Mercury retrograde started May 10th and ends June 3rd, 2022. This is a time of uncertainty, delays with communication and travel, and murky perception. Use caution with contracts, big purchases, and investments. It can be a good time to find solutions for existing problems and re-do things. New ideas you had during the first half of Mercury retrograde (until approximately May 22nd) may not be as great as they seemed later, and it’s a time of old ideas falling away. Ideas during the second half tend to be better but not always great, and then about ten days after Mercury goes direct is when your perception should be clear again. More information.
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How I Clear Depression and Anxiety Without Medication
Please note: I’m not advocating for or against medication. I’m too sensitive for it, so I had to find alternatives that work for me. Also, I’m not a doctor. Please consult your physician for personalized medical advice. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions regarding a medical condition.
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I was forty-four years old. I woke up at 4am feeling hungover, though I hadn’t drunk the night prior. It was my gut again; the spasming vibrated throughout my entire body, like someone was lying next to me and poking me repeatedly, so I couldn’t sleep. It had happened at least once a week, sometimes several days in a row, for the last twenty years.
I was so careful to avoid the problem that contributed to my depression, but if it wasn’t one thing, it was another. Even the most seemingly innocent food or combination of foods, or drinking too much water, or not waiting enough time between meals, set off my gut and caused my heart rate to increase, making it difficult to sleep. Same with most face, body, and hair topicals. I’d tried supplements for digestion and sleep, but they made the insomnia worse. I was hypersensitive to everything. I’d been to many doctors who either didn’t have time to figure it out or didn’t know what to tell me. I fantasized about taking sleeping pills that knocked me out for the entire night, but then I think about the side effects and how I’m too sensitive for medication, and would rather have insomnia.
When my gut acts up, it also zaps my energy. I feel a heaviness and sinking feeling, and everything seems ten times worse than it really is, like life is caving in, and I’m at the bottom of a deep pit I can’t get out of. My mind plays a video on repeat of all my failures and flaws.
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The Physical Side of Depression
Daily exercise and avoiding sugar helps, of course, as many other people with depression and studies, have found.
It wasn’t until my mid-forties that I realized a hidden component of my depression and anxiety, which apparently is pretty common: nutritional deficiencies. I couldn’t eat a lot of foods because of the gut issue, and a good food-based multivitamin and other quality supplements greatly improved my health and how I felt.
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The Spiritual Side of Depression
I had an even bigger break-through around the same time, something I started doing regularly, that helps clear depression and anxiety without medication: clearing negative energy, or spiritual clutter, through a process I call Spiritual Detox. I knew this by my mid-30s, but got distracted by life. Once I committed to clearing myself at least a few times a week, it helped so much that I knew I couldn’t live without it. Every time I spiritually clear myself, I remove layers like an onion.
Spiritual Detox calms me down and helps me get centered again. I feel on top of instead of buried by my problems. I feel better and remember that life is an ongoing process, to be taken one step at a time, and the importance of focusing on the good things in my life. This makes it easier to perceive the beauty of life and feel joy and gratitude.
If you’ve read my previous blog posts or book, you know it’s easy to pick up spiritual clutter and how it’s everywhere.
I usually become aware of it soon after I inadvertently pick it up, but only because I’m so sensitive to it and experienced in spiritual clearing. Most people don’t realize when they’ve picked up a lost soul or negative energy, and can confuse its thoughts with their own, and feel drained from it. Then there are the little demons and mischievous entities, which can cause even worse problems.
I now realize a thick blanket of negative energy and spiritual clutter was (and still can be at times) at least fifty percent of the cause of my depression and anxiety. I suspect it may be part of the problem for many others too. Clearing spiritual clutter regularly helps to clear the dark cloud of depression, along with the nightmares, delusion, magnified fear and anxiety, and anger.
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Perceiving Life Differently Also Helps Clear Depression
Meditation helps to clear depression, as you may know, because it helps you detach from negative thoughts.
Another method I use to clear depression and anxiety without medication is looking at the spiritual side of my problems.
I learned a trick that helps me do this, and react better and deal with the sometimes-harsh reality of life as a human on Earth. I call it the Other Side Perspective, or OSP. It’s about perceiving situations less from our Earth-based fears, and more like souls do on the Other Side.
As people who have clinically died, experienced the Other Side, and then returned to their earth bodies found, the cliche only love matters is true. The more I express love, acceptance, forgiveness, and gratitude instead of getting carried away with fear, the better off I and people around me will be.
Even though we humans typically incarnate with spiritual amnesia, we can reduce suffering by using spiritual concepts to our advantage to expand our perception of life on Earth.
I realized I have a choice: I can reject the spiritual side of life and limit my thinking to “this is all there is” and suffer more.
If I reject it, I’m more likely to blame everyone and myself for problems, dislike myself, get stuck in anger, deep regret, and other negative emotions for long periods, feel depressed and need medication for it along with extensive and long-term talk therapy, and feel like I want to drink heavily and take drugs again.
Or, I can consider the spiritual side of life and situations from the OSP, which makes life much more pleasant, harmonious, and less stressful. Sometimes even funny. When I view problems as they are perceived on the Other Side, and accept that my soul will live on after death of the body, they are easier to deal with.
You don’t need to be spiritually sensitive to benefit from the OSP. You don’t need to research it like I did, but those who do (such as through near-death experience accounts—see this page for sources, and through past-life and between-life regressions) perceive why it’s about love, acceptance, forgiveness, and truth.
Millions of people from all religions, races, ages, and from all over the world, even atheists and those who didn’t previously believe in life after death, have discovered what it’s like to “die” through an NDE, and then came back to life to share incredible insight.
Researching NDEs reminded me how much wise beings on the Other Side love us and want to help us. They reminded me to look at the big picture, that my fears are only temporary, and what’s most important is expressing love whenever possible.
After my past-life regression and meditation experiences over the last thirty years, and exploring NDEs, I’m convinced death is not the end, but a beginning and continuation, and that insight from the Other Side can be tremendously helpful.
I feel so much better now than I did throughout most of my twenties through mid-forties, like I’m finally on solid ground. I haven’t solved the gut issue, but at least I know how to better work around it. I’m so grateful for the spiritual tools that help me get through tough times.
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If you or someone you know is feeling depressed, anxious, hopeless, or considering suicide, a lot of help is available. For United States and international suicide hotlines, visit http://www.suicide.org/suicide-hotlines.html.
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Copyright © 2022 Stephen Petullo
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Please share this article with anyone you think might benefit from it.
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Download Stephen’s free Spiritual Detox Script ebook to find out more about this common, yet hidden problem, and use the easy, ten-minute script to clear negative energy. https://stephenpetullo.com/spiritual-detox/
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This article was adapted from Stephen’s book Half on the Other Side: How Ancient Spiritual Techniques Helped Me Deal with Substance Abuse, Depression, Sexuality, Gender, and Love. Read more about his journey of discovery and how he finally overcame major dilemmas. https://stephenpetullo.com/books/half-on-the-other-side/
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Discover the Genius of Your Soul and the Power of Your Hidden Spirituality: The Genius of Your Soul Spiritual Tool Kit has Stephen’s favorite spiritual tools, plus many helpful steps and tips. https://stephenpetullo.com/products/
