How to you cope with being spiritually bottomed out?

[Zapbasket]

I've suffered from circumstantial depression before, but this is something different. I feel completely spiritually depleted. I'm not talking about the effects of having had a bad week, where a long bout of exercise or a weekend away restores your equilibrium.

 

I'm talking about the kind of spiritual depletion where one unpleasant thing after another has happened over the past several years and you suddenly realize that your resilience is gone, you question everything you ever thought was so before, you feel as though your life has no worth and you can't find your direction anymore.

 

Today it all crashed down on me so hard that I called a local monastery to see whether I could just come on retreat for an indefinite period.

 

What do you do to regain your spirit?

[todreaminblue]

i am schizo affective......and suffer from clinical depression....when i feel spiritually depleted...to me that is when all my hoper is gone and i want to hang or drown myself an internal battle happens..voices visions......i break down.......i sleep i walk i eat and some how i keep going.........i dont know exactly how ask god next time for me and say deb would really like to know how she keeps surviving...i think god will whisper to you..........how do you think she does..

 

 

which is basically what happens when i ask.....and it will come to you...god watches over me through it all that voice that is part of the internal battle is heaven sent to keep me trekkin...he sends me peopel to help me...even if it is just a random laugh with a stranger in a check out line....its the little things right? or me picking something up for an old lady or opening her bottle of water because she feels faint and not strong enough she has diabetes...yes people tend to talk to me .....a lot....... while grocery shopping in the street in a line at the bank....they just open up ...it really makes em smile...and funnily enough i have lots of stories to share.....to people like you....i was meant to be there to do that open a bottle of water for an old lady hot tired and faint........ and i silently go "ok god now i understand why you wanted me to be here today" because it was that had to wish that old lady a great day open her water and tell her to put her feet up when she got home...and it was me who needed that smile she gave me back .....and the pleasure of being able to help so simply..so easily.and i actually smile.......have you ever actually counted something microscopic that you dont think really counts ...

 

 

 

 

like sand for example or words people say .........i havent counted sand but i do count words some times...its tiring I dont suggest doing it .....but if you count all the microscopic moments that happen in one day those ones that pass by in second or less than ...for example a smile from someone who was sad who you made smile by being goofy (grain of sand one).........lasts sometimes less than a second......if you count all of those moments in one day you didnt think were important suddenly they become like sand does.....they turn into a mile wide beach, sparkling in the sun with promise of smiles to come.........and there is one simple other way i replenish after that diatribe

 

 

i go to church once a week.or try to .....i feel renewed when i do ....and feel loss when i dont..and i see the smiles of people who go there who have become friends well they have to me anyway, they are there for the same reason i am ....sanctuary of the holy spirit that visits to bless us with hope adn the chance to say hey sorry for swearing or doubting or whatever you feel in yoru heart was wrong by taking the sacrament and to thank god for getting you through trials with smiles .......i would just go for the simple fact they give free hugs....i am kidding lol but i like to be hugged...hugs heal...;00...never lose your hope....it is hard to recover...replenish it through what you believe in.....and to me i feel try to count sand when it gets tough...much sand....equals sparkling beach........hugs to ya...huuuge hope filled ones.......keep trekkin from .......deb

[skydiveaddict]

, you feel as though your life has no worth and you can't find your direction anymore.

 

Today it all crashed down on me so hard that I called a local monastery to see whether I could just come on retreat for an indefinite period.

 

What do you do to regain your spirit?

 

It's called "The Dark Night of the Soul." (St. John of the Cross). I've been dealing with it my entire life.

 

According to him, it's a gift from God rather than a curse.

 

Mother Theresa suffered with it her entire life as well.

 

But most people emerge from it at one point or another.

 

Hang in there.

Edited October 11, 2013 by skydiveaddict

[jimloveslips]

If this is a religious question I can't help you, but if it's your psyche suffering a few blows then you need to step out in nature and marvel at the world.

 

I rarely get down except when I'm ill - i hate being ill.

 

Right now my wife is going thru some horrible medical stuff and we find release in a simple walk along the beach, through the forest, or just walking our dog.

 

You need to free your mind from the constant knots and tangles it weaves when your stuck inside four walls. Find some outlet.

 

Do you have a hobby?

 

The worst for me is when you get some work stress and just as you go to bed you get on some repetitive jag that you can't shake - the best solution I've found is engage the brain in something else - read, watch TV (walking the dog at night is not so good, nothing to see to divert your mind)...

[M30USA]

It's called "The Dark Night of the Soul." (St. John of the Cross). I've been dealing with it my entire life.

 

According to him, it's a gift from God rather than a curse.

 

Mother Theresa suffered with it her entire life as well.

 

But most people emerge from it at one point or another.

 

Hang in there.

 

If you are correct (and you are), then the inverse can also be true: what appears to be "blessings" can actually be a curse or judgement from God. Key word CAN.

 

Jesus was the annointed one of God yet he was "a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering". Religious people of his time considered him "accursed by God".

Edited October 11, 2013 by M30USA