How to get out of a depression in a month with the 180 law

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Sep 6, 2018 · 10 min read

How to get out of a depression in a month with the 180-degree law

Summary

Depressions can become vicious circle of one’s own thoughts, where one constantly programs the brain to become more and more depressed. When someone is depressed, they keep re-affirming one’s constant thoughts of “I am depressed”, resulting in the brain giving back more depressed feelings.
The law of 180 degrees instructs a depressed person to do the opposite, whenever the brain inputs arise of ‘I feel so bad’, the depressed person must trick the brain for a longer period of time to input “I feel happy’. Turning around thoughts wont work instantly however done over a longer period of time, it re-programs the brain to give back good feelings and gets a depressed person out of the spiralling viscious circle.

Chapter 1 Introduction

This book describes an almost unnatural technique without medication that I have used to get out and stay out of a depression, a technique that I believe will also work for others, which is why I decided to write this book.
Having a depression is one of the worst mental diseases there is, one of the symptoms is constantly feeling terrible in a manner of not wanting to live, a vicious circle of feeling horrible that only gets worse until one takes the right action.

While being in a depression I observed one of the constant re-occurring thoughts I was having was “I feel bad” “I feel terrible” “I don’t want to live” “I feel horrible” “I am depressed”. These negative thoughts were constantly arising and I was continuingly telling them to myself, I then realized what if I turn these thoughts around! Every time I got a though of “I feel terrible” or “I feel depressed” I turned the thoughts around to; “I feel good”, or “I am happy”, lying to myself, it gave me a strange feeling in the stomach and initially, it was difficult to lie to myself. When you feel bad to tell yourself you feel good is not an easy thing to do, this is the key lesson of this book to remember to continually turn the negative thoughts around as they come, to re-program the brain and to get out of the viscous circle of depression, into a viscous circle of happiness. After a month of continually turning negative thoughts around I started to feel normal again, even happy.

The described technique makes sense, since what thoughts we put into our brain, results in the feelings we receive. When we tell ourselves that we feel terrible over a longer period of time our brain gives back a terrible feeling. When we tell our brain we feel good it gives back a feeling of being happy, not instantly however. There is however as the book the secret defines; a time delay, when you tell yourself you feel happy everyday for a week, then only next week unnoticed you may feel happy. One of the most difficult things to do is lie to yourself, its much easier to stay passive and instantly feel better by feeling sorry for yourself by telling yourself you are depressed. The hard part is to keep turning around the thoughts for a longer period of time until your brain starts giving you back good feelings. Another challenge is to remember, to remember every time you get a bad thought to turn it around a 180 degrees.

A depression can come from some under achievement, unhappy lifestyle, unfortunate circumstances, bad luck, isolation, negative future perspective or it can even come out of no-where. Often depressed thoughts gradually creep in slowly, with a person starting to feel bad and getting worse as time goes on, telling themselves they felt bad and eventually talking themselves into a complete depression. Once the person has confirmed they are in a depression, it usually gets worse, they start to re-affirm thoughts that they are depressed and start programming the brain to continually give them back feelings of a depression. In addition to the techniques described hereafter, one main way to get out of a depression is to start turning these thoughts a 180 degrees around, when you get a bad feeling tell yourself you feel good and eventually the brain will start giving good feelings.

The unconscious mind drives your feelings and behaviour, it important to program our subconscious with the right words in order to get back the right feelings.

Chapter 2 Changing the thought pattern

“The sages told taught me that on an average day the average person runs about sixty thousand thoughts through his mind. What really amazed me, though, was that ninety-five percent of those thoughts were the same ones you thought the day before. This is the very tyranny of impoverished thinking…. Those people who think the same thoughts everyday, have fallen into bad mental habits” (The monk who sold his Ferrari, Robin Sharma).

The vicious circle of depression is a mental disease where people constantly feel bad due to continuously having most of the same thoughts as the day before. Continuously re- programming the brains to cause the feeling of a depression. Once these depressed thoughts are turned around after a sustained period of time, new thinking habits are formed. Replacing previously programmed habits. “Autopilots are a piece of repeated unconscious behaviour” (Sharma) a thing you do repeatedly without much or any thought. Some happy people are in a vicious circle of happiness, they are always happy and don’t know why, they just are. Naturally they may have more serotonin, however since they are happy; they place re-affirming thoughts in the brain of ‘I’m happy’ all the time resulting in the subconscious giving them back more happy feelings.

We cannot instantly change our emotions by just making up our mind up to feel good, it takes time and effort, you need to completely reprogram your mind once youre in a deep depression. “A man can only rise, conquer and achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak and abject and miserable by refusing to lift up his thoughts” (Dale Carnegie, How to stop worrying and start living)

One reason why someone cannot re-program themselves to get out of a depression is due to self pity. When you feel bad and tell yourself you feel depressed for a moment due to the self pity you feel better, lying to yourself that you feel good or will feel better takes willpower and strength. That’s why optimistic and strong minded people often are less likely to enter into a depression since when they feel momentarily bad they often tell themselves “tomorrow I will better” or “I’m fine” and the brain in the future will give them a fine feeling back.

“No man is free who is not a master of himself….mental mastery starts with being able to control every thought that you think….when you control your thoughts, you control your mind, when you control your mind, you control your life” (Sharma)
Concentration is the root of mental mastery, initially its important to concentrate on one’s thoughts and feelings. Then its important to have the discipline and strength to stick to the law of 180 degrees for an extended period of time while being depressed. “The lack of willpower is a mental disease”. When you are neutral and not feeling sad or happy you can also program the brain subconsciously, notice that it doesn’t have any direct effects on how you feel, it wont make you feel happier instantly, there is a time delay, the subconscious needs to process the inputs of conscious, the effects come later.

What you say to yourself in private internal dialogue is what you become. How to talk to yourself when these negative thought patterns occur is vital for a happy life. How we talk to ourselves researchers have found has a significant effect on how we feel.

You don’t even need to believe the technique will work, just stick with it for some time, I didn’t believe it would work however I experimented and kept going until it worked. When you’re feeling down and getting the thoughts of I’m depressed, you can still re-program yourself with a depressed tone of voice, in other words you don’t need to act happy when you’re depressed or place a happy tone of voice when you’re depressed, just enter the right sentences that counter the negative sentences. Its similar to programming a database= “I feel happy”: ‘in the future the brain gives back a happy feeling’; “the mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master”. In other words, you have the control what feelings your subconscious gives you, you have a larger amount of control over your state of mind than you think, man either builds or destroys himself, “a man is what he thinks about all day long”(Carnegie).

The tremendous power of thoughts can banish depressions by changing thoughts. By choosing the right thoughts we can solve our mental problems, one thing a depression can’t take away from you is your attitude.

Chapter 3 Become active

Dale Carnegie’s recipe for getting out of depression in 14 days is: “try to think everyday how you can please someone. Be busy and happy trying to help other people… by giving we receive”. People who work very hard and who earn a lot of money are actually doing a lot of favours for other people. By having a lot of money one actually has stored favours that can be activated once transferred. Hard working people are rarely depressed and people earning a lot of money (in other words doing a lot of favours) are usually quite happy. During an economic depression many people aren’t able to do each other favours since many are unemployed due to a lack of financial liquidity that restricts people from doing each other favours. During economic booms when people are busy and doing each other a lot of favours by working, people are happier.

Rather than being unemployed and unutilized and not doing anybody any favours, getting employment can get someone out of a depression, specifically when some can do a job they are passionate about. Define what your purpose, goals, ideals and values are and follow up on them. “Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued. It must ensue. And it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself” (Victor Frankl). With a purpose, a meaning to live for the suffering is reduced, one of our main drives as humans is to find meaning. “Have the inner glow of a man with a purpose, a mission. Have the joy of knowing that he was being used by an idea far nobler and more significant than himself” (Carnegie). “Once you found out what your life’s work is, your world will come alive. You will come alive. You will wake up every morning with a limitless reservoir of energy and enthusiasm…. the secret of happiness can be found in achievement” (Sharma)

Living with a purpose also means being around those you care most about, show love and kindness to those around you. Socialize with family, socialize with friends, exercise, take walks, have hobbies, study, play games, play sports. Just get started on increasing the amount of great experiences you have.

Depressed people are usually isolated and do not communicate with a lot of other people. When we are in communication with other people we often experience happiness and joy, whether this is for work or in a social environment. For happiness and fulfilment, we need an interconnection with other people. Accept other people non judgementally and care for them, create report by not criticizing what the other person has told you. People want to be validated, become fascinated by what others share with you. Let the words of affection, appreciation and acceptance flow, share something about yourself and ask others about themselves, rejoice the success of others and create a wonderful verbal future for them.

There are also other techniques that may help such as practise the art of simply smiling, practise having a happy face rather than an angry or depressed face. It may also be good practise visualization, create an attractive believable future you want to be part of and visualize this future. Do not procrastinate, daily write down on a piece of paper and create a checklist of what you need to do.

Chapter 4 staying happy

Once you’ve beaten your depression or bipolar disorder, a few years in the future it can start to come back again, It’s important to then re-apply the 180-degree technique described in this book. During the depressive feelings its always a struggle to re-program yourself, however its important to profit from your losses: “The most important thing in life is to capitalize on your gains. Any fool can do that. The important thing is to profit from your losses. That requires intelligence. And makes the difference between a fool and a man of sense” (Carnegie).

One good technique to increasing your happiness levels is to practise gratitude, count your blessings, “gratitude is a cultivated trait” (Carnegie). Remind yourself all the things you are grateful for, for the things you appreciate and for the things other people might not have. Constantly remind yourself of the things you appreciate and enjoy the present. The present, now you should enjoy, enjoy the journey rather than only thinking you will enjoy the end goal. Enjoying the present, don’t worry about the future just live each day, live in the now. “being engaged in a pursuit that truly challenges you is the surest route to personal satisfaction. But the real key to remember is that happiness is a journey, not a destination” (Carnegie)

Be determined to make your job interesting, put enthusiasm into your work If you act as if it is interesting that bit of acting will make the interesting for real

Chapter 5 conclusion

“Small victories lead to large victories. You must build on the small to achieve the great” (Carnegie), by following through on a resolution to re-program your brain by changing your negative thoughts around. The hard part is discipline sticking to it, be strong and disciplined in the bad times when the bad feelings attack you. Bad habits can be broken and good habits can be formed. The important thing is to remove negative autopilots and replace them with good ones, keep repeating until it becomes a new behaviour and a new autopilot, this is how you can get out of a vicious depressive circle.

Jesus said “the kingdom of heaven is within you”, you can either make your life a heaven or a hell depending on how you instruct the subconscious mind, remember the mind is great servant but a terrible master.

Chapter 5 Bibliography

The Secret — Rhonda Byrne
Dale Carnegie — How to stop worrying and start living Robin Sharma — The monk who sold Ferrari

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