Categories
Uncategorized

Why Anger Stops Depression from Lifting

 

I was at my meditation group earlier this week and when we finish all that thirsty meditating we pop downstairs to the bar for a drink. I got talking to a lady who has suffered from depression for quite a few years.

While I was talking to her I remembered Abraham’s idea about an emotional scale. There are 22 points on this emotional scale Joy is at the top, depression is at the bottom. In between are a whole stack of other emotional states – the majority of them negative.

The idea is that you will be at some point on the scale right now and to get to a higher point on the scale you have to move through the intermediate points. So, for example, if you were worried (#14) and wanted to feel contentment (#7) you would have to experience Doubt, Disappointment, Overwhelment, Frustration, Pessimism, and Boredom before you got what you wanted. Abraham-Hicks, in their book Ask and it is Given talk about techniques for rapidly moving through these emotional states so that you arrive quickly at neutral or positive energy states. If you are interested in shifting your emotional state, or Law of Attraction, I highly recommend Ask and It Is Given.

Abraham’s Emotional Scale

1 . Joy/Appreciation/Empowered/Freedom/Love
2 . Passion
3 . Enthusiasm/Eagerness/Happiness
4 . Positive Expectation/Belief
5 . Optimism
6 . Hopefulness
7 . Contentment
8 . Boredom
9 . Pessimism
10. Frustration/Irritation/Impatience
11. Overwhelment
12. Disappointment
13. Doubt
14. Worry
15. Blame
16. Discouragement
17. Anger
18. Revenge
19. Hatred/Rage
20. Jealousy
21. Insecurity/Guilt/Unworthiness
22. Fear/Grief/Depression/Despair/Powerlessness

From the book Ask & It Is Given.

What I wanted to write about today is not what Abraham has covered so well, but why people get stuck in emotional states like depression. My conversation, mentioned earlier, reminded me of the reason.

When you look at the bottom of the scale and work upwards you see a lot of negative and undesirable emotional states. There is nothing anyone would want until you get to Contentment at number 7. But I want you to look at the relationship between two: Depression and Anger.

Assuming that Abraham’s premise is true and you do have to move up the scale then to get out of depression you have to experience Guilt, Jealousy, Hatred, Revenge and then Anger. Depression is a low energy state, all of these have more energy associated with them, but they all have very negative associations. Many of us have been taught that anger is bad, or maybe a sin and that we shouldn’t get angry. When you have powerful programming like this at a young age you will avoid anger like the plague. At the other extreme you may have been on the receiving end of angry parents as a young child and learned to be invisible. But the memory of that pain and the damage that anger did to the relationship between your parents may be another reason that anger is a big taboo.

So how can you possibly ever escape the grip of depression when there is something between depression and happiness that you have powerful programs associated with? If you can’t allow yourself to get angry you can never, ever escape and you will remain depressed forever.

Look also to those others in that space between depression and anger that you have to go through. If you have issues about feeling any of those then you effectively have a barrier that keeps you trapped forever.

Unless, that is, you are willing to explore ways to safely experience those emotions and understand that they are transient energy states that have no meaning – other than the meaning you give to them.

Depression is a withdrawal from feeling anything at all.

So Feel and be Free.