I did graduate work about Blake, admired him for disturbing my fundamentalism, but thought he was wrong in his criticism of Wordsworth. I, too, respect the sentiment of "The World Is Too Much With Us ", despite realizing that “Nature is red in tooth and claw”-- (Tennyson). I have found something in nature that stirs my soul and makes the experience holy. The tiger and the wolf act from hunger and are innocent killers.
I didn’t know you were depressed Ierrellus.
How often do you take long walks in nature?
I always suggest it because, even if it doesn’t alter the depression, it will make it more beautiful.
Also, wolves and tigers both often kill without eating, just for fun, or maybe to bring a gift to a beloved.
Thanks for posting. Yes, I suffer from major depression. Usually, the episodes are decades apart with mild conditions daily. It’s just that now my situation seems intolerable. Meds do not alter situations.
I live in the city and do not have much opportunity to walk even here. Snow has covered the sidewalks. As for the woods, my walker would not do because of the uneven ground. I don’t know of any trails nearby. I fell about a month ago and am still recovering from that.
I’m not sure animals kill for human reasons.
A botanical garden, perhaps, one with a a greenhouse? Any city in the US is bound to have a nice one somewhere. Cab ride there.
If you fell, and have access to a wheelchair, possibly a motorized one, maybe you shouldn’t be too proud to use one.
I think one problem with a pharmaceutical approach to depression is that they cannot alter ideas, which are at the bottom of a depression. It is like taking a gun away from a criminal, and saying you have now made him no longer a criminal.
There can be drugs that fully cure it for the duration of the effect, because of the massive release of nice neurotransmittors, but they have no long term effect, the cure wears off with the effect.
Walks, specially around nature (or simulated nature) stimulate thought in the healthiest possible way. If there is a way out at all, it will be through that kind of gate. Send in Dirty Harry.
And like I said, even if it also has no effect on the depression, it does make it more beautiful.
I’m gonna go take me a long walk in semi-nature right now.
I’m not depressed, but that shit gets addictive.
For Ierrelus - while you’re in nature, make some runes.
It deepens the experience.
On the mountain?
I was walking there all the time, so fucking happy, especially in the snow.
My primary regret about my depression is the knowledge that we impose our moods on each other. I would send out joy and sunshine if I could. Maybe some day I can do that again. This, too, shall pass–regarding my down mood.
In any event the situation will have its time. After that, there’s always hope.
Ierrellus:
That is a dellusion of the depressed mind. Being oversensitive to painful emotions, it projects them. In reality, none of us are affected by your mood.
We are rooting for you, those of us who have come to appreciate who you are. So maybe in that sense we are affected, like watching the hero in a movie.
But you don’t owe us anything. In fact, you don’t owe anyone anything. Fuck 'em. They got God’s ear too if they want it.
Thanks for the kind words. They do help.
Yes, but de-pression is becoming and not a static imposition of other minds, except as an affected reactive correlate to the unnoticed ontological deconstructed phenomena around us.
The techno revolution; the hype surrounding it’s parabolic acceleration, noticeably repeats the doubt which permeated the masses through and following the Enlightement.
The bottom line is a general belief that all such progressive compensation is a new and unique event in the history of the conscious Universe.
Sometimes we share joy and sunshine, and others benefit gratefully. Other times they share theirs with us, and we are thankful. The weather in my world can’t make up its mind, but I have some sunshine stored up in the not-yet that I draw from in turbulent seasons. Sending you some warmth, sunshine and playful birdsong from the infinite source.
Thanks for the positive remarks. Fumigation of my apt is over and things are back where they were. Still the depression lingers as more snow makes it impossible for me to travel to see my case worker. Let’s hope our groundhog was wrong.
There was a flock of birds on the tree outside my window yesterday. I don’t know if they were running late for the trek South or if they were harbingers of Spring.
_
I’m surrounded by birds, which the cat seems to like… for obvious reasons. 
Quite a few species… some of them on the brink of dying out, but thanks to the lockdowns enabling nature to rethrive, these birds now have leafy city habitats to dwell in and survive. Nature is truly good for fostering a positive mental health, that we can all do with. : )
Remember the Old Farts thread? 
I don’t remember the Old Farts Thread. Do you have a reference to it?
Yes, Nature does foster a positive mental health. I’ve had spells of positive feelings while at the ocean or in the mountains. Now that I’m old, I can’t get to those places.
I had those feelings also in the forest with my Am. Native friends. These friends showed me that rocks and trees are also our relatives, are our family. What I get from Nature is a sense of belonging, which I do not often feel among strangers in the city.
Thanks for the reference. I miss a lot of those who posted there–Tentative, Tab, Kriswest, et.al. I’ll read more of it when I get some more time. The thread was in 2010. I was old then.
Here is a simple exercise in self monitoring:
Core Affect is an aspect of subjective emotional experience. It is a neurophysiological state consciously accessible as simply feeling good or bad, energized or quiescent. At any point in time, a person can answer the question, how do you feel?
So monitor your core affect during the day. See if there are conditions that effect your mood.
So, for example, take something that I noticed just happened to me, you are feeling feeling positive during the day and then your mood drops to a negative one at sundown.
Maybe the fading light affected your mood. Consider if more light or other steps might improve your core affect.
What do you think? Helpful? Too obvious? Can the exercise be improved upon? Suggestions?