My acupuncturist advised me, when she found out I was suffering from Depression, to look at my child and smile more. Ha ha ha. Clearly she had not experience with true Depression and just thought I meant I was kind of sad. Her English wasn't so great and a lot was lost in translation. Then I read (in Malcom Gladwell's book Blink) about two researchers studying facial expressions. They sat around all day making faces at each other-- they had a list of expressions that they were working their way through. Days they made happyish faces they felt happy. Days they made saddish faces they felt sad. Turns out if you make a grimace (like clenching a pencil between your teeth) even that may have a positive effect on your mood. Sheesh. Smiling when I don't feel like it is difficult. Smiling when I am looking at children is easier. And I can't see using the pencil clenched between my teeth as appropriate anti-depressive therapy. But I do need to remember that doing things that make me smile and things that make me laugh counts as work in the fight to Kick Depression's Ass. And I need to remember that this is a fight that I don't get to stop fighting. So I better get used to smiling. And I will spend some more time working on my Convexitive Currents page. Convexitive Currents
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K. BuchananQuaker, teacher, parent, |