The Fuel That Destroys DepressionНамуна

 Hope

Depression tries to strip us of a future of hope. When we lose hope for our future, we lose power, energy, vitality, and excitement in the present. We need to understand that there is a way we can turn hope on. 

Daniel Goleman, a best-selling author, wrote an article entitled, “Hope Emerges as Key to Success in Life.” He stated, "Psychologists are finding that hope plays a surprisingly potent role in giving people a measurable advantage in realms as diverse as academic achievement, bearing up in onerous jobs, and coping with tragic illness. And, by contrast, the loss of hope is turning out to be a stronger sign that a person may commit suicide than other factors long thought to be more likely risks."

When there is hope in your future, there is power in your present, but when there is no hope in your future, there is no vitality or willingness to go forward.

A lack of hope not only affects us emotionally and mentally but also biologically. We are triune beings; we are holistic by nature. When a human being is stripped of hope, there is a biological effect—the immune system begins to be deprived of what it needs. Then, the emotional and mental parts of us begin to move into despondency, which creates depression. 

Depression is the accumulation of the toxicity of thoughts that we allow to enter our soul. That is the source of depression. After years of battling depression, I discovered that I was allowing anger, criticism, negativity, and resentment to fester. All these toxic thoughts accumulated in layers and weighed upon my mind and my soul. 

A study conducted by Norman Cousins, an American journalist, revealed that hope can turn on the immune system’s ability to fight against disease. Depression and a lack of hope affect us biologically, emotionally, and spiritually. It has been scientifically proven that happiness affects the quality of the red blood cells in our veins; it enhances them; it also improves circulation, while depression leads to anemia and other illnesses. 

What is hope? It is a joyful, confident expectation. Hope is played out in the scenes of our imagination. It is like a bicycle; it only has balance when it is moving forward. It sees the future as positive, big, and expansive, and it allows us to move forward toward that vision. Hope is the fuel that destroys depression. And as hope stays present, it will bring genuine happiness. It is like there is a dark cloud above us, and we begin punching holes in it. Soon, the rays of light start to shine through, hope arises, and happiness comes back into our lives.