Some writers have suggested that depression can be the result of alienation from our own souls. Certainly it can also be caused by life circumstances or biochemistry. If being disconnected from our souls does happen to be the problem, what then? Can we be helped by medical practice that scarcely acknowledges the existence of soul? Can we be helped by therapists who delve into our past or teach us to think differently? Will repeating positive affirmations lift us out of our misery? All of these healing modalities will have something to offer, but ultimately it is up to us to get to the heart of the matter.
If we feel detached from life, unable to feel joy, we may not be living the life we came here to live. Sometimes we have no idea what we want. In this case, a starting point might be simply to list all of the things that we do not want in our lives. Getting specific about the things we do not like can get the compass needle pointing in a definitive direction. Consider which qualities are opposite to those you do not like, and you have begun your list of what you do want.
The heart is like a compass pointing us in the direction that our soul wants to go. We know in our hearts which people and situations are good for us. Too often we override that heart knowing, our of a sense of obligation to others, or from sheer habit. This is equivalent to putting the soul in a cage. The soul is the essence of who we are at the core of our being. It is who we really want to be, and who we would be if we did not experience self-doubt, and did not feel we had to live up to the expectations of others.
The soul wants to fly free and experience as much of itself as possible in this lifetime. To cage a soul is like taking a child to Disneyland, and only allowing that child to peer in from the outside. He or she can see all there is to experience, but is held back. When the soul is left outside of the life experience, it is no wonder that depression sets in. The child could return to Disneyland as an adult, and experience everything that was missed. The soul will not have another change in this lifetime. Sometimes the thought of making the changes that would free the soul is overwhelming to the ego. The self recoils and remains immobilized. All that is felt is an ache in the heart from that deep and distant place that knows what might have been.
Gwen Randall-Young is an author and award-winning psychotherapist. For permission to reprint this article, or to obtain books or CDs, visit www.gwen.ca.
