to reassure depressed hope

Spiritual resource to share: hope

Spring has sprung in the northern hemisphere and with it, nature is sweeping away the cold and muddy, and is persistently bursting forth with new growth.

Sweeping away what is muddy to reveal new growth reminded me of healing depression. I came across this quote from Mary Baker Eddy's primary work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:

Instruct the sick that they are not helpless victims, for if they will only accept Truth, they can resist disease and ward it off, as positively as they can the temptation to sin. ....... The fact that Truth overcomes both disease and sin reassures depressed hope. It imparts a healthy stimulus to the body, and regulates the system.

I found it helpful to break down this whole paragraph - to get a deeper look at its healing influence. Walk with me on this one:

Instruct the sick that they are not helpless victims,

This has to do with rightly identifying ourselves - we are not thrown to the winds of chance, bad luck or bad circumstances - but have the ability to think, to choose, and to love. The qualities of intelligence, discernment and authority are spiritual, not subject to limitation.

...for if they will only accept Truth...

Openness or receptivity to Truth keeps the channels of thought open to receive new ideas. Accepting Truth, we give our consent to Truth and open our thought to the power of Truth and Love in our lives.

...they can resist disease and ward it off, as positively as they can the temptation to sin.

Truth is not a naive brush over illness, maliciousness or lack. Truth is active and transforming. Just as light dissolves darkness, Truth annihilates anything untrue. Love annihilates anything unloving. Life destroys death or anything that limits or restricts good. Physical disease can be resisted in the same way that the temptation to sin can be resisted.

The fact that Truth overcomes both disease and sin reassures depressed hope.

The active expression of Truth (of purity, honesty, principle, Love) is the antidote to depression. Understanding the omnipotent nature of Truth lifts off the burden of self-doubt and of thinking that evil has power. Hope is released.

It imparts a healthy stimulus to the body, and regulates the system.

Seeing that Truth is always operating on our behalf, frees up our thought which leads to expressions of freedom, flow and growth. Circulation of new fresh ideas becomes the norm. Balance is achieved. Systems in the physical body and systems of organization are regulated in accordance with efficiency, harmony and progress.

Check out these links to read about how people have overcome depression in their lives:

Drug-free answers to treating depression
What got me going again
Freed from depression
I shone a spiritual light on Seasonal Affective Disorder
A healing of manic depression

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.