{"id":656,"date":"2011-07-18T07:00:26","date_gmt":"2011-07-18T11:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lettinggo\/?p=656"},"modified":"2011-07-17T11:16:46","modified_gmt":"2011-07-17T15:16:46","slug":"why-it-feels-good-to-give-in-to-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/07\/why-it-feels-good-to-give-in-to-depression.html","title":{"rendered":"Why it Feels &#8220;Good&#8221; to Give in to Depression"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Question:<\/strong> Why does it feel so good to give in to depression? And why is it so hard to see the truth that wallowing in sadness in fact does us <em>no <\/em>good?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Answer:<\/strong> We value negative states because of the strong sense of self we get from them.\u00a0This may be very difficult for us to see, but the light of Truth will show us the freeing facts.\u00a0No one wants to believe that he or she values things like self-pity, anger, and depression.\u00a0We would insist we don&#8217;t, and as evidence we point to the fact that we fight against them, but the struggle gives us a false sense of life and importance.\u00a0It focuses attention on us and makes us feel like the center of a great deal of activity.\u00a0The more we struggle, the more valuable these states become, because the more interesting and exciting they make us feel.\u00a0We never feel ourselves so strongly as when we are furious, or hurt, or depressed.\u00a0Of course, this self is a\u00a0created self, a false self.\u00a0But it feels real, and that&#8217;s why we cling to it.\u00a0The power in the state is that by giving it our life, it feeds back to us a false sense of life and power.\u00a0And as a result, we miss out on the Real Life we could experience if we were not filling ourselves with the false.\u00a0<em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: Why does it feel so good to give in to depression? And why is it so hard to see the truth that wallowing in sadness in fact does us no good? Answer: We value negative states because of the strong sense of self we get from them.\u00a0This may be very difficult for us to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[591,8,69],"tags":[45,155,699,698],"class_list":["post-656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mental-health-2","category-negative-states","category-sadness-depression","tag-anger","tag-depression","tag-hurt","tag-self-pity"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why it Feels &quot;Good&quot; to Give in to Depression - Letting Go with Guy Finley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/07\/why-it-feels-good-to-give-in-to-depression.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why it Feels &quot;Good&quot; to Give in to Depression - Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question: Why does it feel so good to give in to depression? And why is it so hard to see the truth that wallowing in sadness in fact does us no good? Answer: We value negative states because of the strong sense of self we get from them.\u00a0This may be very difficult for us to&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/07\/why-it-feels-good-to-give-in-to-depression.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Guy-Finley-260924340633\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-18T11:00:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-07-17T15:16:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@guy_finley\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why it Feels \"Good\" to Give in to Depression - Letting Go with Guy Finley","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/07\/why-it-feels-good-to-give-in-to-depression.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why it Feels \"Good\" to Give in to Depression - Letting Go with Guy Finley","og_description":"Question: Why does it feel so good to give in to depression? And why is it so hard to see the truth that wallowing in sadness in fact does us no good? Answer: We value negative states because of the strong sense of self we get from them.\u00a0This may be very difficult for us to&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/07\/why-it-feels-good-to-give-in-to-depression.html","og_site_name":"Letting Go with Guy Finley","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Guy-Finley-260924340633\/","article_published_time":"2011-07-18T11:00:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-07-17T15:16:46+00:00","author":"Guy Finley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@guy_finley","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/07\/why-it-feels-good-to-give-in-to-depression.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/07\/why-it-feels-good-to-give-in-to-depression.html","name":"Why it Feels \"Good\" to Give in to Depression - Letting Go with Guy Finley","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-07-18T11:00:26+00:00","dateModified":"2011-07-17T15:16:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/#\/schema\/person\/1e80afed42f91bae3eb4ca59666c1d16"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/07\/why-it-feels-good-to-give-in-to-depression.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/07\/why-it-feels-good-to-give-in-to-depression.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/07\/why-it-feels-good-to-give-in-to-depression.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why it Feels &#8220;Good&#8221; to Give in to Depression"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/","name":"Letting Go with Guy Finley","description":"Holistic, Mental Health and Emotional Wellness","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/#\/schema\/person\/1e80afed42f91bae3eb4ca59666c1d16","name":"Guy Finley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/308\/3082f4cd4990377da62358c5c69fd4e1x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/308\/3082f4cd4990377da62358c5c69fd4e1x96.jpg","caption":"Guy Finley"},"description":"Bestselling \"Letting Go\" author Guy Finley's encouraging and accessible message is one of the true bright lights in our world today. His ideas cut straight to the heart of our most important personal and social issues - relationships, success, addiction, stress, peace, happiness, freedom - and lead the way to a higher life. Finley is the Founder and Director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit Center for Spiritual Discovery. He is the acclaimed author of \"The Secret of Letting Go\" and more than 45 other books and audio programs that have sold over two million copies in 26 languages worldwide. His work is widely endorsed by doctors, business professionals, celebrities, and religious leaders of all denominations. Through Life of Learning Foundation, Guy has presented over 5,000 unique self-realization seminars to thousands of grateful students throughout North America and Europe over the past 20 years and has been a guest on over 700 television and radio shows, including national appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and NPR. The Foundation's popular Key Lesson e-mails featuring inspirational quotes by Guy are read each week by a hundred thousand subscribers in 142 countries. Guy speaks four times each week on inner-life principles at Life of Learning Foundation's home in Merlin, Oregon. These meetings are ongoing and open to the public. For more information about Life of Learning Foundation, Guy Finley, and their life-changing messages, visit guyfinley.org. \"Guy Finley is...one of the leading experts at the forefront of human potential.\" -Nightingale Conant \"Guy Finley has helped millions live fuller, more peaceable lives.\" -Barnes and Noble","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.guyfinley.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Guy-Finley-260924340633\/","https:\/\/x.com\/guy_finley"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/author\/gfinley"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":662,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656\/revisions\/662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}