I recently opened up my calendar to connect 1:1 with women considering joining me this year in my program, The Way of the Priestess I was talking with one beautiful woman the other week who shared, “Every day is feeling the same. Day after day. The same monotonous routine...”
I get it. I’ve been there. When every day is a repeat of the last, and life is starting to feel like a never-ending cycle of cleaning dishes, answering emails, and getting stuck in traffic. Many, many times the monotony of life (especially as a new parent) has made me wonder, “What’s the point of all of this…?”
Especially when I think of impending effects of climate change. The killings in the Middle East. The vast amount of mental illness, homelessness and suffering in our own country. How are we not all depressed?
But I also know my soul came here for a reason, and I want to best utilize my time here on Earth.
I thought about what has pulled me out of those harder life moments. For example, sometimes depression lingers when we don’t fully feel our grief. Or take a step outside of our comfort zone. Or begin to really listen to our intuition and I began to write…
Here are 6 questions I think would be helpful to ask yourself if you’re feeling depressed:
What truly nourishes me?
Ask yourself - how am I really using my time? How often am I being sucked in to mindless scrolling, social media, advertisements, the news…things that were often designed to make us feel worse than we did before. What could you replace that time with?
For me right now, it’s riding my bike. We recently got a bike seat for our daughter, and we’ve been riding on the bike trails near our house to watch the sunset. It puts me in a state of awe every time. The other day we even saw an owl at dusk. It swooped on a tree right in front of us, the closest I had ever seen one before.
Getting into my body, and experiencing beauty never fail to pull me out of a difficult mood. Maybe this is your reminder that at the end of the day we can put down our phone and come back to the body. Yin yoga, a walk, your spiritual practices, that which helps you feel alive, connected, and in flow
What scares me?
I think the happiest people are the ones willing to step outside their comfort zone, again and again. There’s nothing like a little adrenaline to make you feel ALIVE. And it doesn’t have to be sky diving. What about making a new friend - you can invite that person you’ve been seeing at the coffee shop to an event, or to go on a walk. You could ask someone on a date. You could go to an event by yourself. You could raise your hand and say something in a group of strangers. Or jump in the ocean in winter. I think a lot of times the things that scare us are showing us where we have room to grow.
What is my intuition telling me?
Sometimes we feel depressed when we are consistently going against our intuition. When we have a desire, a calling from somewhere and we say no to it, or make excuses to avoid it, something in our soul feels sad. It’s almost like we have a certain destiny to have certain experiences and if we keep saying no to those soul callings - we’re going to start to feel depressed. So get quiet. Listen to the soft voice of your heart (I always here it after a good yoga class)... See what unfolds.
How can I ritualize and feel my grief?
I don’t know anyone who is not holding grief about something. The thing is in our culture, it has not been accepted to feel it, especially publicly. And sometimes all grief needs is to be witnessed. Could you make a ritual around it? Maybe there’s something you could read out loud, maybe there is something that wants to be buried, maybe we just need someone else to hold the space to witness what has been lost, before we feel ready to move forward.
How can I be a student again?
Some of the happiest times in my life have been when I am learning something new. I remember my days of yoga teacher trainings, and learning to play the guitar and the ukulele were so invigorating. Being a student puts us in a beginners mind. It opens us to knowledge we didn’t have before. It expands us and allows our brain to be more open and malleable. So think about ways you can learn just for fun - maybe there’s a knitting group you can join, or maybe it’s this year’s Way of the Priestess program.
Where can I volunteer?
The times I have been living at an ashram I remember hearing “the happiest people are the ones doing the most seva, or selfless service.” Volunteering and helping where we can bring meaning to others truly enriches our lives. Maybe you can bring some soup to a sick friend, or a new mom. Maybe you can find a local garden to help. Volunteering has also been such a wonderful place to find community and feeds us in more ways than one
I hope you find these thoughts helpful. Find the new dates for my latest women's initiation program below…
