Excitement Vs. Depression

     There are a number of ways to illustrate how excitement and depression work. One way is to consider the role of the senses. We can think of the senses as windows. In my home state of Kerala, houses are mostly single story buildings with large wooden windows, which open out into verandas(passage ways) when weather is pleasant, but they are closed securely during heavy rains or on hot afternoons. After a round of exposure to monsoon storms and tropical heat, it becomes difficult to open the windows, and there is always the danger of forcing them open too wide that they get stuck and can’t be closed again.

     The senses behave in a very similar way. They are windows into the mind, meant to open smoothly when we are interacting with the outside world and to close securely when they are not in use. But in a person who gets easily excited, the windows of the senses are not just opened gently, they are thrown open as far as they can go. We are not usually aware of this when it happens, because all our attention is turned outwards; there is no attention left for reflection and self knowledge. But what can happen is that, the senses are thrown open with such force that they get stuck that way, leaving us completely at the mercy of the weather. We take in everything without discrimination.

     Then, eventually, there comes a storm. Something unpleasant comes along and slams the senses closed with a bang, locking us inside. That is depression.

     What follows then is tragic: we cannot help brooding over ourselves. If you look at a depressed person’s eyes, you will see a little sign: “Closed - Nobody Home.”  The tragedy is that their program is never positive. Everything is in negative mode: “Nobody likes me; I don’t like anybody, I can’t stand myself.”  In personal relationships, the tragedy is at its worst. We can be in the midst of a jolly crowd and still feel utterly alone. Everything is distorted, the way it is in a house of mirrors.

     What can we do? As a healer; I show them how to get the windows open.  Once that has been accomplished, I teach them how to open & close their senses gently and with discrimination, so that they can guard themselves against depression coming again.