Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Doug Willhite <drwillhite@earthlink.net>]

Pete wrote:

"Doug,

Thanks for this, haven't had a chance to read the full article. Been  
trying to figure out what happened to a close friend of mine who had  
inexplicable and apparently unconnected symptoms and then later took  
their own life. The whole thing has been racking my brain for months.  
She had a lot of stress and worry in her life, and it may explain  
some of the symptoms she had. She swore it wasn't psychological at  
the time , but it was really mind numbing to try to figure out what  
was causing her suffering (even harder now that I can't ask)."

Hi Pete,

If Paul deems this appropriate for the listserve it will be posted.  
Either way, you should receive it too.

A friend taking their own life must be really, really tough to deal  
with emotionally. I've lost some very special people in my life...  
but never lost someone that I was really close to in that particular  
way... thank goodness.

Who could ever really explain what drives a person to suicide? Other  
than me thinks it's a personal choice -- a choice which impacted a  
lot more people than merely the one who chose it -- but it was their  
personal choice nonetheless.

To help you find some closure / peace of mind with your friend, maybe  
you can dream up some kind of action or ceremony that will help you  
to honor your friend's choice.

Thankfully, suicide is not a choice most folks make. But if  
conditions ever became unbearable enough... who really knows for sure  
how any one of us would respond?

I was depressed a lot from the age of 14 or so until my early  
thirties. After that I think I developed enough perspective & learned  
enough coping tricks, tools & technics so that depression no longer  
felt like falling into a bottomless black hole. Now whenever I feel a  
little depressed I go do something that I know will help me to  
remember what a sacred-privilege it is to be alive on Earth.

Getting ones hands in the soil always helps. So do daily chores,  
walks, journaling, making music... (create your own list. :)

We know from experience that there are a number of ways to dis-spell  
emotional depression.

take care,
doug

PS When all else fails (sometimes even before that ;) we pray, or ask  
for help... Some might argue that it is merely our brain fooling  
itself by manufacturing some kind of dopemine or chemicals which make  
us feel better. But we are absolutely convinced that prayer is a  
force to be reckoned with & very worthy of daily practice.  :)



http://chihuahuavalley.net