The Law of Attraction

As a man or woman thinks so is he or she. [Emphasis is mine]

~Proverbs  23:7~

The law of attraction is a belief that likes attract likes, and that our beliefs and actions are a result of our focus. In other words, you become your focus. 

A friend of mine shared a story from years past when her now grown daughter was then a young girl. Together, they had shared a canoe and began their adventure with my friend at the back of the canoe and her daughter in the front. With paddles in hand, they began to head toward a large boulder located near the side of the river bank. My friend, quick to realize the law of attraction, began to instruct her daughter to look at the center of the river. She understood that once her daughter began to look at the center of the river she would begin to paddle in that direction. Without fail, their canoe began to turn and they averted the boulder that could have overturned their canoe with them in it. 

Living with depression is like paddling down a river in a canoe. There are many boulders in the life of those living with depression. These boulders have names like: worthless, hopeless, useless, helpless, friendless, faulty, fearful, guilty, angry, and on and on. When one, or many of these boulders are hit, lives are overturned and often unable to return upright and function as intended. What the person living with depression needs to understand is that they need to change their focus and divert the hopelessness that these beliefs create. 

Living with depression means you must change your focus and begin "paddling" your "life canoe" in that direction. Your focus, or thinking, must change from worthless to "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14), from rejected to accepted (Psalm 27:10), and from hopeless to hopeful (Romans 5:1-5). You may not control the circumstance you are in, but you can control your thinking. It is work, but "in depression the new way of living is to believe and act on what God says rather than feel what God says." (Edward T. Welch in Depression: The Way Up When You Are Down)

Some ways to begin to paddle in a different direction and avert the black hole depression drowns you in are:

1. Replace the words of worthlessness with the words "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." 

2. Daily, write down 1 attribute you have that has value to you and those in your sphere of influence. 

3. Remind yourself daily that you are loved with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3.

4. Quit listening to yourself about what is broken, and speak to yourself about the healing that is possible. 

5. Each day, invite into your heart songs and words that point to hope and healing.    

6. Move your body, eat right, think right, and believe in the healing power of God's daily compassion and lovingkindness (Lamentations 3:22-24). 

These practices move you into the direction of healing and wholeness. 

Your life is always being steered by what you focus on and ultimately believe. Steer in the direction of right thinking and believing, in spite of what your feelings are speaking to you.