Sandy, 13 years ago when I had my first stroke (the mild one compared to this one which by some standards - others peoples experiences- could also be referred to as mild) I had to get some counseling for depression. The counsellor tried meditation and it was disastrous. It made me agitated. By since that time and having gone to Reiki which was done with meditation as well, I learned that meditation, whether in person or from a meditation tape depends on the person's voice (at least to me) similar to when one receives hypnosis I would think. There is a woman who can get me everytime. She just puts me under and it takes more than her countdown to bring me back.

There are different forms of meditation and the one she uses is described as a form of story telling. She asks the group if they have ever experienced meditation and when there are some who say they haven't, asks them if when they were in school and rather then listening to the teacher looked outside and wished they were somewhere else........well, this is the form she uses. She "takes" you somewhere else (or you go where you want) and voila, you've meditated.

Unfortunately, I'm now 275 miles from there and have only been able to go once a year when I travel there for something else. It's one of the things I miss and haven't been able to connect with here.

By the way, I do meditate like that when I'm driving. BAD NEWS cause I drive right past places I need to turn and get lost.

hey sandy:

what you are saying is unbelievable, that person's happiness is all chemistry and medicine can shift that positive or negative direction, wow I never knew that, and I m glad my set point in happiness was easy to adjust through medicine.

Asha

Phyllis,

There was a five month period between when my dad died and Don had his stroke when I took a Tai Chi class. The instructor did a 10 minute "relaxation story" at the end. She often put me sound asleep with that story...in a good way. She used stories from a special book designed for meditation.

I totally believe we under use our own brains to help ourselves relax. I was able to shock my old doctor on several occasions by meditating my blood pressure down 10 points in between the time the nurse would take it to five minutes later when the doctor would. At first they thought their instrument was not working correctly.

Sandy,

I've heard that the special lights that add natural daylight to your life can also up your happiness set point, especially for those of us who live in the northern states where we don't get much daylight in the wintertime. I've often thought that was one of the contributing factors for Don's life long battle with depression...that he worked nights his whole adult life.

Jean

Phyllis, Asha, and Jean

full-spectrum lights DO help in depression when the days get shorter in the fall and winter. (i always say that the tim from the cessation of Daylight Savings Time to New Year's is my 'busy season-so many people get depressed because of low light levels plus those darned holidays.) you need to be exposed to a full spectrum light for about two hours/day. go to the Northern lights website and check out their products, or rig your own full spectrum light source.

there are more than a few studies on mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy as a treatment to change your happiness set point. you can google Jon Kabat-Zinn, Richard Davidson, Mindel Siegel, or the Mind and Life Insitute for further information. The course i went to was called' 'The Science and Clinical Applications of Meditation', and the DVD of the entire conference sells for about $55.00. i tink that if the Dalai Lama does not attend the next conference, i'll skip the physical conference and just but the DVD.

sandy