3 Mind Care Tips on Conquering The Winter Blues

Believe it or not, there is scientific evidence to support the validity to the cliché known as “Winter Blues.” The clinical terminology for those suffering from depression caused by the “Winter Blues” during the winter holiday season is known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

The 411 of it all is that sunlight helps our body to produce and maintain healthy levels of serotonin. Without healthy levels of serotonin one may experience unexplainable upsets, inappropriate social behavior, suppressed appetites, poor digestion, lack of sleep, memory failure, and low to no sex drive. More specific SAD symptoms include lethargy, lack of motivation and suicide ideology.

Although we can not control the presence of the sun or lack thereof from fall to winter, what we can control is our perception of these potentially dark and dreary months. Below, I have used the letters S A D to create an acronym to help you remember the 3 TIPS to conquering the Winter Blues if and when these undesireable moods attempt to get the best of you.

SURRENDER to your current reality. We spend so much time attempting to resist what is real and blatantly right in front of our faces. We have been brainwashed to believe positive thinking is the access to creating alternative realities. At Mindology Fitness ™ we are all for being positive in life, but we are far more committed to being authentically related to our reality. Unfortunately, some people are so consumed with being positive that it puts them in a state of denial and resistance. Physics proves, what we resist will persist. However, when we choose to surrender to the reality of our situations – as uncomfortable as it may be, we can then place ourselves in power positions to see “what is so” and from that pristine perspective, we can then create, “what can truly be.”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT is a powerful weapon against depression. When we are depressed, the ability to acknowledge what we have and what we are thankful for will instantly shift our vibrational frequency from grief to gratitude. Once we can vibrate at a frequency of gratitude, we remove ourselves from the de-pressed space that wants to keep us stopped and stuck. The state of “depression” has much to do with an unconscious desire to move backward “de-press” as opposed to moving forward. This happens because what is in our future is not inspiring and so to protect ourselves from more disappointments, we “de-press” instead of “pressing-forward”. Again, acknowledgment is one of the most powerful weapons against depression because not only does it get you present to what you are grateful for, getting present keeps you in the here and now and being in the moment keeps you out of the past where depression is born, and it keeps you out of the future which has yet to be born.

DESIGN your time. No one knows what works best for you,better than you. If the winter season has impacted you negatively in the past, it is vital for you to make a physical list (as opposed to just a mental list ) of spaces, places, people and things that simply did not work for you last season. Beside each item on the list, it is important to create two alternative solutions that might prevent that experience from ever happening again.

For example: Spending Christmas eve alone.

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS #1

Attend MeetUp, Community or Spiritual event with like-minded people for a celebratory experience.

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION #2

Be of service and volunteer at an Orphanage, Homeless Shelter, Church or another place where your time will be appreciated, and you will feel valued.

The point is to design & “Pre-Plan” ahead because it is impossible for

DEPRESSION to exist in an INSPIRING FUTURE.

#beatwinterblues #mindologyfitness