The most important thing to understand about low mood is that it isn't you.
If your low mood was you,
It would have to be around all the time.
And at the point that it disappeared,
You would stop being you.
Low mood,
Like any other experience,
Is something which comes and goes.
I remember hearing a wonderful analogy about low mood from one of my favorite teachers named Ramdas.
Ramdas said,
Imagine a picture frame.
And inside of this picture frame is grey.
Just grey.
Nothing else.
Quite a depressing piece of art to put up on your wall.
He said,
If you take the picture frame down in your imagination,
And unhook the back,
And take out the painting or drawing or whatever it is,
Inside,
You discover that it's actually folded up.
The picture frame is too small for the piece of art within.
And when you unfold each of the four edges of the canvas,
And then you take a look at the front,
What you discover is that actually it's a painting of a grey cloud.
And there's blue sky around it.
Only the frame was too small for us to have context about what that grey actually was.
This is a perfect analogy for what it was.
This is a perfect analogy for times when we feel like our low mood is us,
Or that it's all that there is.
If we can expand our picture frame,
In this case if we can expand our mind,
And our understanding of who we are,
And how experience works,
Then we see that our low mood is just a cloud in the sky of what's fundamental,
What's always around,
Which is awareness.
Awareness is the only fundamental thing to our being.
It's the only thing that doesn't change.
You change,
Your experiences change,
Your thoughts and feelings change,
Quite rapidly.
Even in a pit of depression,
Things are changing.
Even in that depression,
There are high points and low points.
They may all be beneath the threshold of what we might call good mood,
But there will be worse times and better times.
A uniquely appropriate practice for moments like these is what's called gladdening the mind.
This gladdening the mind is done relatively.
Basically we work with what we've got,
And if we're beneath that threshold of what we would call good mood,
The practice becomes,
Can I gladden the mind in some amount?
Can I find any corner of my experience which I might be able to enhance?
Can I gladden the mind even by 0.
1%?
A great way to work with this practically is to practice gratitude.
Ask yourself,
What are you grateful for right now?
Yep,
I might be depressed,
But man,
My bed is comfy.
An important ingredient to this practice is that once I've gladdened the mind,
I'm going to celebrate that I did.
Wow,
Here I am,
Mr.
Depressed.
But I found out that my bed's actually pretty comfy,
And I feel glad about that.
And now I'm going to celebrate that I was able to feel glad about that,
That I was able to change the narrative consciously from,
Woe is me,
To,
Yeah,
I like my bed.
My bed's comfy.
If I'm going to be depressed anywhere,
I want to be depressed right here in my bed.
This is cause for celebration because we're practicing something very important.
Once again,
We're practicing the method of choosing what we think and what we feel.
It's important that we don't slip into the trap of goal orientation here.
We're not going for 100% glad.
That's probably never going to be attainable.
It's always going to be a relative concept.
We're going for just a little bit gladder,
A little bit happier,
And then we celebrate this change,
And that celebration gives rise to that positive feedback loop.
I've found a way to gladden the mind even just a teeny tiny bit,
And that's a success.
I succeeded in changing the narrative.
So I'm now on that upward spiral,
And the question then becomes,
Okay,
Can I gladden the mind again?
Yeah,
I can.
I know I've done it once,
So I can do it again.
Just a little bit gladder,
A little bit gladder,
A little bit gladder,
And every time celebrating so that we become a winner.
We become successful in this practice of choosing what we think and what we feel.
If you would like me to walk you through this practice personally,
I'm available for one-to-one calls.
I'm not charging money.
This is my gift to you in this challenging time.
This is a win-win for me.
I get a lot from helping people in this way.
I'm in a very fortunate position to have done so,
Having come into contact with my teacher so many years ago,
And the only thing that I have ever been able to give to this wonderful teacher of mine is a box of tea bags.
That's the only thing that he would ever accept from me in exchange for all of the wonderful guidance that I have received from him in friendship,
And friendship is indeed the way that these teachings are best shared.
So,
If you would like a friend,
Please message me on any of the platforms on which this video is going out this morning.
I hope to hear from you soon.
