Virginia Is For Families

Winter can be bleak and those who are susceptible to depression can find themselves going over the edge this time of year.  Factors that are often mentioned are the lack of light and holiday expectations.  People are confronted with childhood memories as they gather with their families.  They have a chance to reflect on their lives.  And there is a lot of flu and other sickness going around this time of year.

All of these things can contribute to an attack of depression.  The warning sign I notice is the feeling that it is too difficult to do the most basic kinds of things.   Going to the store is a major task.  Boxing up a return item from Christmas is beyond my capacity.  Fortunately I am aware of these things and know how to take measures to combat this illness.   It’s really not very difficult to avert a major attack when life is going along in a fairly normal fashion.

There is medication but there are also other avenues to take that will help when there is less light outside and a dark shadow trying to creep into the soul.

I cannot say enough about the joy of taking photos with a camera that is capable of capturing the essence of a subject or scene. If there is not much light and color available in the back yard we can at least find it in the photos we have taken in the past year.

There are also photos that will bring back wonderful memories. There are photos that have brought notice and wonderful comments. And there are photos that simply remind us that this world can be a beautiful place in its finer moments.

Getting up early in the morning when all is still quiet and looking for something new in the photo gallery is an excellent way to start the day. I often will find something that has been overlooked and post it to Flickr. Then if someone finds it interesting I will post it here and add some words and/or music. In this way I often have a better idea if a WP post is going to be successful before it is published. ( Listening to inspirational music of one sort or another and finding a connection with a photo has been a recent exercise that adds to this experience).

Photography is one way (out of many no doubt) to combat sadness and depression.  And  there are other things to do that are helpful.  Drinking alcohol is not a healthy thing and many of us need to stay far away from it.  Taking walks and breathing in some cold, fresh air can be very helpful.  And learning to express our frustrations  instead of allowing them to just sit inside and grow mold can bring about a very positive change.

Of course this needs to be done in a constructive way.  And some sources of frustration are not going to go away anytime soon.   But voicing them and having someone who will  listen and appreciate our struggles while offering encouragement is better than all the Christmas presents in the world.

Beth does this for me and I love her for it.  We have just spent our tenth Christmas together and while it wasn’t much fun being sick it was a joy to be around someone who is a powerful source of health and well being.

We do this for each other and I hope that you have someone who does it for you.   In a world that seems so concerned about physical fulfillment of one sort or another not much is said about the emotional support that couples can offer each other.    But it really is more important and young couples often need it desperately as they try to build lives together.

All of this comes to mind as  I close the door on a challenging illness and start looking  forward to a fresh start and a new year.  Set goals for yourself and expect some defeats as well as some victories  along the way.  If you are lonely and/or  depressed discover and deal with the sources of both.

You can do it.   There is an infinite well of healing power within you.  Allow yourself to be open to it.   Drown your sorrows in it and drink from it every day.  Fight back.

Never surrender to the darkness.

George Harrison

Play Wah Wah

03-wah-wah

Wah-wah
Youve given me a wah-wah
And Im thinking of you
And all the things that we used to do
Wah-wah, wah-wah

Wah-wah
You made me such a big star
Being there at the right time
Cheaper than a dime
Wah-wah, youve given me your wah-wah, wah-wah

Oh, you dont see me crying
Oh, you dont hear me sighing

Wah-wah
I dont need no wah-wah
And I know how sweet life can be
If I keep myself free from the wah-wah
I dont need no wah-wah

Oh, you dont see me crying
Hey baby, you dont hear me sighing
Oh, no no-no no

Wah-wah
Now I dont need no wah-wahs
And I know how sweet life can be
If I keep myself free – of wah-wah
I dont need no wah-wah

I  can’t believe the choices Wordpress gives us when importing a photo.  There are four choices.  And there is nothing between 300 pixels wide and 1020 pixels wide.

Does that make any sense to anybody?  Please let me know.  Aren’t photos in blogs usually around 450 to 550 pixels wide?  So why the giant gap?

So I am still at home and still have a cough but it’s getting better.  Veeerrry slowwwwly  getting better.  And so I sit here playing Lord Of The Rings: Online.   My character Breezee  (from Virginia Breeze!  Oh How sublime!) is now at level 24.  You start at level 1  and go to level 50.  And they have just come out with a new edition called Mines of Moria that will take you all the way to level 60.

As you work your way up other people in the game ask you to help out with their quests.  Because you offer them more protection as they try to slay these big, ugly orcs and devilish little goblins.

A guy asked me for help today and we went out to do a quest.  But we both were killed and ended up in this circle of rocks where you go when you die.  You decide at that point whether you want to try it again or just slink off and try something a little easier.

I was contemplating doing this when my partner started bringing these lightening bolts down on my head.   It was his idea of a joke.  Apparently he didn’t know that I have been holed up here during the holidays with this cough that is making me CRAZY.

So I turned around and wacked his head off with my awesome swords.  I have two of them.  One for each hand.  And then I walked away.  In the distance I could hear the wargs cheerfully having him for lunch.

Medicine doesn’t always come in a bottle.  Sometimes it just drops from the sky.

We are here for a little while and then we go!  Where do we go?  Everyone has their own ideas about the answer to this question.  But there seems to be a general consensus that it is a “far, far better place”.   And it’s really not too difficult to imagine that this is true after watching  the “news” for a few days.

It seems to me that the way we think about this  has a profound bearing on the way we live our lives.  So it makes sense to really take some time and come up with the best answer we can find.

Here are some people  you may have known who passed away in 2008.  Perhaps a few of them  impacted your life in some way.   Some of them made impressions on the lives of millions of people.  That’s a pretty amazing thing, isn’t it?

They will not be soon forgotten.

Thanks to David at David’s Musings for giving me the idea for this post.