|
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
  
Location: A Blue State |
What do you read for support when you are down?
Or what do you do to get yourself back up?
|
|
| |
|
|
What to read for support - The words of the master whom you totally trust to be your ideal or deity.
Neel Kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org |
|
| |
|
| I think it really depends on what you're struggling with.
When I get depressed I either listen to blues or happy music depending on whether I think a good wallow is in order. I think music is much better for dealing with emotions, since it's essentially an emotional medium.
For Blues I like:
Blue Mountain- Dog Days
Bob Dylan- Blood on the Tracks
Son Volt
CCR
Johnny Cash
Gordon Lightfoot
For Happy Music I like:
Gaelic Storm
Presidents of the United States of America
They Might Be Giants
Rusted Root
The Johnny Staats Project
I also agree with Neel about finding some words of comfort in a tried and true master or book that you really like.
I also like to read really funny books. I can recommend Terry Prachett, and William Goldsmith's "The Princess Bride".
Sometimes it's also good to talk about it, work it out of your system, find out that other people have the same issues, and maybe some helpful words of encouragement.
Finally yoga actually seems to help, not sure it's the leveling out of the group energy in a good class, or just doing the asanas works things out of the system.
|
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | Yep, I agree with Neelbhai on this one. A few of my favorites, but not limited to..... are His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Swami Jyotirmayananda's International Yoga Guide - Monthly Zine + all of his books, and Sadghuru Jaggi Vasudev. Swami and Jaggi's writings have been the most profound that I've read so far. Jaggi does not play around and his truth is to the point and is not sugar coated. When I met him in person, his comment to me after autographing his book, was, "after you read this, get the hell out of here". I knew exactly what he meant by that. It made me cry and long for something greater than this temporary and phony world could offer me. Whenever I am feeling attached to this world, out of sync with everything...I read the words of these great Masters as they have a way of helping us see a truer perspective of this life and its purpose. They have a way of pulling us out of the depths of this hell realm on earth that we seem to get so caught up in and lured into with our relations and lives in general..... and the fact that we are so full of Ignorance. Their words bring light into the darkness and lifts me back into the divine.
Why do you ask this question BG??
Edited by Cyndi 2005-11-18 9:59 AM
|
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Hmmmm... I don't know how to answer that! I think I come here and read what you guys have to say when I need a little cheer. Music - Clapton, BB King, some bluegrass, my kid 
|
|
| |
|
| Personally, I just invest in a new bra and sports wear.... *listens*.... oh, you meant emotionally?!
Fee |
|
| |
|
| Retail therapy is the best! 
If I am in a real funk, I usually turn to something more personal like old e-mails or letters from people who love me (family, husband, friends). Those make me think about all the good things I have in my life.
I can't be the only person on here who digs dance music, can I? Some fast dance beats from Freezepop, Fatboy Slim, or even the Black Eyed Peas can get my booty shaking no matter how bummed out I think I am. My booty is highly susceptible, I can't keep it still when I hear a great song (or even a semi-good song). My brother just burned me a CD of all the music from the PS2 game "Amplitude" and it can chase away even the bluest blues! It's hard to cry when you're dancing . . . |
|
| |
|
| If I'm really lost in sad feelings and can't even dance, sometimes journaling helps. It gets all the ugly thoughts out of my head and onto the paper, then I can think clearly again. |
|
| |
|
| i find that i often turn to various religious/spiritual texts or spend more time in meditation.
i use all sorts of texts from all sorts of religions. some are ancient; some are more modern. recently, i find myself deeply seeped in islamic/sufi poetry as well as the traditional music from the muslim world. i've been reading a great deal of Hafiz and of course Rumi.
but, sometimes i just let it be 'roulette' style and whatever i grab and whatever i open to is obviously what i needed. and it never fails me. |
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Yes, zoebird. Letting the Universe guide is sometimes just the thing. Grab something off the shelf, open it to a random page and WHAM! Sometimes it just hits the nail right on the head |
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State |
Thanks, guys. You're good support, too.
BG |
|
| |
|
| Find Eddie Izzard's "Dress to Kill" stand up act ( its on dvd, he also has Glorious and unrepeatable ) Its ****** funny...it always seems to help pick me up. |
|
| |
|
| sideshow - 2005-11-19 12:24 PMFind Eddie Izzard's "Dress to Kill" stand up act ( its on dvd, he also has Glorious and unrepeatable ) Its ****** funny...it always seems to help pick me up.
Love Eddie Izzard!
|
|
| |
|
| When I am down the first thing I do is look within.
When I am facing the truth and reality of the situation I refocus and continue.
If I feel that reading something is needed then I will look to any of the sacred scriptures such as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, I Ching, Vedas, Zend Avesta, Upanisads, Bhagavad Gita, Holy Bible, Tripitaka, Apocypha, Talmud, Pantajili Yoga Sutras, Tao te Ching, Quran, Holy Granth, and some of the more modern work by Yogananda and the Dalai Lama. All that stuff helps me. I have no system of study, it is all random and intuitive just what feels right at the time. I know that if I can understand even just a small portion of any of these texts then I will have become a better person by applying that undersanding to my life and that in and of itself will bring me out of the "down" or funk or bad times.
Hope that helps.
Adam |
|
| |
|
| Bay Guy - 2005-11-17 7:36 PM
What do you read for support when you are down?
Or what do you do to get yourself back up?
Without writing a book explaining the psychology of emotional state... even though I'm incredibly tempted to... I'll tell you what I do.
In order for me to feel down, I have to be focusing on something that makes me feel down. By doing that, I'm also simultaneously 'not' focusing on something that makes me feel great. One of the virtues I value highly is gratitude. I'll make a list of everything and everyone I am absolutely grateful for. I'll sit there and make some phone calls, write some cards, a nice email, and express my gratitude. I'll tell them how happy I am to have them in my life and let them know how truly important they are and how blessed I am. I probably don't have to tell you that after about 30 minutes of doing this I feel like I'm on top of the world.
A person with a strong enough reason 'why' can accomplish anything regardless of the current situation, size of the obstacle, etc. Everything I do is almost entirely motivated by my relationships, including the one with myself. It really helps me realize that this life isn't just about me. It's also about the people around me.
I don't know why you're a little down. I will tell you one thing. Nothing in this life has anything meaning except for the meaning you give it. When I'm in challenging situations, I do my best to give whatever is happening an empowering meaning that'll serve me and others. It gets me back on track and focused on what's really important to me. In other words... it helps me become proactive rather than reactive to circumstances, events, people, environment, etc.
I've seen you around the boards. You're a great man. Whatever it is, my intuition tells me you're going to be just fine.
Love and light,
Gil |
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Gil - I don't know if we have discussed this before but have you always had such a positive outlook or is this something you have consciously decided to do? If so, was there an event or incident that made you decide to work on this aspect of yourself? How's the ankle? |
|
| |
|
| Wonderful Gil.
neel kulkarni
http://www.authenticyoga.org |
|
| |
|
| gilclopez - 2005-12-06 9:18 PM
Without writing a book explaining the psychology of emotional state... even though I'm incredibly tempted to...
Oh, go ahead, Gil. I'd buy it. |
|
| |
|
| tourist - 2005-12-07 7:10 AM
Gil - I don't know if we have discussed this before but have you always had such a positive outlook or is this something you have consciously decided to do? If so, was there an event or incident that made you decide to work on this aspect of yourself? How's the ankle?
Hi Glenda 
Before I answer your question... I want to make a comment on this quote:
"Good feelings aren't remembered, they are sought after." - Antilles
A business mentor of mine taught me about leveraged income long ago. It's basically the idea of doing something once and getting paid on it over and over again. He said it's a good philosophy to have for becoming financially abundant. During my search for unconditional love. I learned that in order to be able to give love without condition, I have to have an abundance of it. I also learned that I could create an abundance of it by giving it to myself and being connected to the world around me (that's general... some people call it nature, universe, or God).
So...
I put both of them together. I realized that hey... if I do something incredibly significant for someone around me (people I know and don't know) that creates really good feelings... such as love, I would have created a defining moment. Not only will they experience those good feelings in that moment. They will experience them again every single time they remember that moment. Can you imagine that... giving someone a reason to feel good, over and over and over again... for the rest of their lives? That's what I call creating an abundance of love. That's the concept of leveraged love. All this reminds me of another saying that went something along the lines of, "One way to live forever is by living in the hearts of others." Yup, so my motivation is revealed. It's my evil plot to live forever!
I wasn't always like this. It's been a consistent growth. Check out the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen. I apply that philosophy to 6 areas I've defined in my life. I've done an intense amount of study and research. It really comes down to one thing for me. I'm alive. I don't know where I was before I was born. I don't know what's going to happen after I pass. The only thing I know for sure is that I'm alive today and I love it. Life, to me, is such a beautiful gift if treated as such. It's unbelievably complicated and unbelievably simple. I have come across more paradoxes than I have answers.
There wasn't a specific event. There was a long series of them, and now, many of the ones that happen outside myself and family are started to affect me. Perhaps it's because I've been working on extending my family outside my genetic pool into the spiritual pool... the pool everyone is a part of. It's been the most challenging thing I've ever done and has forced me to start to develop an incredible amount of emotional strength. That's where yoga came into my life. It was time to become one with the suit of my soul.
Love and light,
Gil
p.s. My ankle has been fine. I think you're referring to my knee? It's 100% and very sexy if you ask me. |
|
| |
|
| Hi Cyndi,
"I knew exactly what he meant by that."
Its fun statement, "get the hell out of here". It works both in the sense of getting the hell out of samsara and getting hell (ie: samsara) out of Here (with big H).
Swami Jyotirmayananda is a disciple of Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, right? Its amazing how varied and extremely acomplished many of Swami Sivananda's disciples are. His teachings are very simple, direct, a lot of focus on discipline - seems to have worked well judging from his disciples!
Who is Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev? I have not heard of him before, but did a google search and the pictures look nice and the website contents seem quite interesting. It seems like one of those structured graded systems of teachings, which tends to work well. Also I noticed the Sadguru himself seems to teach all the classes in the schedule, which is quite impressive - these days most "Gurus" have a government-type thing that takes care of that. Do you have much experience with him?
R. |
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | gilclopez - 2005-12-06 11:18 PM
I've seen you around the boards. You're a great man. Whatever it is, my intuition tells me you're going to be just fine.
Love and light,
Gil
Gil -- You are much too kind. But thank you, and blessings to you.
Om Sri Ganeshaya nama,
.......... bg |
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Thanks for the great answer, Gil and yes, I did mean knee. What was I thinking? 
A little secret here: Antilles is my son's band and he wrote that lyric. He, like his mom, is a bit of a cynic and I think (hope!) that is not his personal philosophy but a commentary on the way things seem to be in the world. We are going to see his new country band tonight so that will be fun!
if I do something incredibly significant for someone around me (people I know and don't know) that creates really good feelings
I think the key here is something significant and something sincere. There are a lot of "kindnesses" done ina self-serving, in sincere way and they just don't have the oomph of an honest, significant thing. When you work from a solid foundation spiritually, as you do, by definition, your actions are sincere. You have very lucky friends and acquaintances!
OK - I have to go and prepare to go to a bar on a Wednesday night - late. Not my usual weekday activity! |
|
| |
What do you read for support?
