The Epidemic Of Depression

I've seen with my own eyes, people in third world countries

who live in these conditions.  The ones I met seemed to be

fine with their lives, likely because they do constructive things,

they have much less societal influences such as peer

indoctrination, hero worship, history books, TV, or video games.

Yes mental depression is in epidemic proportions, and is not getting any better.  Besides the usual causes, we now have the “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy” crowd making it all the worse.

Some of the causes are:  Brainwashing by Hollywood’s hero movies (I list this one first, because it is so damaging in so many ways), being bullied as  a child (more often by parents than by peers), working one’s ass off for X amount of years to no avail.  There may or may not be a genetic component that might cause a certain amount of susceptibility to depression, but if there is, it’s minimal, and can easily be overcome.

Hollywood’s Hero Movies.  Every American boy has been told by daddy, by uncle, by peers, by so called “History books”, and by Hollywood that he must handle every situation the way Chuck Norris, Clint Eastwood, and Superman would.  Little American boys watch this stuff, and it sinks into their subconscious that this is reality.  Daddy, uncle, and the other little boys have all been brainwashed by the same source – the almighty television.  History books have been written in much the same way – where hero worship is part and parcel of just about every passage.  I must emphasize the TV, because that is what we see more often than any other source.  We humans, as well as all living creatures, have a built in mechanism, often known as the “Self preservation mechanism”.  This system is designed to preserve its own life, its own safety.  Most males in western society think that a person who acts on that mechanism is some kind of scaredy cat, a coward.  If you have ever observed an animal, it will live its life, it will hunt food, and some will have a home turf.  At some point in an animal’s life, some other animal, or in many cases, humans, will threaten its life.  The animal will always retreat when it knows it cannot defend itself against the threat.  I’m pretty sure most of us don’t see this animal as a coward.  Same goes for humans.  If we are threatened by a gun pointed at our face, most of us are not going to challenge the person holding the gun.  The difference here is, we see Chuck, Clint, and Sup, using supersonic speed (well scripted, choreographed, and directed) to disarm the badguy and come out the winner – showing the audience that showing “guts” is what life is all about (I'll discuss intestinal fortitude at a later date).  We see this nonsense almost from the day we are born, so by the time we’re two years old, we want to mimic what we’ve seen hundreds of times by then.  Couple things here.  First, I’d be willing to be that neither Clint, nor any of the actors who played Superman, have ever been in a real fight in their life – to their credit, not their detriment.  Chuck Norris took part in carefully controlled Karate matches when he was a youngster.  So, let’s say Chuck is in a restaurant, and some loudmouth calls him a sissy, and Chuck then stands up and decks the guy.  First off, if the guy doesn’t stay down, there’s a chance he could pull a gun out and start shooting – and much as we would like to think otherwise, Chuck cannot dodge bullets without the script, the director, the rehearsal, or the gun prop gun that if it’s shooting anything at all, it’s shooting blanks.  There"s also the likely possibility that Chuck ciuld find himself in prison - for up to five years.  Im pretty sure no dimwit out in public is worth any of this.  I would bet that when Chuck, Clint, or any other TV or big screen badass has run into a similar situation, they, like any other intelligent person, would remove himself from the situation – as he should.  I say again, this does not make a person a coward.  A coward is a person who will find a weapon to hide behind, and use that to cause grief and loss for another person – you must learn this, because the false notion that walking away from a threatening situation (otherwise known as “fear”)  makes us cowards is probably the biggest contributor to depression that there is.  There will always be bullies, cowards, who suffer from some form of self loathing, and live to try to make others feel as bad about themselves as they do, you see them more often than you would care to think about.  You don’t need to concern yourself with what the bully thinks, because if you can remember this, he is already beyond miserable with his own horrible self image.  So, if walking away from a threat is good enough for a mighty lion in the jungle, and good enough for any onscreen badass who encounters such a situation in real life, then it’s damn sure good enough for me – and for you.

In today’s world, there are those way up at the top of the food chain who have carefully orchestrated and manipulated the world so that they can have and maintain total and absolute control and material profit.  They are clever and ruthless, and they are gaining more and more control over every man, woman, and child on the planet.  That being the case, it becomes more and more difficult to make a decent living, to start and maintain a true small business, to feed our families, and to even live a decent life.  Yes, there are those who deny and defend against this fact, but well, we won’t concern ourselves with the perpetrators and their defenders at this point.  Most people enjoy working – providing it means working at something that brings them some form of satisfaction.  In one’s early adult years, we can work doing whatever job presents itself, whatever is available – being that at that early age, very few of us have any kind of training.  If it’s possible to save, and maybe at some point find a product or service to offer.  This, as we all know, is much more difficult in today’s world than it was a couple of decades ago.  Doing such a thing in a city is probably out of the question, unless you’re fortunate enough to have a few million dollars at your disposal – needless to say, very few of us have that luxury.  I don’t have any advice on what products or services will have a future, because once again, the Powers That Be have made it next to impossible to attempt such a thing, and, as some slip through the cracks, they patch up the crack.  I guess what I’m saying is that our American environment is not set up to benefit us, the little people – as it was back when our country was at its greatest – 40, 50, and 60 years ago.  So, no business advice here, just ways to cope with these glaring facts.  You can refer to the post titled, “First You Must Clear Your Mind” (you can find it here:  http://meahunahealth.blogspot.com/2015/01/theres-more-than-one-way-to-skin-lesson.html).  If I do have any advice on this, it’s to do lots of research, make sure you know your trade and who your customers will be, even better if you spend some time working in that field before you invest in your own.  Also, maybe outside the city would give you a better chance.  Working one’s ass off for decades, only to find himself destitute, is a major contributor to depression, and the sad part is, it’s not an uncommon scenario.  Another thing I’ve learned is that nobody is going to help you, and in general, if you cross paths with a person who is offering, that person is doing so in order to get something from you.  Sad as that is, I learned it the hard way – and I’ve yet to see an exception to that rule.  And please, this is not “negative”, this is being realistic, and the more obstacles you are prepared for, the better of you’ll be.  I think that’s a big one – there will always be obstacles, you’ll have to prepare the best you can, and understand that many more will present themselves.  I’ve not seen many truly “successful” people.  A few have achieved financial riches, but of the many I’ve met, they are miserable – and the more they try to convince me, as well as themselves otherwise, the more obvious it becomes.  The folks who spend their whole lives struggling and not finding what they set out to, will often end up depressed at some point in their life.  What seems to keep me out of deep depression is always having something on the horizon – always working towards something.  This, along with what can be found at “First You Must Clear Your Mind” will be of some help. 


Along with depression usually comes some amount of anxiety, and one or more phobias.  Anxiety simply means that you are worried about what is to come.  As with most fears, the worrying is almost always worse than the actual outcome.  As has been said ad nauseam, worrying will not change a thing, and often it will stifle any ability to find ways to arrive at a better result.  So, if you can use any of my suggested methods to think instead of worry, it’s likely you’ll find yourself in a better situation than if you wasted all that energy worrying.  Here’s something I’ve learned fairly recently – I am not arrogant enough to think that I have much, if any, control over my life – my environment is much bigger than I am, all I can do is navigate through all the chaos.  Some are better at that than others, but if you are aware of this, it will be still another obstacle that may just be a little easier to deal with.

As for phobias, the best you can do is try to learn the difference between your Self Preservation Mechanism and a phobia.  For me, I had a pretty nasty case of “agoraphobia”, the fear of being outside and/or public places.  The base of it was that I was constantly feeling hostility from people.  But, once I started to grasp that others’ aggression was a statement of their own lack of self worth, their own self inflicted misery, I began to feel more at ease.  For years, I thought I was supposed to do what the TV said – “Don’t let anybody give you crap, you do whatever it takes, never back down”, and other such macho horseshit.  When I was ok with who I was, and I mean really ok, the feeling of being offended by such people seemed to dissipate.  Again, see “First You Must Clear Your Mind” for suggestions on how to arrive at that.

So, depression is rampant in today’s world.  Steer clear of “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy”, no matter how much you may be manipulated or bullied into it, because it will cause you nothing but more grief.  And oh yeah, they make it sound pretty at first, but take my word for it, it is destructive and toxic.  Try to be prepared for the fact that there will always be obstacles, and, the bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacle.  You don’t need to abandon your earthly desires, just make sure you don’t allow yourself to morph into greed mode, because that is every bit as harmful, if not worse, as not achieving a goal.  Try to be aware that the environment is not set up for your benefit, so keep your eyes open, be as prepared and quick on your feet as you can possibly be, and then some.

The more you learn, the better chance you’ll have of living other than destitute, that’s probably the best thing you can keep in your mind.  Please don’t hesitate to refer back here as often as you need to.  Other than that, go out there, observe, learn, and be kind.