sunshine... lots and lots of sunshine...

V.

Thank you very much for the suggestion, staying at the sun is something I definitely need to do more.

feel better hun...

V.

Am doing my best ^^;

I agree with Vixy. But combine that with friends, maybe a park, good food, and music. Something fun and memory-making.

Thank you very much for the suggestions, going to a park sounds appealing, will try that on my next day off. Friends and fun times are missing lately though it is mostly my own fault ^^;.

I do art or listen to music

Oh, me too! I actually do both of these at the same time x3. Thank you for the suggestion, any music you would like to share?

Die Antwoord has a big instrumental album wich is quite interesting

Also all sorts of metal ^^

Yay for metal!

I grab my camera and go somewhere to take pictures. It doesn't change things, but it keeps my mind off of whatever is bothering me.

That is interesting, I never considered photography as a form of theraphy, but I can see why it would help. Guess I'll need to check if my old camera still works ^^;. Thank you for the suggestion =).

Watch Whose line is it anyway or live concert clips from a band you like

Woo, time to take the dust off that old Pink Floyd: Pulse, dvd. Thanks for thr suggestion ^^;

There ya go, ha. Good choice

I usually go for Queen vids

I need to listen more to Queen, though for now I'll avoid Bohemian Rapisody as it hits me in the feels more than I want ^^;.

I think you should haha.
Here's one of my fav live clips if you're interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVzvoPP6M50

Thank you! Will watch <3

Several things.
1. The few true friends I have. I cherish them.
2. Little projects I work on in my shop.
3. A certain little raccoon.

Bunners

Thank you for the suggestions dear, I really need to try getting in touch with some old friends and putting personal projects back on the tracks, and of course, finding some time to reply to a few messages ^^;.

Friends, games, naughtiness, a walk...

Not so sure about the naughtiness part but all the others seem really good to me, specially walking, it always helps ^^;. Thank you for the suggestions ^^;.

and chocolate. doesn't help much, and expands your tummy, but it distracts for a while.

also, they claim something in chocolade makes one happy. maybe they are correct... :) it's better than alcohole, anyway.

:O almost forgot about chocolate, it is been a while that I am not eating sweets ^^;.

Don't worry because I can't afford enough chocklit to start getting chubby xD.

Looks like chocolate has some psychic-hormonal effects related to pleasure so it might help. Thanks for the suggestion ^^;.

I could ship you some good stuff, if you think your postal service will leave something of it for you... XD

Pretty sure I'd only get the empty box ^^;

They would probably "test the quality" for my "safety" >.>

yeah.

First you have to understand that Happiness and Contentment come from within you. They many times go hand in hand. A quote I use a lot as a reminder is "If you are not happy in this season, for what season do you wait?"

With that said, you are right, you have to change things around. You have to change your state of mind. Go for a walk, look for all the beauty that is out there. Pet the local dog... it will make you both feel better. If the sun is out go for a walk in it, enjoy the sun on your face. Get out and about even if it's raining, greet people with a smile and a joyful greeting. Up lift your actions, they will up lift you along the way.

Act in a joyful way and joy will follow. Fake it till you make it applies here. You subconscious takes what YOU feed it and makes it real for you. It's all about working and changing the now... because it's the only thing you have to work with, so full it with as much joy and happiness so you can make the most of it.

Wow, best comment ever, thank you very much.

I'd say things went to a point I am not waiting for any "golden times", just keep pushing day by day in this comfortable numbness but as you can imagine, it is no longer comfortable.

Breaking the pattern while you've been into it for years is difficult so here I am asking for ideas ^^;.

All your suggestions are valid and I'll try putting them to practice, being joyful will be quite a challenge as my education only taught me to be practical, sober and hard working, not enough room for emotions to show in such a model ^^;.

Thank you very much again.

You are welcome. By the way don't try. You do, or you do not, there is no try. By using try you set yourself up for failure. It comes back to your subconscious mind... what you feed it is what it will give you. You may do things ten twenty times and don't go as plan you may want to see you have failed. You failed only if you think of it as a failure... If you take the mind set of: that didn't seem to work this time, how can I improve on what I did right? And what do I do to make it work next time? Again it's fake it till you make it. It's all about making ground, some times it's seems like just a little bit was gained other times it's it's going to be YES I did that!

There will be times you will feel line you are pushing on a wall, the fact is you are pushing on a wall of your own making. You keep working at it by bring positive and upbeat soon the wall give way and there is NO WALL. You have to reprogram your subconscious mind by rewriting the software with your actions and thoughts.

If I can do this, I know you can too. It took me about five to years to learn what I had been doing to myself and how I had been slowly killing my soul with many tiny cuts... all done by me.

I agree, try is a language vice that we should pay more attention, in this case I meant to say I'll be working towards the goal. Being stubborn helps in that as I keep "trying" till the thing works ^^;. Faking till making it sounds appealing, it can help preparing the field for success, when faking won't be necessary. Will keep that in mind.

Programming the mind while a bit weird to imagine is a good way of putting it, habbits are nothing more than procedures we train ourselves to do. Irony is that I've been writting software for a living for ages *giggles*.

Thank you very much for all the support and encouragement, it is good to hear that it is possible to overcome such struggles with the right amount of effort. I am also glad to hear you made it and is in a hopefully much better situation ^.^

Oh I still run into my down times but they don't weeks on end. They last half an hour maybe, the mind shifts gears to change the outcome.

I'm glad to hear what I have shared has found a home within you.

music, meeting with friends and immersion in beautiful worlds. Well, creativity, really.
for now: I would love to sit with you over a beer, or a cup of tea)

Thank you very much for the suggestions, creativity and music are already checked, guess I'll just need the friends now ^^;.

Thank you very much for your suggestions and kindness, a cup of tea would be great ^.^

So sorry you're feeling down dude, what cheers me up is doing things I enjoy doing such as fishing, going on a nature walk or hike, shooting my bow, or if I'm really down watching funny videos on youtube

Other than that music really helps a lot for me too, a nice bubbly song or one to lighten the mood helps, but my go-to is nature walks and funny videos XD

Hope this helps and wishing you the best! I hope you get your spirits up soon!

Thank you very much for the suggestions, the funny youtube stuff helped a bit, I love spending time in the outdoors but for the last 5 years I've been a prisoner of the concrete jungle, art is my escape and one reason why I favor tribal scenes and natural environments ^^;.

Is there any song you'd like to recommend? I am always up for expanding my playlist =).

Oh absolutely I feel you there, being in that concrete jungle would be very depressing for me as well! We all need to escape and relax a bit, I’m glad you have art and nature to look to for it! As far as music goes, I’m a big 90’s lover all the pop hits and dance songs from then is usually what I listen to and go to as it reminds me of the days where everything seemed less hectic and more fun for me (such is the way of child life lol).

For specific songs I go with: Len “Steal my sunshine”, Chumbawamba “Thubthumping”, Quad City DJs “Come on N ride it (the train)”, and pretty much any upbeat songs from the 90s. There’s a ton of good ones and I’m sure everyone knows a bunch but for me, the upbeat dance songs are what I listen to when I’m down. Hope this helps!

Music, friends, the countryside. Breaking any normal patterns and doing something different is helpful.

Yes! Breaking patterns is what I've been looking for, we can't expect different results by doing the same recipe over and over. Thank you very much for the suggestions ^^;.

I'm going to be honest here, my friend. I was once suicidal several years ago and while I do quite well now, I don't think that sort of darkness will ever fully go away. I will always carry a sliver of that with me and I hope it is not, in fact, a seed.
What helped was a couple things: doing things to feel useful and completing things. Completing things means making small projects like art or cleaning and seeing them through.
Send a note, you have support, you have a place.

Thank you very much for sharing a bit of your story, I am glad to hear you managed to overcome these dark moments in your life. To me we need to have our inner demons to help us staying alert but we can't allow them to take over.

Don't worry because suicide is not on my plans, I realized that I have quite a morbid curiosity to see how far I can go so I wouldn't dare interrupting the show, the worse it might be.

Thanks also for the suggestions and kindness, completing things and feeling useful will definitely help.

I need to sort a few things internally but I'll be writing to you. Your experience is greatly appreciated ^.^

Please do. Whatever form a darkness takes, a path to some sort of healing and feeling better is a long one with no single and simple solution and it often takes other people to help.

Do you see the trend here? You asked a question because you were feeling down, and so many friends responded because they want to help.

What does that tell you? These people care about you, you're important to them!

I see, and couldn't feel more grateful, I wasn't expecting so many messages and kindness and good suggestions. You folks are really really amazing.

Writing does it for me. Writing, off roading, being around my dogs. Mostly we just have to endure it, though, until it goes away or the answer is revealed. For me, I have a lot of very wrong thinking from my child hood that really screwed me up emotionally and it caused a ton of horrible emotions and hopeless feelings. It's awful to have to go back and tear apart the things you had to do to survive, the things that used to bring you joy, only to find out that they were unhealthy and that you have to start all over. But like someone once said, depression is a sign that something is wrong. I find that only God can lead us to the answers.

I used to keep a journal of thoughts but eventually stopped, might be a good idea to go back to it. These days art is what helps me vent but it is impossible to vent all the feelings away, some always remain.

Sorry to hear you had a hard time during your childhood, here things have always been difficult with not much to look for. In such context I learned to be productive and hardworking but this doesn't leave much room for emotion to show.

After several years in this pattern guess it is time to try changing it ^^;.

When it comes to beliefs, I used to be religious but I grew sick of the institutions and how people behaved, trying to control others rather than focusing on self-growth. Today I keep some beliefs and rituals, but only the ones that help me be patient and deal with life's challenges.

Hey, I used to, too. Keep notes on my spiritual progress. Yes, I agree with you, feelings remain that we have to deal with. I find myself in "Spiritual pain" which can be crippling... And all I can do is suffer through it until the answer is found. I find that life has cycles, and we are brought to various lessons, some very painful, over and over until we learn the lesson we are supposed to learn.

Hard work can actually be healing, if we push through it, but you are right, we are still human, we still have needs and desires, and work focus can keep us shallow and unfulfilled.

Good, change can be very good! I say go for it, there is a tragedy of people staying in places they are miserable and never trying to find something else, something better.

I am a Christian, and I can admit that many of the institutions and people have really turned me off. But, the truth is that God created me, and my relationship is with Him. I still go to church, yes it is not ideal, yes people are flawed everywhere you go, even Christians, but the point is to have a relationship with your Creator. I think the point is to become the person your Creator always wanted you to be, in spite of this broken and fallen world.

I know that I used to be a pretty bad person, because of the abuse, but God has turned me into the guy He wanted me to be, and ironically, this guy I am becoming is the happiest, most well adjusted guy I have ever been, so there are many benefits to it.