"This Week" by the Bahrain Meditation Centre
30th December

Strategies to Beat the Moody Blues this Festive Season
Part 2 of 2 – Four More Steps to Mood Mastery!

Not many people realize the difference between real fun and false fun. Real fun is self-generated whereas false fun is stimulated. Real fun comes from inside out, false fun from outside in. Real fun is sustainable and energizing whereas false fun is unsustainable and must eventually lead to exhaustion. The marketing industry rely on us not being able to tell the difference as their life is devoted to selling us false fun in the form of things, places, toys for little boys and girls as well as toys for big girls and boys! When we have too much false fun there has to be an end, and it's at the ending that we experience the 'downer' after the upper. Over time can easily become a background to our life, like the backdrop on a theatre stage. The downer is always there. It's the reason drugs eventually lead to depression. While the vast majority will never go anywhere near hard drugs most of us have some form of addiction and dependency. We all know 'the downer' moment.

So here are four more ways to free your self from the moody blues when they come to call during this coming year.

1 Want Not - Any dependency will show up in your desires. Watch your desires. Notice how you already have what you desire. Where? On the screen of your mind! Notice that when your desire does not show up in reality that is when you 'create' a sense of loss. Notice the sadness, however momentary, that you generate. Notice this pattern throughout your life and you may begin to understand there is a sadness in the background of your life, like a permanent mist across the mountains. That is why, for some, the moody blues seem to be there all the time. There is only one solution. Stop sustaining your sadness by eliminating all possible loss from your life. That means wanting nothing any more! As you clarify your needs and wants you will realise that you already have all that you need, which makes it easier to want nothing.. Paradoxically, when you do, the universe will rush to give you more!

2 Get Focussed -The emotional blues also come because there is space for them to enter. It is highly likely you are inviting them by thinking too much. This normally means you have too much time without any particular focus. Get busy in helping or serving others in some way, so there is no space for negative or wasteful thinking. This gives focus to your energy. At the same time don't compare yourself with others. We all have different speeds at different times as we make the journey called life. `Doing' something worthwhile can easily shake you out of your mood. Mix doing with being, without becoming addicted to 'doing'. Find your ideal balance. Only you know what that is for you. Create something beautiful for someone - however modest - a meal, a gift an evening gathering of friends. But don't expect anything in return. As you focus your creative energy in this positive way your mood will atrophy.

3 Spiritual Journal - Keep a journal in which you deeply explore your own insights into the `true meaning' of love and happiness. What is love and happiness? And how do they change in quality and expression in your experience? As you dig deep inside you it will help you to unlock the unlimited potential of your intellect and plough the field of your own consciousness. As you do the richness of realisation and meaning will come to the surface and nourish your mind and your heart. Pose the question and be quiet, be still, watch and listen with your inner eye and ear. Write down whatever comes. With practice you will rediscover the wisdom that already lives within you, and inspiration will start to come from inside out, not outside in.

4 Forgive and Forget - Forget the past, it's dead and gone. And that includes yesterday. If you wallow in the sentiment that accompanies nostalgia for good times past, you miss living joyfully today. The past has no value once any lessons have been learned. And if you take a moment to notice, you will see all feelings of sorrow or hurt lie in the past. Every time you remember them you simply hurt yourself again. So forgive, which means giving the love of your heart to any image or memory of hurt you are holding on to, and thereby healing it. That is what love is for, it is for giving, and therefore it is forgiving! Then forget and move on. Do this every day, many times a day if necessary, as you learn let go and free your self from your moody blues.

And so, in summary, forget the past, don't worry about or desire for the future, forgive yourself for not doing either so far, and watch your self come alive in this moment now. This is the real antidote to the moody blues which is really just you drifting away from the present moment like seaweed drifting in the currents of the ocean. Ultimately only nostalgia and hope stand in the way of authentic experience, and the only authentic experience is being contented now. If you do this, if you do heal your moody blues, you will also realise that you do so not just for you. This is not just about YOU. Everyone around you will feel the lifting of the fog, the clearing of the emotional mists. Everyone around you will turn to face and bask in the radiant sun that is your heart. The world awaits those who will take the lead at this level of the healing of feelings.

Wishing you a happy 'new year' and a contented 'all year'! We are each alone and yet we are all together.

Question: What do you think was the greatest loss you have ever experienced? How could you re-perceive it so there is not sadness?
Reflection: Reflect in the your journal or on a blank sheet of paper how your moods interfere with your relationships
Action: Create a NEW benevolent focus for your energy this week. Or, if you are already busy carve out some quiet time every day.

Om Shanti
(I am a peaceful soul)
 Tel: +973-17-712 545, meditate@batelco.com.bh, www.bahrainmeditationcentre.org
Bahrain Meditation Centre is administered by B.K.W.S.U. (visit: www.bkwsu.org.uk)