When something is very simple, why does it seem unbelievable?
Do we have a tendency to expect that solutions to problems ought to be complicated?
We may have that tendency because of the unknown. If you don't know the cause of a problem or the functioning of a certain system - it seems complicated to solve it.
The proper response to that may be to try to understand the thing that is having the problem you are dealing with. When something is broken: understand it, investigate it and fix it. That's probably what you'd do when your car breaks down.
Now, what if that thing is you? Perhaps you experience depression, anxiety, stress, disorder, burn-out, money issues, work issues, relationship issues - whatever it may be.
What we hope to find is the golden pil that fixes anything without any work. That seems to be our approach and hope more and more. Collectively we are taking a lot of pils. The golden pill for anything: that would be amazing, right?
Or would it? Let's say we take the golden pil and the depression goes away. But wait, what was the depression for then? Something seems to be missing in this formula. If a depression could go away with the snap of a finger by taking the golden pil, then why would it exist in the first place.
This would assume that life is very random and experience would have no deeper meaning. That we live in a giant casino with random chance and where poker cards are dealt to you. A skilled poker player will respond that this game can be mastered. That there is probability, but the outcome is not fixed. The solution to your depression would then be learning the rules of the game and how to play it. It would always remain a gamble though. Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose. Sometimes you have a depression, sometimes you don't. And the game continues.
Another point of view is the cause and effect view. Your depression is caused by something. Perhaps your chemical balance and hormones. Your brain. Your trauma. Your genes. Your karma. Now you need to become Sherlock Homes. You need to investigate the crime of depression and find the criminal. There are a lot of possibilities here. You are a dynamic being in a dynamic world with many variables. This approach has yielded thousands of therapies, remedies, medicines and religions. It's an art disguised as science. The large challenge being the subjectivity of the root cause. The scientific process wants repeatability and standardization - one truth of cause and effect. Unfortunately for science, the variety and diversity makes every single being unique. You can not find two tree leaves on the planet that are identical. So perhaps we can get close to a cause, but as the entity becomes more divers, unique and dynamic, it becomes impossible to standardize. There are as many truths as there are people. Your cause-effect research project will need to be done in the internal lab that is inside of you. The pil you will invent will likely only really work for you though and this is a process of discovery that will require your work on is figuring out what to cause is and how to solve it.
The objective-one-truth-for-all-cause-effect approach also stops working when we enter the invisible realm of the quantum world. Here the subjectivity of the experience becomes entirely dependent on the observer and experience. Your observation of your depression influences the depression experience itself. You project is as much as you observe it. Since you are unique and your perspective on the depression is unique, you are the cause effecting the depression simply by your observation.
Another perspective would be using the phenomenon of resonance. Resonance happens when two waves match in wavelength. What do waves have to do with depression? For instance, you have brain waves. When you sleep your brain 'vibrates' at a different frequency (speed of the wave or movement) then when you go out for a walk. When your radio plays a song, it 'resonates' with the radio station to receive the information. The resonance theorie would consider you as the radio and your depression as the song. Now, where is the radio station? Who or what is sending the depression song? And if you change channel (=frequency), would you simply change the song to something a bit more fun than a depression?
This would be too simple. It can't be that simple, right? Like we started this article with, this simplicity of life is unbelievable.
Something is unbelievable until we know it to be true from our experience. Then it's known. In between is believability. We are open to the possibility and are leaning toward it being true. Let's see if we can open the door to this possibility.
We are going to try to make believable the idea that you are a radio, who receives songs from a radio station, and that you can change the channel to any song you like. In other words, you (the radio receiver) finds the frequency to resonate with the channel (sender) playing the song you want.
So what is required. First, you'll need to know what song you want. This is similar to deciding what experience you want. Do you want a depression or another song. Now you are going to focus your attention on finding that song. Now remember that in the quantum world we discussed earlier, that the observer influences the outcome. Next, you figure out how to change the channel - tune into the channel (frequency) you want. As you tune your radio, switching channels, you keep tuning until you find the song you want.
Let's apply it to the depression. Step one is to know what you want instead of the depression experience. Next, you tune into the channel that plays the song you want. You aren't look for a cause of the depression. You are simply moving your attention to what you want. You keep trying until you find that channel and now your experience has changed.
Why could this be true? What if the depression is a signal? What if you are the radio station (sender) and radio (receiver)? What if you are sending yourself the depression as a signal to help you find the channel you are looking for? Why would you do that?
When you travel life, many circumstances can bring you off your path - out of resonance with the channel that is called You. All others channels then the channel that is You, will feel like the playing the wrong songs. How else would you know what it means to be you? Tension is the rails that you have given yourself to stay on your path. When you are very far off your path, the tension will be significant: depression, burn-out, conflict, war and disorder arrive. This is the state of disharmony - you are on the wrong channel. To bring back order and harmony, you need to get back on your path of being You.
Again, this is probably just too simple to believe. But maybe it is a bit more believable now. If you'd simple stay close enough to your path of being you, why would you need a depression unless you really want one?
You see the problem with the golden pil is that your sense of direction toward what you want in life is gone. After taking the pill, you may feel a bit better for as long as you take that pill - but it's a very large compromise. You are still not hearing the song you love. Perhaps no song at all - life becomes flat and stagnant. This isn't you in its full glory. It's at best a watered down version of you.
How do you use the depression to get back on your path? Let's accept the depression as a signal. Receive the signal and thank it for its message - the message being that you are not being yourself - not living your passion. Next you will need to remember what your passion is. Here resonance comes into play. What do you want in life? What you want in life comes with a feeling of joy. So you tune your radio to the feeling of joy and/or to a memory of joy. Unless you have been depressed from the minute you were born - you will find joyful memories. Explore those and listen to those songs closely to learn what they tell you about what you love. This process is increasing your self-knowledge (and self-awareness). This is step one of three.
Keep exploring memories of joy. Keep tuning your radio to songs of joy. Feel it. Sit down and meditate on it. Don't back down or give up. There are more songs to listen to. This should bring back a sense of what it means to be you. Being yourself is mostly a question of what you want to be. And what you want to be - uniquely you - is what you are passionate about and what gives you feelings of joy.
Step two is self-acceptance. Can you share your song with the world? This is what caused the interference with your channel in the first place. Once, while you were singing your song - being yourself - something made you feel that it was not safe, accepted or approved of to be your authentic self. To fit it - you changed channel to sing a more acceptable song. The problem is that when you go off your destined path, resistance and tension starts to build up as a sign that you are getting lost. You have the free will to change your song - but it's not going to feel great. Nothing feels like your own song. Without full unconditional acceptance of who you are - you will continue to try to fit in or fall out. The depression will continue to knock on your door. The pill may reduce the tension you feel from being off your path, but it won't get you back to singing your true song. You need your depression to guide you back on that path.
Why? As long as the depression is there, you know you are out of sink. You keep working at it until the depression is gone. Then you know you are back on track. Without the feeling of the depression, you can't know what joy feels like. You need the contrast - the opposites.
That doesn't mean the experience of depression is needed. There are far milder signals way before you got lost in the woods of depression. Learning to recognize those more subtle roadsigns will help you stay on track. Being on track is the goal - not getting lost. Self-acceptance and self-love are the key to be yourself again.
Self-knowledge and self-acceptance increase your self-power. Your radio station will send strong signals, your radio will more easily receive and your song will sound louder. More power will make your song reach further - attracting more of what you want into your life. That's resonance in action. Doors open. Things cross your path. The flow is back.
Your inner compass in this process is your intuitive feeling system that tells you what does and does not resonates with you. Resonance brings you to your unique inner truth. It is the only truth that matters.
So simple. Know and remember what you want. Accept who you are. Become who you want to be. Feel what resonates and what doesn't. Recognize the signals of tension and resistance to stay on your path.
Resist the golden pil temptation. It's a deceiving short cut. Does that mean pils are bad and that therapy is useless? No. Whatever brings you back on your path. As long as you remember that getting back on your path of being your true self is your goal. Don't blame the depression - she is there for you by you. Let her in and ask her what you need to hear.
Is there no cause-effect? Sure there is. When you let the apple go, it will drop. At a certain level cause-effect plays a role. In your process of self-knowledge and awareness - as you explore your joyful memories - you may remember experiences when you could not be yourself. Those root experiences influenced your believes about you and the world. You learned from those experiences to navigate the world better. You remember and experience this as a cause-effect relationship giving it a timestamp. Resonance plays a key role in finding these roots - and only those that count. Once you remember the root experience and what you learned from it, you have the choice to change your point of view and take a different approach moving forward. If it doesn't resonate with you anymore, let it go and move on to what you want.
Is there no randomness in life? Sure there is. The weather. Traffic. The economy. These are today's cards dealt to you. Your individual influence on these events is likely small. Here your freedom of choice is how you choose to experience it. When you watch a movie with a friend - you can both have a very different experience watching the same movie. When war comes to your neighbourhood, you are dealt bad cards. Yet, people report positive experiences even in these dire circumstances.
Self-knowledge (knowing what you want), self-acceptance (the love to be yourself) and self-power (the faith to move ahead) can help you ride your wave - independent of external circumstances. Let the sun tell you your position and your inner compass the direction.