Ever feel depressed, shakey, groundless, stressed, anxious…first thing in the morning? Here’s some (almost too) simple advice for you. ~ ed.

Ocean of Dharma Quotes of the Week.

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When you feel depressed, when you feel bad, it is sometimes for no reason at all.

You wake up in the morning and feel hopeless, terrible. We may use our experiences to justify that feeling. I feel bad…because I don’t have any money. I feel bad…because something has gone wrong in my life. In fact, our early morning depression is not all that logical. Out of nowhere, you just don’t feel so good.

Then you come up with all kinds of logical explanations for why you are depressed. In the Shambhala tradition, we talk about how fearlessness comes out of the realization of fear.

Similarly, when you experience morning depression, it is possible to cheer up. That situation is genuine and quite workable. From morning depression and its terror, we can step right into basic goodness.

We can appreciate depression as being like a wobbly staircase. When you put your foot on the first step, you wonder whether it’s going to hold you. You might fall. But as you take further steps, you realize that it’s going to carry you upstairs.

We learn to reject the terror of morning depression and to step into morning basic goodness, right on the spot.

If that doesn’t do it, also with permission of Carolyn, here’s Trungpa’s classic meditation instruction. Best to practice first thing, and last thing, after and before bed. For more, see video below.

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From Ocean of Dharma, with direct permission of Carolyn Gimian:

 

The Everyday Wisdom of Chogyam Trungpa. # 77.
Originally condensed from Great Eastern Sun: The Wisdom of Shambhala, pages 30-31.

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Teachings by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, taken from works published by
Shambhala Publications, the Archive of his unpublished work in the
Shambhala Archives, plus other published sources.

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