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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Friday, July 28, 2017

When All Is Not Well: Depression and Sadness -- A Yogic Perspective by Om Swami

When there is Darkness in your life, a person rises to show us light. A light of hope out of depression. That person is OM SWAMI. He is not Dark Knight. He is the Monk Who Sold His Porsche. And now with this book he has thrown light on reality of depression. --By Ajinkya Sonwane on 26 April 2016 

Description:

Published: July 14th, 2015

I've heard so many people tell those who suffer depression to just "cheer up." I wonder if they really believe that it’s that simple. Depression isn't just sadness. It is emptiness, it is misery. It is pain and nothingness at once. When you are truly depressed you lack the ability or will to cheer yourself up. No one just “has depression.” You suffer from it. Even with all our scientific advances, depression remains one of the most mysterious mental illnesses.

Anti-depressants don’t work for everyone just like meditation and vacations don’t work for many others. Ayurvedic and yogic texts dating as back as 5000 years called depression, vishada, a toxic state of mind. In this profoundly insightful work, Om Swami categorizes depression into three types to help you see how a different approach is needed to cure each type. Beautifully woven with soul-stirring case-studies and yogic wisdom, you will gain a new perspective on depression and sadness.

This book helps us find the right response in trying times and situations. I wish I had this book when I was struck with depressive episode in my life 23 years back. --By Vipul Agarwal on 3 May 2016

When all is not well ~ when we glance at the title of book, it seems why we need to read this book, for most of us, situations are somewhat under control and even if they are spiralling out of circumference, then we may ask “ What a simple book will do?” or “There are so many self help books out there, why shall I read it?” To be honest, if I haven’t read other books by author, then I must have thought the same, but it must have been a big mistake and would have dearly missed the beautiful teachings and transforming thoughts expressed in book.

EXCERPT

A recent research study out of Belgium found that compared to 27 other positive and negative human emotions, sadness lasts 240 times longer. Just like sponge only needs to touch the water and it soaks it all in no time, we seem to have this ability to get affected by the smallest of untoward incidents in life. You ask someone to pass on salt at the dinner table and if he ignores, you feel bad. Even this tiny incident can trigger emotions of sadness and suddenly you stop enjoying your meal or don’t feel like eating altogether. This is the way of sadness. 

Maybe nature could have primed us a bit differently. It would be nice if God hadn’t rushed to create the world in 6 days. He could have taken it bit easy, he could have consulted, you know. It’s always good to do a pilot project first, I feel. What’s worse is that after creating, he went to rest on the 7th day and still hasn’t come back. He still seems to be resting while earthlings here are writing and reading books on depression.

About the author:
Om Swami is a monk who lives in a remote place in the Himalayan foothills. He has a bachelor degree in business and an MBA from Sydney, Australia. Swami served in executive roles in large corporations around the world. He founded and led a profitable software company with offices in San Francisco, New York, Toronto, London, Sydney and India. 

Om Swami completely renounced his business interests to pursue a more spiritual life. He is the bestselling author of Kundalini: An Untold Story, A Fistful of Love and If Truth Be Told: A Monk’s Memoir. 

His blog is read by millions all over the world.

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