Could this be depression?

3 years ago By Yogi Anoop

Once a person came to me and said a very unusual thing. He said he has found the source of happiness. On my enquiring, he said he gets immense happiness by staring at the sky, visualising the sea and listening to birds trill and chirp in the morning. "It feels as if I am in nature's lap," he said to me. 

 

"It is depression," I told him, "if not now, then it will be in a few years". Why did I say that to him? It is not that a person who finds solace amid nature is depressed, not at all, in fact, connecting with nature, spending time amid nature is good for the mind and health but someone who does not connect with the self and those around could fall prey to depression. 

Man is known as a social animal for a reason. Mankind cannot thrive in the absence of interpersonal connection, the pandemic-induced lockdown is the biggest example of this. As people were forced to get locked and confined in their homes for a prolonged period, many began displaying signs of deteriorating mental health. 

I have seen that the more emotionally weak a person is, they keep dogs at home and transfer their disease to them. Although you can't just give disease to anyone. Dogs easily get attached to humans and in the affair of love with humans they die of kidney, heart or stomach ailments just like humans. Extremely emotional people can only pet dogs, ask them to pet a cow or a tiger, they won't as it requires a lot of taming and patience, which most people with depression do not have. They just want to calm down for a few hours by putting their emotional vomit on their dog. 

I say it is futile to rejoice with the birds, the truth is that you are calm when you see birds because you want to be free just like them. We all are caged and find solace in watching the free elements - the unrestricted play of nature in the limitless sky, the carefree birds, rivers and rivulets, the untamed ocean! 

Work on freeing yourself, calming the storm inside you, quieting your monkey mind and the ever-increasing rush of thoughts and emotions. Truth be told, you can never find peace and calm without changing yourself. It is impossible. A positive step in bringing about a change in yourself and reaching closer to a calmer you is only through meditation and pranayama. 

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