Depression is a feeling that we get when something bad happens and we are unable to deal with it. Even though depression is now known to have serious effects if it persists for a long length of time, the actual causes of depression are not well defined. There are some theories that suggest a multiple number of reasons, both internal and external factors which can cause depression.

There are other theories about the cause of depression arising from genetics. With this theory the family and their behavior has a predisposition towards depression. There are numerous studies and research that has shown family members who are affected by depression have a genetic makeup that is very different from family members who are unaffected by depression.

It has been noted that changes in the brain structure or even brain functions may be one of the causes of depression. While there is no clear evidence of brain functionality or genetics as being predisposed towards depression, there is ample research data to suggest that this is the case.

Low self esteem and pessimism are thought to be the other causes of depression. With these mood traits a person suffering from low self esteem will regard themselves with feelings of pessimism, worthlessness, a desire to end their life and perhaps even attempts at suicide. In this case the person who suffers from low self esteem and depression will only see the negative aspects of life. These low self esteem and pessimistic feelings maybe some of the causes of depression, as they invoke the response towards depression.

Being overwhelmed by stress can easily lead a person into a state of depression. The many pressures that we face in our lives and the great expectations that are placed on us contribute to this feeling of stress. Therefore as more stress enters our lives depression begins to set in. Low self esteem, pessimism and stress are considered to be psychological causes of depression.

Other causes of depression can include any physical changes that occur to our bodies. Severe medical conditions like Parkinson’s disease, heart attacks, strokes and diabetes can make the individual believe that there is nothing worthwhile living for. This emotional state in many cases causes the person to drop into a depression phase. By feeling depressed the rate of recovery is delayed.

While it is not completely clear what the exact causes of depression are, there is agreement that certain physical, emotional, and genetic traits can lead towards depression. Whatever the actual cause is, the end result is that the individual who is suffering from depression has a very poor quality of life. Therefore until we can define what are the real causes of depression, all that we can do is to help them become better.

The Power of Love

All of us – young or old, poor or rich, salt of the earth or intellectual, battling grave illness or enjoying phenomenal health – all of us want the same things in our lives. We must take care of our survival needs by providing shelter from the elements, food and sustenance for our bodies, and protection from dangers. Because we are social in nature, we need to connect with others in various ways. We need to belong, to be part of something larger than ourselves. Most of all we need love, and the more there is in our lives to enjoy, the better off we are in all ways.

In a very real sense, love is what powers the universe. Love is behind the benevolence of the creator(s) in our stories about where we came from. Love is the one uplifting force that empowers us and allows our consciousness to grow. Our culture recognizes and honors the power of love in thousands of ways, each with endless permutations:

Nothing stands in the way of a mother’s love for her children
Spiritual love is the highest power of all
Because of love, I am made whole
Love me, love my (parrot, car, crooked smile, kids, etc.)
Love makes the world go round.
Can’t buy me love
I’m a fool in love

The Music of Love

Where would Etta James, the Beatles or nearly every country western singer be without love to sing about? The lack of same, the loss, the regaining, the denial, the requited and the unrequited. Indeed, where would music itself be without love? It is love, after all, that stirs the heart to passion and the voice to sing. The Do-Re-Mi of love is equally qualified to express our sweetest feelings to our children as it is to let our mates know in no uncertain terms just how deeply felt our biological imperatives are on Saturday night after the kids have gone to bed. Love is such a complex and ubiquitous subject that our civilization, just as all the thousands before us and the millions more yet to come, our thoughts and feelings are filled with the artifacts of our discussions, songs and images about its various manifestations.

Love is.

And yet, love is not, also. In fact, love, so freely and unself-consciously given and received through all our connections, is the one thing we often lack for ourselves at our core level of being. We often do not love ourselves. How amazing!

The Dance of Love

A lack of self-love is first felt in very similar ways to that ballroom dance class you were forced into as a teenager in which you pretended to actually enjoy a kind of rhythmic spasm that could loosely pass for dancing. The shaky feet, the sweaty palms, the cracking voice. When it comes to self-love, there you are, quivering with your partner on the dance floor, ready to accept death as a suitable alternative to the foxtrot or the waltz.

Despite your best intentions, your two left feet probably goofed you up socially for years, if not forever. You’ve compensated by finding other ways to appease and delight your dance partners. You’ve proven to each of them that they are indeed the objects of your affections and worthy of your most undying love. Just so, you’ve never really come to grips with what it takes to feel your own love of self.

The most glaring way a lack of self-love shows up in someone’s life is in the failure of one’s intentions to manifest in desired ways.

Nothing seems to work. Despite all the books and CDs on self-improvement, all the workshops, all the inner work, all the best intentions – your life is still not where you want it to be. Maybe your job really bites. Perhaps your relations have become stagnant and uninspiring. Maybe you’re just tired of the day-to-day routine that you’ve grown accustomed to over the past twenty years or so.

Where Are You?

Your best intentions seem to have proven to in fact be your most mediocre ones. What happened?

The answer is incredibly simple after all. It’s been staring you in the face like the one that looks back at you every morning in the mirror. The answer is you!

You need to fall in love with yourself! You need to quit shaking and sweating, forget about your quivering voice and your two left feet and begin to glide and swoop like your life depended upon it. Because it does. Your life – at least the one you’ve dreamed about – depends upon your spirit soaring to every greater and greater heights, something it cannot do if you cannot love yourself.

The Feathers of Intention

Intentions are the feathers that allow you to catch life’s thermals. Love buoys them up and makes them defy the earth as they waft ever higher and higher on the currents of your life. Trying to set an intention loose upon even the most gentle breezes, let alone the mighty gales of your at times tumultuous life, without the mastery and awareness that self-love brings, is simply an exercise in futility. Without self-love, your intentions won’t fly. They remain undirected and unmoving, stuck to earth like so much fluff plastered to a rock in a rainstorm.

Fluff yourself up. Dry yourself out. Become as light and airy as the most ethereal down you can imagine. Prepare for takeoff. You are ready to launch your beautiful intentions into the glorious great beyond. You’re cleared for take-off. Have a good flight.

Still here? Ah, yes. There’s that issue of self-love. Let’s take a moment to recap.

What do we know for sure?

We know that love empowers the entire world
We know that self-love empowers us personally
We know that intentions need empowerment to manifest

Self-love Empowers Your Intentions

We must quickly come to the conclusion that given that the above statements are true, the most surefire way (actually, the only way) for us to manifest our intentions is to tune into our love. If, however, our love is only a one-way affair, if we can only effectively give love to others but not to ourselves, no matter how hard we try, we’ll never be able to empower our intentions enough to create the vision we have for our life.

I’ll say it again, because it bears repeating at this point:

The most glaring way a lack of self-love shows up in someone’s life is in the failure of one’s intentions to manifest in desired ways.

We all know how to visualize. We’ve been to all those workshops and read all those books, right? Some of us have accumulated many, many hours meditating and visualizing and praying and intending and sincerely trying to be worthy of having a good life.

It’s all about self-love.

It’s simple, really. Love yourself. Treat yourself at least as well as you would any other lover. Coddle it and cuddle it. Give yourself a big hug! Show your self that you care! Empower yourself and your intentions will start to float about as they were meant to. A beautiful, fluffy life is the life you’re really after, and you can’t get that kind of life being harsh with yourself. Lighten up! Let the feathers of your intentions land where they may.

If there’s one thing constant in both our life’s, it’s that they are always changing.

But what are they changing to and do we REALLY like it?

You may agree with me, that as a human being, we can both be prone to resisting change. We often like to stay in our comfort zones and can be reluctant to take a risk, even when they’re needed and would improve our personal and professional lives.

In our business and our personal time, how often do we think, believe, and feel that we should undertake a change, but neglect the opportunity to do so?

Two Hours – Three Opportunities

Just this morning, in the two hours before I sat down to write this article for you, I’ve had the opportunities to continue to earn the same amount of money or make more, increase or decrease someone else’s abundance, and accept or decline an offer that could lead to me realizing a dream I’ve had for five years.

In truth, I probably had more opportunities than that, but these were the ones I noticed. I suspect if you paused and took note of what’s been happening to you today, your day has been no different to mine.

The reason why most people don’t change things is that they don’t fancy the ‘doing’ part. We analyze, study and mull it over to death. In fact we spend so much time preparing to change, that you’d actually think we prefer the preparation more than dream we have in our heads.

But that’s really not the case. We both know that.

How we Can Work Together

If we agreed that you’d take action on any one thing you choose, we’d both know you were on the move to creating the dream you have in your head.

Of course, the goal you have might still seem miles away. But with every action you take brings your goal closer.

When I began my business, CommunitySoul, just over two years ago, I did it because I wanted to see positive change. I felt that you, me and everyone else in the world has the potential to master any area of their life.

My belief in your capabilities hasn’t changed. I still believe in you. Is still believe you can achieve all the things your heart desires.

But sometimes we just don’t know where to start.

Say, for example, you’re having trouble with money, never getting ahead or are in debt, a good place to start your personal mastery is to read book about, getting in the flow of money.

If you’re in business and want to attract more clients. The action you could take is to go on a marketing workshop that helps you attract more clients or understand and create effective advertising.

Let’s Do Things Together Consistently

Once we’ve taken the first step, you have to take a second. Then it’s just a case of taking consistent daily steps that are in line with what you want to achieve.

No matter what you choose to change, whether it’s your image, you ability to use a computer or your weight you must take consistent steps. As you do, your belief in what you are doing grows.

If you feel impatient or frustrated by the fact your goal or dream just seems so far away, and you want to change the way that is, we both know you can change that.

But before you change it, there is one issue you might have to face: the ‘Am I worth it?’ issue.

You see, how many times do we see opportunities that could take us closer to our dream and then turn away saying, ‘I can’t afford that,’ or ‘That seems too much.’

I know people feel like this because I see it everyday. A person calls us and says, ‘You do coaching?’ Then they say, ‘How much do you charge?’

Immediately we hear these words we know the caller is really saying ‘Are my dreams worth the cost?’ or ‘If I pay you this much, will I have to be committed to myself?’

We’ve played with how much we charge for coaching, and we’ve done it deliberately. And I’ve come to the conclusion that the price doesn’t really matter.

What matters is, how worthy a person feels.

You see, I know – and I suspect you know this too – that neither you, nor I, can put a price on your dream.

And when we receive a call from someone saying, ‘I have a dream I’d like you to help me achieve,’ we know we can help them. How do we know?

We know we can help them because they are coming from the right place. That place is not a place of ‘lack’ or limitation. It is not a place of not being good enough, or not having the money. It comes from a place of ‘I WANT THIS. I AM WORTHY. I AM COMMITTED TO ME.’

We’re all moved by stories of people who have nothing but go onto greatness. We love the hero’s journey. Books and movies are made of this stuff.

The hero at some point always has to face his enemy. Sometimes that enemy is the face that stares back at him from the mirror. But every time, the hero says, ‘Can we do this?’

And every time the answer has to be yes.

But rather than escaping into a story, why not become the story? Why not become the hero?

My challenge to you is to become the hero of your own life. Learn to accept the opportunities before you and master the things that challenge you.

If this article has struck a cord, then ACT NOW!

With love and good wishes
Neil