Category: DESPONDENCY

  • “People who write in water are engaged in drawing the shapes of the letters in the liquid by writing with the hand, but nothing remains of the shape of the letters, and the interest in the writing consists solely in the act of writing (for the surface of the water continually follows the hand, obliterating what is written). In the same way all enjoyable interest and activity disappears with its accomplishment. When the activity ceases the enjoyment too is wiped out, and nothing is stored up for the future, nor is any trace or remnant of happiness left to the pleasure takers when the pleasant activity passes away. This is what the text means when it says ‘there is no advantage under the sun’ for those who labor for such things, whose end is futility.”

    —St. Gregory of Nyssa

  • “Every single thing you do is work on a physical level. Every single thing you do is work. To get up and eat, you did work. Like, even that was a work right. I think the sensitivity is about merit. Is this concern about earning it, as though you weren’t good enough to have it, and I think that’s where the conversation went wrong. Like, am I? Did I earn it by being good enough for God to give me money? Right? And that’s the age old fight between, like, the Protestants and traditional Christianity, where it’s like, I don’t think anyone’s actually fighting about that, right? What we’re saying is, if you don’t eat, you die, right? Like, that’s what we’re saying. We’re not saying if you’re good enough, you eat. We’re saying you must eat, right? And that you have to eat him. And he gave himself, we didn’t give him, right? And so that differentiation maybe matters, like philosophically. But no, I don’t think it was actually making the argument right, actually making the argument about that. And I get, I guess I get, that there can be a mistakenness Even with what I’m saying, that when I’m saying, you have to work to receive grace, I have not once said that you You’ve earned it right or deserved it, right? That’s not a that’s not a thing, right? And that’s why, that’s what I’m saying with God, one out of 100 is amazing, right? Good job buddy, right? Like, that’s why he doesn’t have this scale that we created. But he’s saying, but participate with me, right? That this is, this is all for us.

    And so grace can come as different gifts, right? And so, like the things we’re talking about yesterday, God can grace you with these things, right? So if you had, if you were cognitively, the reason for your falls or incapacity or your weakness is cognitive. grace can fix that.”

    —Fr. Antony Paul

  • “Even when I feel nothing, I feel it completely.”

    —A.R. Asher

  • In hindsight, it’s incredible how trivial some of it seems. At the time, though, it was the perfect storm. I include wording like “impossible situation,” which was reflective of my thinking at the time, not objective reality.

    Tim Ferriss on How He Survived Suicidal Depression and His Tools for Warding Off the Darkness

  • If your mood and motivation are low, are telling you not to act, that’s all the more reason to act. Yes, feeling good can lead to action, but action can also lead to feeling good.

    —Brad Stulberg, Mood Follows Action

  • “It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.”

    —Wendell Berry, “Poetry and Marriage: The Use of Old Forms”

  • We are restless people who occasionally find rest, dissatisfied people who occasionally find fulfillment, and disquieted people who occasionally find serenity. We do not naturally default into rest, satisfaction, and quiet, but into their opposite.

    —Ronald Rolheiser, The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality

  • “Your mood can affect your level of motivation, but never let it affect your discipline. Successful people know what they need to do and do it, regardless of how they feel. Don’t miss out on possible opportunities just because you have chosen to be overpowered by temporary feelings.”

    —@emma_vogt

  • The way I live can look manic or bipolar or narcissistic or self-indulgent or self-abnegating depending on who’s looking. But I’m not depressed or anxious and I’ve never been more productive or happier, because I follow my body and my mind catches up. Or my mind leaps in and my body follows.

    ASK MOLLY | Glory – Maybe you want some for yourself.

  • it’s easy for a depressed person to look like he’s not working when just lying in bed can feel like work for him.

    ASK MOLLY | Hungry!