Saturday, November 9, 2013

Beating the Winter Blues, guest post by Chris Granville


It is November. It is already getting very dark, cold and gloomy at times. It is getting close to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Families can be difficult to deal with. This is a very common time to start feeling down. Here are some good suggestions to help you deal with all of that.

Can you first look to Our Lord, getting into a 15 minute bible reading time each day and maybe just start in Psalms or 1 John?

Can you start to believe that Our Lord can bring you out of feeling down?

Can you consciously start to walk a little bit every day especially during a time when the sun is out?
Be sure you wear good tennis shoes--I don't want you to turn your ankle. :)

Can you buy a natural light all spectrum lightbulb? Lowes or Home Depot probably carry them. Spend time soaking in that light. I'm sure you all know how to change a light bulb Or borrow a tall son if it's a ceiling light bulb--t least mine can change light bulbs without a ladder.

Also bring out your warm fuzzy clothes and socks but don’t start just vegging!

Start praying to Our Lord to get out of your dark mood and start praying to our Lord on how to deal with sad and angry and moody people and not lose the peace and love our Lord sends you.

And just think on how wonderful, awesome and beautiful our Lord is and how his peace is always available to us as we keep our eyes on Him......

And also start doing a bunch of kind actions for the people around you. It blesses them and it makes you feel so much better.

Remember the Lord said we are to love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Even if our neighbor is the most unlovable person!!

And also remember Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men."

That means we never, ever answer back when somebody says a nasty word to us. You answer back with God's love and you can only do that if you stay close to our Lord.



"The incidence of seasonal affective disorder increases in people who are living farther away from the equator. Statistics on seasonal affective disorder in the United States include that this disorder occurs in about 5% of adults, with up to 20% of people having some symptoms of the condition but not sufficient enough to meet diagnostic criteria for this disorder. Seasonal affective disorder is less common where there is snow on the ground. Seasonal affective disorder is about four times more common in women than men, and the average age of people when they first develop this illness is 23 years of age. People of all ages can develop seasonal affective disorder." from article by Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MD and Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD http://www.medicinenet.com/seasonal_affective_disorder_sad/article.htm


6 comments:

  1. Great post. Thanks for sharing! And don't forget to take you vitamin D - that can also help beating depression. Many people get depressed from lack of sun and that what the sun provides - vitamin D.

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  2. Excellent suggestions, Chris and Marion. Now i I could just put them all into practice! :D
    Kathy

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  3. Wonderful post, Chris. Great suggestions, especially about reading the Word and prayer. Nothing works better!

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  4. Thanks for a great post. I live in south Texas, and that means I live closer to the middle of the earth than many. Still, we get the blues here, too. Quoting Bible scriptures and making them personal seems to help -- like "If God be with me, who can be against me."
    Molly

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  5. Great post, Chris and Kathy. That is one thing I love about South Carolina and that is the year around sunshine! I know that days and days of gloomy weather can really start to wear on a person. Great advice. There is no better way to start out your day than in God's word whether it be summer or winter! God bless and thanks again for the great post.

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  6. I know and associate with several people who experience this. We sure need that sunshine in our lives to make life smoother. Thank goodness that vitamin d actually helps a lot with this, the so-called sunshine vitamin because that is what we get from the sun, too!

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