What to Do When You’re Feeling Blue
By Elijah Maddox
Everyone has had the experience of getting knocked down by the challenges that life hurls at us. When we are confronted with feelings of sadness or uncertainty, what can we do about it? Thankfully, there is more than just one solution. With a little intentionality and especially with God’s guidance and love, each one of us can fight these battles against the blues and come out on top.
The traditional religious approach to dealing with the turmoil of life is as valuable today as it has ever been. First among these is prayer. In our darkest hour, we should turn first to our Heavenly Parent. Who else knows us inside and out better than God does? The best support in our lives can often come from that voice within ourselves, our Original Mind created by God.
Prayer may include requests for answers or guidance, but it can also be as simple as a conversation with God. I’ve turned to prayer many times when I felt uneasy or disquieted. When I was stressed out of my mind over my job and couldn’t seem to figure out how to face another day, I turned to prayer to ask for confidence and persistence. After spending months seething with resentment towards a close friend, I prayed in repentance until my own heart softened. Time and again I have turned to prayer to reset my spiritual compass and start moving me forward again after I had felt spiritually and emotionally stuck.
Sometimes, it’s not so much an answer that we look for, just a chance to realign our hearts closer to our Heavenly Parent. Father Moon advises us in our prayer life that, “The way of righteousness requires that we declare our intentions and then report what we do. First, declare in your prayer, ‘Father, I will do such and such today,’ and later on report, ‘I have accomplished those things today.’” In these cases, it’s not that God needs to know what our plan is. Rather, we share with Him for our own sake. Developing this closeness with God through prayer can have a profound effect on our peace of mind.
Taking care of our mental health is another form of spiritual care. Therapy or counseling aimed at helping us heal old wounds and discover deeper aspects of our hearts and souls can be options worth pursuing. It can be helpful to talk things through with a friend or mentor whom we can confide in. Everybody needs community in their lives. Those who have lived long and fruitful lives are in the perfect position to advise the younger among us when we hit stumbling blocks in our paths.
I have been blessed to have amazing mentors who advise me, support me, and challenge me to do a little better at my current responsibilities. Having a family and community to fall back on in times of need has helped me to feel that the world is not so big and scary a place after all.
Aside from the focus on our mind and soul, sometimes all we need to do to make a big impact on our mental state is get our physical bodies moving. The easiest thing for me to do each night after I get off work is to collapse on my bed and scroll through YouTube until I pass out. This, I have found, does not make me happy. Conversely, the hardest thing for me after a long work day is to change into gym clothes and hit the weight room for an hour. It isn’t easy, and yet I have never once regretted it. Eating a good diet, drinking water, getting sunlight, and moving our bodies are simple steps, but they can go a long way toward improving our well-being.
Service is something not everyone associates as a mood booster. One of the important rules I learned to follow during my missionary years was to love and serve others first as a way to reinvigorate myself. Seeing the positive effect I had on people would immediately raise my spirits. The Unificationist teaching is that when we love and serve others, we forget ourselves. That may sound uncomfortable, but it can be a profound experience. Many people today can only think of their own needs, fears, desires, and pain. Letting all of that go in the process of serving others can free us (at least temporarily) from that baggage.
We need purpose in our lives. Purpose gives us something to work towards. We find joy in accomplishing our goals. A life with purpose is a joyful life. Each one of us needs small purposes in our day-to-day lives, but we should also take the time to set our sights on what we ultimately want to accomplish with our lives on a bigger scale. Our Heavenly Parent has a providence here in this world that He would like all of us to be connected to.
Speaking to an American audience about our role in the world, Mother Moon said in a recent speech that, “You all have a responsibility. America cannot become a country where only America prospers, it should become an America that can embrace its siblings from all over the world. Through all of you, you have to make it clear to the American political, economic, and all... Although they may not know it, there is a purpose prepared by heaven, but you must enlighten those who are not aligned in that direction and educate them so that they can become the Heavenly United States that can fulfill its responsibility.” Her message is that we each need to be aware of the bigger purpose Hor intends for our lives. Being tuned in to that can give us something greater than ourselves to live for.
So, what do you do when you’re feeling blue? Talk to God, move your body, and love others more than you love yourself. It’s up to you to determine which of these approaches is right for you in the moment. Problems come up in life, and we have to be prepared to face them. But just remember that God will always have your back.