The reason: Life takes a lot of energy, a lot of mental energy.
But sometimes we don't have a lot. Why? Because we used it. Or perhaps we are on the down side of one, or more, of the many cycles through which our bodies pass. Or perhaps a lot has been going on, or a lot has been going wrong. In any case, we are tired, mentally tired.
When people are mentally tired, we always see the same symptoms:
Everything looks bad. Everything makes us feel bad. It is everything, but nothing. Almost everything produces fear. Our thoughts are out of control. Though we may wake up feeling good, within seconds the "cloud" comes upon us.
All of this produces panic. People begin to scream, if only to themselves, "what's wrong with me; what's wrong with me; will I ever get over this, will I ever feel good again?!"
Naturally, this uses up more energy. This makes things look worse, causing us to panic all the more, using up more energy, making things look worse... and so it goes. We drive ourselves into a deep dark hole where we suffer very much for nothing. We suffer for nothing because we have brought about our suffering by taking ourselves most seriously at a time when we should be taking ourselves least seriously. After all, when we are tired, our mind-the thing that makes our judgments-is functioning most poorly.
Therefore, to avoid the vicious circle brought on by the interplay of tiredness and panic, and to allow ourselves to rest and return to normal as quickly as possible, all we need to do is to recognize that when everything looks bad-including many things that never looked bad before-it's not everything; it's me; I'm tired. Therefore, at this time, I will not judge. I will not judge me. I will not judge my life or my wife. I will try not to take my bad thoughts seriously.
Now, this will not make us feel better immediately. After all, we are still tired. But knowing this will help us to understand why we feel bad. More importantly, it will help us not to make matters worse. (The treatment for exhaustion is not exercise.)
When finally we begin to rest, things will begin to look a little better. It will become clearer that this is how life works. We will get more rest. Things will now look even better. It will become even clearer that this is how life works. We will no longer participate in the vicious circle that makes us suffer. And we will never be at the mercy of depression again.
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