After darkness there is light

I don't know about you, but I am intimately aquainted with depression and have been for years. I have to say, it has probably been my greatest teacher, although not always a kind one.

For me, depression comes to visit when something needs to change - a job, a house, a relationship, or a way of thinking/reacting that we no longer need. I see it as something of a divine wake up call.

There is also one thing I have learned about depression - this too will pass. It may take time (in some cases for me, one bout of it lasted for up to 6 months), but there always came a moment of grace, when even just for a few moments, the cloud would lift and I would be free again to see that the concept of a sun existed.

I've just come out of a bout of it (they only last a couple of days for me now, as I seem to be very proficient in working out what is the issue and making the necessary changes either externally or internally - you know what they say, practise makes perfect), and realised today that I feel and look different somehow.

It's as though by coming through the darkness, I can now hold more light. And that I think is worth celebrating...

So, here's to depression and it teaching us how to liberate ourselves from our fears and thus allowing us a greater connection to the Divine.