Reply #43: Dear child, I'll rewrite a coping "manual" I wrote on DU the other day... [View All]

[DARE to HOPE]

to a depressed college student (written Thursday morning):

As others have said, depression is NORMAL in the aftermath of this terrible loss. Sleep is a good solution once the tears are spent. I really believe in hot baths with Epsom salts, sea salt, baking soda for soothing heart and body both, and a good prelude to sleep.

Then, when energy comes back a bit, add some healthy carbs, wholegrain pasta or chicken soup, hot chocolate that is low on sugar (xylitol or stevia,) oatmeal with raisins and bananas (and coconut milk.) Add protein in as you feel a little better, especially eggs.

Then, find a tree-lined place and go for a walk. Play music that you love. Even try some classical, which can sooth the spirit.

I went to church last night, with my clergyman husband. It helped to pray, and pray the psalms, and sing the Reformation hymns. I cried so much. I had to cancel my choir, I just didn't have the energy to lead anybody else. But the view of history, both American and Christian history, is full of examples of times of loss, of devastation. I think of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, of Corrie ten Boem over against the Nazis in Germany. Knowing that God/the Universe really IS filled with love for us, despite how things feel right now, is a powerful antidote to the sword through the heart that we are all experiencing.

Evil men have always done evil things to grasp power. And America is such a prize, the most powerful, rich country on earth, though they are trying to choke us.

Nevertheless, I alone am responsible for my life. And I DO NOT CONSENT to the evil they are doing. Whatever positive action, writing, thoughts I can have in my own area of living offsets the evil in the world. Love DOES conquer in the end, I do believe this. Truth, Faith, Hope, Love are the values to live by which do produce real results, and inoculate one against the real mud of wickedness in the world. Ferret out the Truth! Hold onto the Faith, in your country, in your countrymen. Find and remind yourself and others of reasons for Hope. And...the hardest...Love even your enemies, but first, yourself, your loved ones, your very life in this world.

God IS Love. And this usurper, this heretic, this pitiful shell of a "president" can NOT destroy that, break through that shell around us, any more than he can speak the truth about anything. Bask in the Love of God. And believe that God is FOR you, has a role for you, has a reason you were made so uniquely and live among the people you do.

And by then, your eyes will be opened, you can stretch and look around you, and see the blessings that are still there, and the blessing you are. TBG. There is plenty of work out there for each of us. God bless.