Seasonal Associative Depression is the title given to a type of depression that occurs during the winter months when the days are short and the nights are long.  Basically it’s attributed to a deficiency of light and the antidote is light.  It has a physical cause, absence of light.  But in my experience it was the unreasonable expectation I had of my self, that I be able to maintain the same level of activity, be just as productive, as I generally am during the summer that was the real problem.  Judging myself as a failure because I couldn’t keep up the pace…

Seems to me that we are so disconnected from nature we’re out of sinc with it’s natural rhythms to the point of resisting reasonable impulses to slow down and rest.

All around us there are signs of a natural flow of increasing and diminishing energy.  Over the course of a year the sun goes through a cycle of increasing in strength from the lowest level at the winter solstice (December 21)to the highest level at the summer solstice (June 21).

There is a monthly ebb and flow of energy too, the lunar cycle, from new moon to full moon, waning to new moon.

And last but not least, with the dawn of each new day we experience a rise in energy with the rising of the sun to it’s apex at noon and a diminishing of that same energy as it’s sets and twilight ushers in the night.

Rhythms, cycles.  Plants and animals take their cue for growth and birth and hibernation from the seasons.  But humans, especially those of us who live the modern life style, expect ourselves to be able to keep up a pace, actually increase our pace, increase our productivity, regardless of natures cycles.

Could it be that SAD is merely the consequence of neglecting to recognize the need for rest?  Coupled with an unreasonable expectation that we always feel energetic, and a judgment that to be less productive is a sign we’re failing, in health?  On a task?

The worst experience I had with SAD was when I was working in an office.  I was leaving in the dark to get to work, in the dark, working all day long inside and then driving home in the dark.  In the dark being the operative word here.  That and a morbid mental perspective that tended to imagine the worst, that I must be coming down with something because I felt so tired…  Tired!  Now I pay attention to how I feel, when I’m tired I take a nap!  And without recriminations, thank you very much!  And I make a special point of getting outside for sunshine and a fresh perspective.

One of the tools I’ve used effectively, coupled with getting outside for a dose of sunshine, is meditation.   The deliberate effort to concentrate my thoughts on a “point of reference” using an inspiring quote for a contemplative type of mediation, or the more basic breathing meditation.  These are the antidote to negative thinking that’s been the root of my own experience with mental and emotional depression.

Happiness is a choice, Abraham Lincoln said that he’d observed that most people were as happy as they chose to be.  It’s that simple and that challenging, because the choice is an inner one, the quality of our thoughts.   Govern your thoughts and you determine the quality of your life.