Five Holy Remedies Against Sadness
Feeling upset or depressed? These almost millennium-old recipes from St. Thomas Aquinas are effective solutions ignored by today’s world.
We all have bad days.
However, a struggle of the most recent generations is that the bad days are more and more frequent. Anxiety, depression and other disorders are becoming increasingly common.
According to the ancient doctors, this is not just a matter of mind, but an imbalance between body and soul.
In his masterpiece, the Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas lists five remedies against the sadness that prove extremely effective against these problems.
But first, let’s put some fundamentals in perspective.
A Strong Body Precedes a Strong Mind
“Therefore just as all repose of the body brings relief from any kind of weariness, ensuing from any non-natural cause; so every pleasure brings relief by assuaging any kind of sorrow, due to any cause whatever.” — St. Thomas Aquinas
Let’s draw a parallel between modern medicine and the wisdom of the past.
With the increase in cases of mental disorders in the population, comes the increase in the consumption of psychotropic drugs and other similar medications.
However, any physician agrees that it is useless to use these remedies without tackling the root of the problem.
The purpose of medication is often to prevent symptoms from consuming their ability to resolve the problem on their own. Ideally, you shouldn’t need them.
Another universal concept in medicine is prevention that avoids the need for remediation.
Therefore, the best way to shield your mind is to have a strong body, capable of not easily succumbing in fragile moments.
Start by developing physical strength. Build muscle, increase your cardiovascular capacity, eat adequate amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fats — whether you’re a man or a woman.
Do this and not just the propensity for lethargy, anxiety, depression, etc. will decrease, but also their effects will be smaller if they happen.
It is known that the teachings of Aristotle profoundly influenced the work of Saint Thomas, and one of its pillars is precisely physical strength.
#1 — Give Yourself Some Treats
“Pleasure is a kind of repose of the appetite in a suitable good; while sorrow arises from something unsuited to the appetite.”
A mind oriented towards inordinate pleasure is sure to have problems.
However, allowing yourself some sensory experiences outside of your routine is essential to reconnecting your body with the world.
First, you need to remind your body that our nature is full of good things. And the best way to do this is by stimulating your senses.
Personally, I recommend picking up good food. Good things like chocolate, cheese, ice cream, etc.
In a moment of sadness, worry less about your diet and your money. What you need is to regain the strength to take care of it later.
#2 — Let the Tears Well Up
“A hurtful thing hurts yet more if we keep it shut up, because the soul is more intent on it: whereas if it is allowed to escape, the soul’s intention is dispersed as it were on outward things, so that the inward sorrow is lessened.”
Weeping is a natural reaction of our body during times of sadness.
Often, not only do we resist the urge to cry, but we also forget how to cry.
This is because we develop emotional resilience and, over time, we condition the body not to let the emotion flow.
Today, we know that the act of weeping causes the balance of important body fluids, which help to reestablish focus, breathing and pain recovery.
#3 — Open Your Heart With Someone You Trust
“Since sorrow has a depressing effect, it seems like a weight where we strive to unburden ourselves: bearing the burden with him, striving, as it were, to lessen its weight.”
Oftentimes, we can’t fight a problem because we don’t have a full understanding of it. This often requires naming the issue you are going through.
This is not always possible without vocalizing.
Keeping everything in our mind prevents us from accessing certain thoughts, as well as limits our ability to find solutions.
In addition, sharing a difficult situation with someone comes with support, help from another person.
#4 — Surround Yourself With Beauty
“Hence the contemplation of truth assuages pain or sorrow, and the more perfectly one is a lover of wisdom.”
Dostoievsky used to say that beauty will save the world.
Truth and beauty are inseparable things. Often, the state of sadness requires us to restore our awareness of reality.
After all, when we are depressed, we tend to distort reality towards the bias of sadness.
When we contemplate a beautiful place or a classic work of art, such as music or painting, we are restoring our environment with reality.
#5 — Take an Immersion Bath and Rest a Lot
“Sorrow, by reason of its specific nature, is repugnant to the vital movement of the body; and consequently whatever restores the same nature to its due state of vital movement, is opposed to sorrow and assuages it.”
States of sadness lead us to tension, which continually grows until our body becomes stuck.
Add to this the indifference to good personal treatment, self-care with health. At this point, your priority should be to keep yourself clean, neat and fragrant.
Enjoy the freshness of a good bath, with salts and odors and prepare your environment for an invigorating sleep.
