Temporarily back onto the original topic for a moment ...
I know I've got things pretty bloody good. I am an optimist, I'm almost always happy and ready for a laugh, I have a small but close family, I have a small but close circle of friends, I'm fit and healthy, I love the job I'm in, ect. But there's still some stuff I need to improve within myself, stuff I want to change, and I do on occasions have 'down' moments which usually last a few days. These 'down' moments -although small and almost petty by a lot of people's standards- can be a long way down for me who's used to being on a constant 'up'.
My theory (and saying I use for myself) is: There's no mountains without the valleys.
When I am down, or something's troubling me, or I just need to work stuff out, I find the best thing for me is just to go outside at night time in the dark, in the silence, in the fresh air. I usually pace around in circles or back and forth, and talk out loud what's troubling me, what needs to be done to help the situation, ect. When I say 'talk out loud', I don't mean like you're talking to someone standing next to you. I talk at just louder than whispering volume -loud enough so that I can hear myself, but nowhere near loud enough for someone to hear me a metre away. I tend to think that this process works for me because: a) instead of having all the thoughts racing around my head, it makes me put them into formed sentences -forcing me to think clearly about whatever topic is bothering me; & b) speaking out loud my thoughts/problems means I actually hear the problem in formed sentences with my own ears.
When I do this talking-out-loud-by-myself-at-midnight-in-the-backyard thing, I do it like it's a one-way conversation instead of a "Right, the problem is this: _____________. What can I do to fix it?" Start off by having a voice in your mind ask you "How are you right now? What seems to be the problem?"
Like I said, that works for me. Even if I haven't worked out a solution to whatever problem, I almost always go back inside feeling MUCH better. Then I'll go to bed with a weight off my shoulders. Hope this helps somebody.
