About Silke Morin, Author of 'Living a Blissful Life'
Hi. I’m Silke, a new contributor to Living a Blissful Life. I am a mother, wife, writer, reader, runner, educator, scientist, and woman who lives with clinical depression. I wrote “lives with” because I have spent more than half my life “battling” depression, which is a constant struggle. Despite the battle, I withdrew from the world, attempted suicide, and was hospitalized – more than once. Waging war against depression clearly wasn’t working for me.
A Blissful Life Thanks to Accepting My Depression
A few years ago, after my last hospitalization, I decided to accept that depression is something I will always have, so I would be better off learning how to live successfully with it instead of fighting it. For me, living with depression means getting out of the long-standing habit of repressing feelings when they’re difficult or allowing them to incapacitate me. Instead, I now focus on self-compassion and practices that restore joy and meaning to my life. It isn’t easy, because I am conditioned to give in to my depressive episodes. But, I’m working really hard to change my old habits and incorporate new, more skillful ones in my life (Using All Of Your Coping With Depression Skills).
Why I'm Writing 'Living a Blissful Life'
My goals in writing for the blog and sharing my experiences are two-fold. First, I want others to know that they are not alone in feeling weighted down by depression. Everyone faces personal difficulties from time to time and, for some of us, those experiences may snowball into overwhelming anxiety and sadness. Please know that I understand how sad and lonely you can feel. Second, I want to shed light on what can be done to alleviate, or even prevent, getting to the point of feeling completely debilitated by depression. Rather than bottling up the uncomfortable emotions or running away from the tough situations in which we find ourselves – which I did for half my life -- I want to focus on how to harness that emotional energy into something productive that will help you live a blissful life.
More about Silke Morin, Author of 'Living a Blissful Life'
For more about me, please check out this bliss video:
Find Silke on Facebook, Google+, Twitter and on her personal blog.
APA Reference
Morin, S.
(2016, April 5). About Silke Morin, Author of 'Living a Blissful Life', HealthyPlace. Retrieved
on 2024, November 14 from https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/livingablissfullife/2016/04/about-silke-morin
Author: Silke Morin
Hi Silke,
Long time no see! I sat next to you occasionally in Organics Chemistry (I or II -- I can't remember) at UT many, many years ago. I dropped out of UT to start an internet company, later sold to a publicly-traded company. It's been a whirlwind. I'm now retired and travelling often. Going to Denmark and Norway soon to travel the fjords. I ran across your name on a research paper and thought I'd look you up. I've been extremely interested on the effect of consuming free glutamate on mood and general health. I'd like to correspond with you.
I work outside in agriculture. The last three years have been downers. I am slowly recovering and ready to face the world as it is. After jogging, I do look at nature. I go for a short walk and look at the trees, flowers, and wildlife. I do try to focus on colors.
Hi John, I'm sorry that you are in a mental place that feels hollow and empty. I certainly know those feelings and have been in that place, too, many times in my life. I'm glad you have an outlet (jogging) that brings you respite from the depression. Is there anything else you do that is helpful? Meditation, spending time with people you enjoy, being outside in nature?
Depression is hollow and empty. I just need more free time where I feel good and work worries vanish. Life is passing by. Jogging does help, but being around too many people and soon the negative tones settle in. Just got to keep moving.