March 27, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

“You're gonna' be nowhere, the loneliest kind of lonely.
It may be rough going;
Just to do your thing's the hardest thing to do.

“But you've gotta' make your own kind of music,
Sing your own special song.
Make your own kind of music
Even if nobody else sings along.”

Mama Cass – Make Your Own Kind of Music

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 26, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

Trees can bring you joy. Plant them. Decorate with photos and paintings of them. Have picture books of trees on your coffee table.

HERE are some traditional associations with trees, according to House Beautiful.

Olive – peace
Oak – power and courage
Palm – peace (the trunk bends w/out breaking)
Birch – new beginnings
Elm – intuition and inner strength
Maple – sense of balance and promise
Cedar – healing
Japanese Maple – peaceful retreat

Like most evergreens, you might think of a fir as a Christmas tree. However, it is a symbol of rebirth and springtime.

Other trees that symbolize happiness:

Cherry, wild plum, wild pear, myrtle, wild apple and fig.

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 25, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

Depression is not about what's going on in your life, it's about how you think about what's going on in your life.

Catching self-abusing thoughts and turning them into rational assessments of a situation is key.

Try to remember to react to automatic thoughts with rational responses, and write it down: list automatic thoughts on the left half of a piece of paper and the rational response to each thought on the right side.

Even when you're so depressed you can't see the solution, try this technique, pioneered by David D. Burns, whose books are fundamentals in the field of depression.

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 24, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

HERE is a yoga YouTube channel, Yoga with Kassandra, with truly easy stretches, breathing exercises, yoga tutorials, and more. Kassandra is down-to-earth and clear, and her exercises are super-doable.

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 23, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

“In the eye of a hurricane
There is quiet
For just a moment.
A yellow sky.

When I was seventeen a hurricane
Destroyed my town.
I didn’t drown.
I couldn’t seem to die.

I wrote my way out”.

– from Hamilton

Journal.

Make lists of things you've accomplished.

Write automatic thoughts and then rational responses to them (David D. Burns). Write down the automatic thought depressing you right now – not what you are feeling but what you are thinking. Then write down a rational response to that automatic thought.

Write your way out.

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 22, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

Sit with the wind and see if you can feel its energy, its freedom and unpredictability. It brings messages. Listen for them. Hear the lessons of nature, of the eternal breath.

It is the breath of life, the wind of change. Anything is possible. You can change. You can become whatever you dream. The answer is blowing in the wind.

“It is also the intangible, the transient, the insubstantial and the elusive. Winds serve as messengers of the gods and can indicate the presence of divinity. Cirlot notes that it is held to be the primary Element (of the four elements earth, air, water and fire) by virtue of its connection with the creative breath of exhalation. Jung in Symbols of Transformation points out that in Arabic (and paralleled by the Hebrew) the word “ruh” signifies both “breath” and “spirit.””

– from Symbolism.org

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 21, 2020

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

Get help.

“Coaches have a vital role to play here. They can help their athletes process what is going on, discuss their feelings, try to come up with ways to make the seniors feel special – even if they never play another game. I promise you, coaches are already doing this.

“Something else coaches are doing – they're checking on their athletes who they know can be in vulnerable positions. As soon as Governor Roy Cooper announced the statewide closure of schools, I saw numerous coaches on Twitter offering to help kids get food and meals, bring them school supplies, help them find Internet connections, or offer other types of help as needed.”

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 20, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

In the Northern Hemisphere it is now officially Spring!

The days are getting longer and the sun seems warmer (when it's not raining).

Take advantage of this and grab some of nature's antidepressants. Take a walk, get some fresh air, sit in the sun! Plant flowers or pick flowers for your dining room table.

Celebrate Spring!

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com  

March 19, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

“Pandemics are unlike other disasters due to their broad scope and prolonged, fluctuating timeline. COVID-19 (caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus) is shaping up to be unlike prior coronavirus infections, impacting multiple organ systems, not just the lungs, causing widespread problems related to blood clotting abnormalities and inflammatory reactions.

“In particular, the virus crosses the blood-brain barrier, resulting in myriad neuropsychiatric problems ranging from depression and anxiety to psychotic reactions to delirium and cerebrovascular accidents (strokes) to chronic executive dysfunction. The mental health impact of COVID-19 is of increasing concern. In addition to the direct effects on the brain, the COVID-19 pandemic is causing unprecedented psychological distress, threatening a “crashing wave” of mental health problems.”

COVID-19 presents a unique array of depression symptoms, collectively known as COVID Stress Syndrome. Mention to your doctor or psychologist if you think you're suffering from anxiety or depression or any mental health effects of COVID – not of “having” COVID, but of coping in a world where fearing and guarding against COVID is a daily reality.

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com