Igloo at night
Even though I wrote a book on how to be happier more of the time, I am not a psychologist that knows what causes depression. I just figured out a technique that helps break the mental train of negative thought so that we can have less stress in our lives.
The reason that looking for beauty to find happiness works is that it brings you into the moment. As one author put it, this quiets the mental chat room for a while.
We all have a lot going on in our lives. It doesn’t matter if you are the CEO of a large company, a worker at a company, or a stay at home mom. We all have our challenges.
It may be easy to see how a corporate leader could have challenges, but at least they have a lot of control of their destiny. People studying what causes depression found that lack of control in their life is a major factor in feeling stress.
Even people who are retired have challenges. There is a lot of depression in retired people. Many no longer feel useful. I think that we all need to be needed. When people are no longer counting on you at work, you may need to find some way to be needed again.
This is where volunteering can help. It doesn’t have to be full time, and if you are retired, it probably shouldn’t be full time. You retired to slow down and take it easy. Don’t fill your schedule too much, or it may do more harm to you than good.
Try not to about what causes depression and focus on the beauty around you. Breaking the train of thought that is causing the anguish may not solve what causes depression, but it does help stop the downward spiral.