Tag Archives: depression

If there was ever a man who had a reason to be depressed, it would be His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Exiled from his beloved country, he witnesses the continual suppression of the peaceful Tibetan people and their traditional way of life. Despite this painful reality, he lives his life with hope and dignity. We can see that it is not so much what happens to us, but how we interpret our circumstances. We can get lost in fictitious thoughts that generate bitter unhappy feelings; and those thoughts become memorised emotions in our bodies. If we allow negative thoughts and emotions to sweep us away and we somersault into illusions, those beliefs can become our life stories. Criticism and judgmentalism of self and others always accompanies depression, as the sufferer believes that these projections in their mind are real. Disconnecting from our greater self into false refuges can lead to depression. Why do we avoid searching mindfully inside ourselves for that humanly divine presence which is here, real, precious and vast?

Patrul Rinposhe said “You leave your elephant at home and look for its footprints in the forest.” If we tame our mind of its distractions and delusions, we can actually re-wire the brain through the guidance of love, forgiveness, compassion, prayer, meditation, chanting, mind training, dancing and many other ways which transform our thoughts and emotions.

In his article below, originally published in the Hindustan Times, India, on January 3rd, 2011, the Dalai Lama explains that “one of the mind’s most marvelous qualities is that it can be transformed.” Continue reading →