If I only had a brain..a heart, the noive

"It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others"

– Montaigne

When I’m home, I often have the TV on in the background. Having spent my a good part of my life acting on television, as well as being a person who loves to watch television, I understand completely how the TV becomes a person’s friend.

Sometimes we turn the TV on because it feels like we have company in the house. We get to change the channel when we want to (unless you have a mate that commandeers the remote) we get to choose which friends will be in the house, and thanks to DVR, we can choose when our friends will join us.

Often, I will learn something profound watching TV, or remember something I knew at one time but forgot. I can then apply that something to my way of thinking and therefore, my life. Sometimes, I am highly entertained by my friends and other times, I am empathizing with them. And by the way, this is why Soaps still matter. But this blog is not about soaps. Today I was watching HLN and there was a new piece about a Neurosurgeon who had many life altering events happen to him at once. Within a few months, he experienced the end of his marriage via divorce, the death of a parent, as well as a few other catastrophic happenings, which threw him into depression. He was so crippled by it that he was eventually unable to work, and felt as though he was drowning in his own sad life.

Of course, when we aren’t so much fun to be around, we lose many of our so called "friends" (sad, which is when we need them the most).

One day when he was really at a dangerous low, a doctor friend took pity on him asked him if he wanted to go for a run. He was not a runner, but he went anyway. That night was the first he slept in months. The next day he went running again and started to really get into the zone of working out and getting out of his house. He eventually performed in triathlons. He finally beat his depression and went back to doing the job that God packed his bags for; being a neurosurgeon. His life became better than it had ever been and he no longer lives in a bowl of depression. He changed his story through his physical and mental self programming.

When we experience huge sudden and unexpected life altering events, our brain chemistry can be altered. This alteration is what can cause depression for a person who has not experienced it before. This is very different from someone who just "feels better when it’s raining." That, is a state of mind, which a person chooses to be in. It’s important to know the difference between the two.

The moral to this news story hit me hard. No matter what, if we don’t feel good, or even normal, it is up to us to do something about it. It is up to us to become pro-active in changing the things in our lives that make us feel sad or trapped. Most everyone experiences this feeling now and then. We can get the blues which is normal. But if you feel unbearably sad, then do something. Read a great self help book that speaks to your particular sadness, get physical, call a friend and tell them you need to talk (choose someone you trust) go for a long walk, join a group where physical activity is the theme. Every town has a yoga studio; try it, and see how your mental state changes when you quit isolating yourself within the tapes that run in your mind.

Life can be awesome, even with all the bumps and scrapes, but changing your mind can change your life in an instant. You are in control of you. Take that control back. Change the channel of your fears and get back to the business of living your best life. Yes, you CAN.

Love For Sure,

Cat