Feeling Blue?

It’s been a long gray spring here in Connecticut and some of our favorite people are struggling to feel joy. There’s a fancy name for it … anhedonia … and it is the inability to experience pleasure in things you normally would. Sometimes that feeling can be a symptom of depression, but other times it can show it up for just a day or a period of days. What can you do to shift it?

The answer might surprise you. Start small.

The way to feel joy again is to begin with simple pleasures. Look around you objectively. What is something beautiful that you can see? Something delicious you can taste? Something interesting you can smell? Something soft you can hold? If you can’t name something that appeals to you what would someone else name? Now, practice mindfulness in the moment with that thing.

Just brewed hot coffee in the early hours of morning? Stop and intentionally inhale the aroma sloooooowly. Notice the warmth of the cup. Savor the first sip.

Finally see sunshine? Find a spot of it and sit in it. Even if it’s on the floor! Close your eyes and feel the sunshine on your face. Notice how your skin gets warmer. Notice what happens inside you. Do you feel yourself warming from the outside in?

Notice your pet is next to you while you relax? Stroke their fur and look into their eyes. Now remember the first time you met them. What was it like? What do you feel?

Small, intentional attention (mindfulness) brings us fully into the present. We can’t live in the anxiety of the future or the pain of the past when we are completely in the moment.

Take some time for mindfulness each day and see if it doesn’t just begin to start you feeling again!

*If you or someone you love is experiencing depression, please reach out to a healthcare provider or call us here at The Light House. We want to help!