How can I stop being so depressed? PLEASE HELP!?

Question

I am educated, beautiful east african...

...yet I am depressed living around Detroit due to the poor weather, attitude of most people I come across, an ugly scenery.

...I also feel the effects of racism...

all of this makes me sooo sad...even though I have class, intelligence and beauty...

Answer 1

Give yourself some vacation time and get away to some place nice and relaxed. Cities can be very fast pace and tiring. Also, the sun, surprisingly, can help you feel better. Lack of sun can make you more depressed. During the winter when its cold and cloudy I usually feel the same way.

Answer 2

It might help not to dwell on the negative things around you but dwell more on the positive. Thank God for all you have and enjoy your life with family and friends. Make the most out of the now.

Answer 3

Post seems sort of bipolar to me (takes one to know one), but there are also lights for mood (SAD in particular) and they come with guaranteed full spectrum light (2 year warranty). They are cheaper and cheaper every year. I saw the last one for $100.  

Answer 4

Depression can come in various forms, from a passing blue mood to a severe psychological condition like major depression or manic-depressive illness, which requires extensive treatment. The more serious conditions require professional help with for example intensive therapy or medication, there seems to be no easy way to avoid that. General psychology has determined that depressive disorders are often caused by a combination of genetic, psychological and environmental factors, but can also be caused by other illnesses. Women experience depressive disorders twice as many as men and hormone levels appear to have a significant influence.

Let us deal mainly with aspects of the 'lighter' forms of depression, since we are not medical. The Buddhist perspective is that an underlying selfishness/egotism is often the basic cause of feeling depressed. Please realize that if this is upsetting you, basically, this is considered the main psychological problem that everyone has according to Buddhist psychology, and depression can be an unexpected result of it. Also, this does not mean that the suffering person should be 'blamed' for the condition, but rather opens up a very different approach to the problem using meditation and emphasis on compassion and loving-kindness. Even though these methods may neither be quick nor instantly effective, negative side effects are virtually unheard of; and who cannot use a bit of emphasis on loving-kindness?

A very interesting aspect of reflection on compassion and love is the point that we need to respect, forgive and have compassion not only for others, but ourselves as well. One of the causes for depression can be a strong sense of dissatisfaction with ourselves; perhaps the page on lack of self-confidence could be helpful? In modern society, it appears that only 'being number one' counts, but this leaves out the other 6 billion people, including 'me'. Does that mean that I am worthless? Of course not!

Just look at the other end of the scale: many of our so-called great heroes of the past are admired for their power, courage and intelligence, but how many heroes can you think of that actually made it a point to create happiness and security instead of waging war and creating havoc? Simply being a loving and caring person tends to help the world a lot more than being 'number one'. One may admire pop-idols and moviestars, but many of them are (or will be) in a sorry state, addicted to drugs and 'life in the fast lane'; not understanding that happiness is a state of their own mind, not of their bank account, level of drugs, availability of s*x etc.

If we can genuinely wish ourselves happiness and radiate that wish to others, our state of mind can change dramatically. If we change our mind, we can change our mood - a simple process, but not easy to achieve quickly. One of the most important things is to understand that we can change our own mind if we make a bit of an effort. If we would not be able to change anything in our mind, how did we ever learn to read and write?

Answer 5

I'm not black, so I guess it's easy for me to be opinionated about this..

But, what I have to say is about depression.

First, we have to stop focusing on the bad alternative. Why are you focusing on racism?

Even if it's happening, let it happen.

People have choice. You cannot do something about it.

If they preffered to be racist because their parents were stupid, what can u do?

It's important to know what u want. And to keep the focus on what u really want. And to move there with each and every step.

Do you want to be treated like this?

Then why are you focusing on racism if you don't want to be treated like this?

Somehow, u attract these people. I don't think all people in a country are racists.

If you will be focusing on a nice treatment from the environment, then u will be attracting nice people.

And if all Detroit is a place full of racists and stupid people, u will attract opportunities to go away towards a place with normal people who belong to the 21th century...

Think deeply about the attraction part, because there's the key.

Your thoughts and your beliefs attract everything u experience.

Hope I helped u:)