it to motivate me to stay still which will result in deterioration of my mind.
The key, then, is the state of mind. That state of mind is a childlike state of mind. It is generated by the absence of internal dialogue and the welcoming of movement and sensual experience even when it can be uncomfortable because the rewards are so much greater. It’s fun to get dirty on occasion, right?
I will give you an example. I imagined what it would be like driving my favourite sports car; a Lotus Elise. I imagined opening the door, sliding onto the seat, depressing the clutch, putting the gearbox into neutral, firing up the engine, engaging first, holding the steering wheel and accelerating up the road. And then… I started talking to myself. What if it’s not as good as I hope it would be? What if it is a complete let down? What if it’s boring? Where would I go from there? Man! The future seems so boring and lifeless!
And that self ‘talk’ motivating me to be still and not pursue that sensual experience, that sensual delight, was deleterious to my mind.
What I do with my clients is acknowledge that depression is a communication from self to self that is saying, ‘I’m not feeling and seeing and hearing and smelling and tasting and moving with all the things I want to do.’ I then use Neuro-Linguistic Programming with bilateral movement and hypnosis to help them access the childlike state. In that childlike state of mind the choice to move and experience the sensual delights that life has to offer comes naturally and easily.
I can’t force people to choose vibrancy over depression, nor do I want to. But accessing the childlike state of mind makes it so much easier. It’s easy and simple.
