19 August 2011

two hundred sixty two

i've never seen depression spun in a positive way until i read this:

"it is often, finally, a woman's own pain and sadness that make her change her life. finally it is impossible to deny her feelings any longer..

"into such a life, depression comes as a gift, bringing the chance to strike root in a deeper ground inside oneself. depression comes as a gift forcing oneself to listen to the voice of the self within..

"depression serves a woman as it presses down on her forcing her to leave behind that which was not of herself, which had influenced her to live a life alien to her own nature. her suffering, now substantial, insists that she no longer deny its truth. she can no longer 'keep a stiff upper lip,' or 'pack up her troubles in her old kit bag and smile, smile, smile'..
-- excerpts from "circle of stones" by judith duerk

it got me thinking.. what if we didn't live in a world that said we had to be happy all the time? that crying or showing 'negative' emotion is a bad thing? what if we were allowed to embrace these feelings as a wake up call to change our lives, rather than just masking them with fake smiles and suppressing them with medications? how different would things be?

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