Dara’s Corner
Modern populations are increasingly overfed, malnourished, sedentary, sunlight-deficient, sleep-deprived, and socially isolated.[5]
6 Common Depression Traps to Avoid-Expert advice on how to sidestep pitfalls that often accompany depression.[6]
Trap #1: Social Withdrawal
Trap #2: Rumination
Trap #3: Self-Medicating with Alcohol
Trap #4: Skipping Exercise
When Orion Lyonesse is getting depressed, she turns into a hermit. She doesn't want to leave the house (not even to pick up the mail), and she cuts off contact with her friends and family.
"The more I'm alone, the deeper the depression gets," Lyonesse, an artist and writer in Lake Stevens, Wash., tells WebMD in an email. "I don't even want to cuddle my cats!"
Avoiding social contact is a common pattern you might notice when falling into depression. Some people skip activities they normally enjoy and isolate themselves from the world. Others turn to alcohol or junk food to mask their pain and unhappiness.
Depression traps vary from person to person, but what they have in common is that they can serve to worsen your mood, perpetuating a vicious cycle. Here are six behavioral pitfalls that often accompany depression -- and how you can steer clear of them as you and your doctor and therapist work on getting back on track.
Trap #1: Social Withdrawal
Social withdrawal is the most common telltale sign of depression.
"When we're clinically depressed, there's a very strong urge to pull away from others and to shut down," says Stephen Ilardi, PhD, author of books including The Depression Cure and associate professor of psychology at the University of Kansas. "It turns out to be the exact opposite of what we need."
"In depression, social isolation typically serves to worsen the illness and how we feel," Ilardi says. "Social withdrawal amplifies the brain's stress response. Social contact helps put the brakes on it."
The Fix: Gradually counteract social withdrawal by reaching out to your friends and family. Make a list of the people in your life you want to reconnect with and start by scheduling an activity.
Trap #2: Rumination
A major component of depression is rumination, which involves dwelling and brooding about themes like loss and failure that cause you to feel worse about yourself.
Rumination is a toxic process that leads to negative self-talk such as, "It's my own fault. Who would ever want me a friend?"
Related:
Can a Routine Prevent Bipolar Depressive Episodes?
"There's a saying, 'When you're in your own mind, you're in enemy territory,'" says Mark Goulston, MD, psychiatrist and author of Get Out of Your Own Way. "You leave yourself open to those thoughts and the danger is believing them."
Rumination can also cause you to interpret neutral events in a negative fashion. For example, when you're buying groceries, you may notice that the checkout person smiles at the person in front of you but doesn't smile at you, so you perceive it as a slight.
"When people are clinically depressed, they will typically spend a lot of time and energy rehearsing negative thoughts, often for long stretches of time," Ilardi says.
The Fix: Redirect your attention to a more absorbing activity, like a social engagement or reading a book.
Trap #3: Self-Medicating with Alcohol
Turning to alcohol or drugs to escape your woes is a pattern that can accompany depression, and it usually causes your depression to get worse.
Alcohol can sometimes relieve a little anxiety, especially social anxiety, but it has a depressing effect on the central nervous system, Goulston says. Plus, it can screw up your sleep.
"It's like a lot of things that we do to cope with feeling bad," he says. "They often make us feel better momentary, but in the long run, they hurt us."
The Fix: Talk to your doctor or therapist if you notice that your drinking habits are making you feel worse. Alcohol can interfere with antidepressants and anxiety medications.
Trap #4: Skipping Exercise
If you're the type of person who likes to go the gym regularly, dropping a series of workouts could signal that something's amiss in your life. The same goes for passing on activities -- such as swimming, yoga, or ballroom dancing -- that you once enjoyed.
When you're depressed, it's unlikely that you'll keep up with a regular exercise program, even though that may be just what the doctor ordered.
Exercise can be enormously therapeutic and beneficial, Ilardi says. Exercise has a powerful antidepressant effect because it boosts levels of serotonin and dopamine, two brain chemicals that often ebb when you're depressed.
Related:
3 Ways to Manage a Major Depressive Disorder Episode
"It's a paradoxical situation," Ilardi says. "Your body is capable of physical activity. The problem is your brain is not capable of initiating and getting you to do it."
The Fix: Ilardi recommends finding someone you can trust to help you initiate exercise -- a personal trainer, coach, or even a loved one. "It has to be someone who gets it, who is not going to nag you, but actually give you that prompting and encouragement and accountability," Ilardi says.
Trap #5: Seeking Sugar Highs
When you're feeling down, you may find yourself craving sweets or junk food high in carbs and sugar.
Sugar does have mild mood-elevating properties, says Ilardi, but it's only temporary. Within two hours, blood glucose levels crash, which has a mood-depressing effect.
The Fix: Avoid sugar highs and the inevitable post-sugar crash. It's always wise to eat healthfully, but now more than ever, your mood can't afford to take the hit.
Trap #6: Negative Thinking
When you're depressed, you're prone to negative thinking and talking yourself out of trying new things.
You might say to yourself, "Well, even if I did A, B, and C, it probably wouldn't make me feel any better and it would be a real hassle, so why bother trying at all?"
"That's a huge trap," says Goulston. "If you race ahead and anticipate a negative result, which then causes you to stop trying at all, that is something that will rapidly accelerate your depression and deepen it."
The Fix: Don't get too attached to grim expectations. "You have more control over doing and not doing, than you have over what the result of actions will be," Goulston says. "But there is a much greater chance that if you do, then those results will be positive."
MAY 7 First Wednesday
COSMO DAY
1 Maccabees, Chapter 10, Verse
75-76
75 He encamped near
Joppa, but the people of the city shut him out because Apollonius had a
garrison in Joppa. When they attacked it, 76
the people of the city became AFRAID and opened the gates, and so
Jonathan took possession of Joppa.
After Jonathan becomes the
high priest, Demetrius (Greek) attempts to win back the Jews with offering them
stuff. Jonathan and his supporters do not take the bait and the Hellenizing
Jews are ignored. Jonathan takes to the offer and forms and alliance with Egypt
(Rome) and Jonathan is honored by Alexander. Demetrius appoints Apollonius as
governor to hold Joppa which is crucial to his campaign. Joppa switches sides
and opens the gates to Jonathan. Checkmate.
Victory over
Apollonius[1]
Demetrius tried to win back his father's throne (147), and
Apollonius Taos, governor of Cœle-Syria, who probably had joined Demetrius,
challenged Jonathan to battle, saying that the Jews might for once leave the
mountains and venture out into the plain. Thereupon Jonathan and Simeon
appeared, with 10,000 men, before Joppa, where the forces of Apollonius lay and
the gates of which were opened to them out of fear. Reinforced from Azotus, Apollonius appeared with 3,000 men in
the plain, relying on his cavalry, and forced Jonathan to engage in battle. The
missiles of the horsemen rebounded from the shields of Simeon's men, who
successfully resisted the enemy's onslaughts. Jonathan in the meantime
vanquished the infantry, scattered it in wild flight, and pursued it to Azotus,
which city he took by assault, burning it and its villages, including the
Temple of Dagon.
First Wednesday[2]
Our Heavenly Father desires all three hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph to be honored. And so along with devotion to Jesus on First Fridays, and to Mary on First Saturdays, Our Father longs for us to add devotion to St. Joseph on each First Wednesday of the month.
"The Sacred Hearts of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph have been chosen by the Most Holy Trinity to bring peace to the world." It is at God's request that "special love and honor be given to them" to help us "imitate" their love and their lives, as well as "offer reparation" for the sins committed against them and their love.
The St. Joseph First Wednesday devotion is:
1. Pray the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary - remembering St. Joseph's love, his life, his role and his sufferings
2. Receive Holy Communion - in union with the love St. Joseph had for Jesus the first time and each time he held him - his son, his God and Savior - in his arms.
In the approved
apparitions of Our Lady of America, St. Joseph revealed:
·
"I
am the protector of the Church and the home, as I was the protector of Christ
and his Mother while I lived upon earth. Jesus and Mary desire that my pure
heart, so long hidden and unknown, be now honored in a special way.
·
Let my
children honor my most pure heart in a special manner on the First Wednesday of
the month by reciting the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary in memory of my life
with Jesus and Mary and the love I bore them, the sorrow I suffered with them.
·
Let them
receive Holy Communion in union with the love with which I received the Savior
for the first time and each time I held Him in my arms.
·
Those
who honor me in this way will be consoled by my presence at their death, and I
myself will conduct them safely into the presence of Jesus and Mary."
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
Day 325 2520-2533
PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
SECTION TWO-THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
CHAPTER
TWO-YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
Article 9-THE NINTH COMMANDMENT
II. The Battle for Purity
2520 Baptism confers on its recipient the grace of purification
from all sins. But the baptized must continue to struggle against concupiscence
of the flesh and disordered desires. With God's grace he will prevail
- by the virtue and gift of chastity, for chastity lets us love with upright
and undivided heart;
- by purity of intention which consists in seeking the true end of man: with
simplicity of vision, the baptized person seeks to find and to fulfill God's
will in everything;
- by purity of vision, external and internal; by discipline of feelings and imagination;
by refusing all complicity in impure thoughts that incline us to turn aside
from the path of God's commandments: "Appearance arouses yearning in
fools";
- by prayer:
I thought that continence arose from one's own powers,
which I did not recognize in myself. I was foolish enough not to know . . .
that no one can be continent unless you grant it. For you would surely have
granted it if my inner groaning had reached your ears and I with firm faith had
cast my cares on you.
2521 Purity requires modesty, an integral part of
temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means
refusing to unveil what should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity to
whose sensitivity it bears witness. It guides how one looks at others and
behaves toward them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their
solidarity.
2522 Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love. It encourages patience and moderation in loving relationships; it requires that the conditions for the definitive giving and commitment of man and woman to one another be fulfilled. Modesty is decency. It inspires one's choice of clothing. It keeps silence or reserve where there is evident risk of unhealthy curiosity. It is discreet.
2523 There is a modesty of the feelings as well as of the
body. It protests, for example, against the voyeuristic explorations of the
human body in certain advertisements, or against the solicitations of certain
media that go too far in the exhibition of intimate things. Modesty inspires a
way of life which makes it possible to resist the allurements of fashion and
the pressures of prevailing ideologies.
2524 The forms taken by modesty vary from one culture to
another. Everywhere, however, modesty exists as an intuition of the spiritual
dignity proper to man. It is born with the awakening consciousness of being a
subject. Teaching modesty to children and adolescents means awakening in them
respect for the human person.
2525 Christian purity requires a purification of the social
climate. It requires of the communications media that their presentations show
concern for respect and restraint. Purity of heart brings freedom from
widespread eroticism and avoids entertainment inclined to voyeurism and
illusion.
2526 So called moral permissiveness rests on an erroneous
conception of human freedom; the necessary precondition for the development of
true freedom is to let oneself be educated in the moral law. Those in charge of
education can reasonably be expected to give young people instruction
respectful of the truth, the qualities of the heart, and the moral and
spiritual dignity of man.
2527 "The Good News of Christ continually renews the
life and culture of fallen man; it combats and removes the error and evil which
flow from the ever-present attraction of sin. It never ceases to purify and
elevate the morality of peoples. It takes the spiritual qualities and
endowments of every age and nation, and with supernatural riches it causes them
to blossom, as it were, from within; it fortifies, completes, and restores them
in Christ."
IN BRIEF
2528 "Everyone who looks at a woman
lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mt 5:28).
2529 The ninth commandment warns against
lust or carnal concupiscence.
2530 The struggle against carnal lust
involves purifying the heart and practicing temperance.
2531 Purity of heart will enable us to see
God: it enables us even now to see things according to God.
2532 Purification of the heart demands
prayer, the practice of chastity, purity of intention and of vision.
2533 Purity of heart requires the modesty
which is patience, decency, and discretion. Modesty protects the intimate
center of the person.
New Orleans Founded May 7, 1718[3]
St. Louis
Cathedral, the country’s oldest continuously operating cathedral, faces Jackson
Square. Melding French, Spanish, Italian, and Afro-Caribbean cultures, New
Orleans is a city that is at once elegant and debauched. And while it was
gravely impacted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Big Easy has shown
formidable resilience. Many of the city’s myriad pleasures are packed within
the lively grid of streets that make up the Vieux Carré (aka the French
Quarter). It is New Orleans’s most touristy area, yet also its heart. The
French laid out the Quarter’s 90 blocks of narrow streets in the 1720s, and the
Spanish—who ruled during the mid- to late 18th century—further developed it.
Indeed, despite its name, the neighborhood looks more Spanish than French. Wherever
you stroll, you risk sensory overload, from jazz on boisterous Bourbon Street
to the smell of café au lait and beignets (deep-fried dough dusted with
powdered sugar) wafting from Café du Monde in Jackson Square. Decatur Street
offers souvenir stands, offbeat boutiques, and charming restaurants. It’s also
home to Central Grocery, an old-fashioned Italian deli whose claim to fame is
having perfected (some say invented) one of the city’s classic sandwiches, the
muffuletta. Royal and Chartres streets are your best bets for upscale shopping.
Be sure to pop into the tacky but fun Pat O’Brien’s to sample their Hurricane,
a fruity—and potent—rum cocktail in a glass shaped like a hurricane lamp.
Charming Soniat House is comprised of 30 antiques-filled rooms in a cluster of
three 19th-century Creole town houses overlooking an interior courtyard garden
where guests breakfast on warm biscuits and homemade preserves. For a big-hotel
experience, and a big dose of history, it’s hard to beat the lavish 600-room
1886 Hotel Monteleone. Stop by its revolving circus-themed Carousel Bar for a
Sazerac cocktail before dinner. The Windsor Court, arguably the finest hotel in
the Big Easy, is known for its palatial accommodations, award-winning
restaurant, the Grill Room, and museum-quality art collection—yes, that’s a
Gainsborough.
Visitor
info: www.neworleansonline.com.
Cosmo Day[4]
Cosmopolitans
are probably one of the most famous cocktails out there, where people can go
out at night and enjoy and fun night dancing, laughing, and singing in clubs.
If you love cosmos, then you’ll
love Cosmopolitan Day. This drink has been making the rounds for a while, and
it highlights the 90’s as one of the best drinks of its time. Let’s check out Cosmopolitan Day! Although
the day itself is coined by freelancer writer, Jace Shoemaker-Galloway, who
writes about non-traditional holidays, the history of the Cosmo itself is very
murky. According to Vinepair.com, the first tracked origins of the cosmo go
back to the late nineteenth century, where a cocktail known as the Daisy
emerged as a drink with a recipe that called for spirit, sweetener and citrus.
Although this isn’t
exactly a cosmo, a more direct line for its origins comes from 1968, when Ocean
Spray wanted to advertise cranberry juice to adults. They named the drink “The Harpoon” and it called for an ounce of
vodka, an ounce of cranberry and a squeeze of lime, which was close to the
Cosmo recipe but missed the Cointreau and/or Triple Sec.
Although
legends differ that the Cosmo came from the gay subculture of Miami Beach,
Florida and Provincetown, Massachusetts, the formal invention of the drink is
credited to a bartender named Toby Cecchini, who made the drink while working
at the famous Odeon in Manhattan’s
Tribeca neighborhood in 1987. Its
popularity spread into celebrity culture, where it ended up in The Rainbow
Room, where Madonna is pictured drinking it at a Grammy after party. However,
it was brought into mainstream culture by the famous Tv Show Sex and the City,
where it appeared multiple times throughout the show, creating a cultural
impact on the U.S.
How to Celebrate
Cosmopolitan Day
Want a Cosmo? Here’s an amazing recipe you can easily make at home. In a cocktail shaker, mix 1 1/2 ounces vodka (or citrus vodka), 1-ounce Cointreau orange liqueur, 1/2-ounce lime juice (fresh), and 1/4-ounce cranberry juice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass dipped in sugar, then garnish with an orange peel and voila! Cosmo’s can be as strong or tame as you like it, but because it has vodka in it, it isn’t exactly the most innocent drink out there as far as cocktails go. You can also hashtag #CosmopolitanDay on your social media and share you drinking your fancy cocktail with your friends.
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Holy
Bishops and Cardinals
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
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