Would you like to feel more alive and in control of your life?

You can do so by separating yourself from your depression.

The first thing to keep in mind is that unwanted, negative emotions— depression, worry, fear, and anxiety—are not you. You don’t have to live under a cloud of these burdensome emotions. 

The key is to mentally compartmentalize your depression so that it’s not a part of you. 

Try this exercise the next time depression, anxiety, or another negative emotion tries to take over your mind. 

Picture yourself from outside your body, looking at yourself as if you were another person. You see yourself and notice that you’re visibly happy with a pleasant smile on your face. 

Then, imagine taking any negative emotions that have been plaguing you and physically pulling them out of your body. 

You then stuff them securely into a neat little box. Make sure in your mind that this box is separate from you.

You are you, and your depression and anxiety are not part of your mind or your body.

You can even personify the depression for more impact. Picture it with a face, but put a quizzical look on the face as if the depression is suddenly stunned it’s no longer part of you. 

Notice we’re not calling it “your” depression, but simply depression.

Depression has been relegated as it were to the peanut gallery of your life. All it can do is just watch—with awe and envy—as you continue happily living your life out from under its control. 

You’re happy now because you’re free from the shackles of depression, worry, anxiety, and fear.

Anytime any of those emotions start to creep their way back into your mind, stop what you’re doing and mentally divorce yourself from them again. 

Firmly place them back into that box, the one that occupies space that is completely outside of your body. 

Remember—depression and worry are not you. You are you, and you are choosing to live free, not under the control of those emotions.