create an "anti-depression, get-up-and-live-your life" toolkit

“You were sick, but now you’re well again, and there’s work to do.”

If repeating that fifty times to myself didn’t get me off my butt and in gear today, I don’t know what did. So I guess this quote is the first thing in my toolkit…

Thanks, Kurt Vonnegut.

And it consists of one item: I meditate. I let go, and remind myself that none of this matters. It’s not easy to do, but I’ve had plenty of practice over the past few years, and the constantly reminding myself to come back to the present moment is working. I can feel it. And when I get carried away, as all people tend to do, I find it takes me less and less time to return to what really matters.

Here is a great quote:

“We make so much of other people, we reify them as deities or devils, tell ourselves big stories or little stories of their triumphs or tragedies, divide them into somebodies and nobodies, but they and all of us are soon gone, for all the trouble we caused or the beauty we brought into the world.” -Jon Kabat-Zinn (Coming To Our Senses)

my moods are nothing to be happy about; one minute up the next down; i must be mental. i need to make this kit and fast!

it’s times like these that i think i should have done it already :(

Here’s the new list

Blue Cards

1. Take forty deep breaths
2. Wash your hair and put on nice clothes
3. Fill someone’s bucket
4. Blow up six balloons
5. Wake up early
6. Exercise
7. Call Latifah, Mom, or Danny
8. Stick to a schedule
9. Write a gratitude list
10. Write a note and mail it
11. Take your meds
12. Meditate
13. Treat yourself
14. Clean a room
15. Stretch for ten minutes
16. Vacuum

Purple Cards

• Read a chapter from Exuberance: The Passion for Life or The Happiness Hypothesis
• Find an animal and massage it
• Memorize a poem
• Give someone a neck rub
• Sketch a Perfect 10 girl
• Decorate two of the cards in this deck
• Do Yoga
• Draw a picture of someone I love
• Blow bubbles
• Go on the internet and learn about something new
• Create a clay sculpture
• Draw a tattoo
• Take a walk in the woods
• Listen to a beautiful song and memorize the melody
• Watch the “nine emotions” clip on the Yoga Shakti DVD
• Sit in the sun
• Add to my story

• What is the problem? What is the outcome you hope for? What are five ways to get there?
• How will I feel about this ten years from now?
• What’s the worst that could happen?

It was fun drawing illustrations for my little “get out of a slump” box.