The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness

Being mode is the antidote to the problems that the doing mode of mind creates.

one. If you are not living in peace at this moment, you will never be able to. If you truly want to be at peace, you must be at peace right now. Otherwise, there is only “the hope of peace some day.” —Thich Nhat Hanh, The Sun My Heart

We cannot let go, because the doing mode of mind insists that our highest priority is to sort ourselves out by identifying and solving this “problem.”

Because, in the case of our moods, the very act of focusing on the gap, comparing how we are feeling with how we want to feel (or how we think we should feel) makes us feel unhappy, taking us even further away from how we want to be.

Eventually we may reach the point where every moment of sadness is no longer experienced as a whole life that’s going badly—but just as a moment that feels sad.

rumination is part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

Here are some examples of possible activities: Washing the dishes Loading the dishwasher Taking out the garbage Brushing your teeth Taking a shower Doing the laundry Driving the car Leaving the house Entering the house Going upstairs Going downstairs

Mindfulness is the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to things as they are.

When we ruminate, we become fruitlessly preoccupied with the fact that we are unhappy and with the causes, meanings, and consequences of our unhappiness.