Whose mood?

Passions are great! Without them, we would all be like Mr. Spock in the early episodes. Cool to watch, but dull to be.

Time is a construct of the mind. In truth, we exist in the present, except when our mind takes us into the past or projects us into the future. While it is important to learn from the past and to try to bend the present to create a future we want to live in, the only way we can do that is to fully exist in the present.

Some mental illnesses, such as depression, may be seen as a failure to exist in the present. Most depressed people DocBrain runs across are anchored in the past. They ruminate about the past as if their thinking about it will change the facts or, more specifically, change how they feel about their contribution to the past. Like a criminal returning to the scene of a crime, the depressed person returns again and again to the past, but finds no solution, no resolution. In truth, the only resolution comes from living in the present.

Is it the mood that drives them to look for an explanation and to delve into the past, or is it the delving into the past and inability to enjoy and fully experience the present that depresses the mood?

DocBrain remembers visiting one elderly depressed woman living in a nursing home. She was crying, her husband was trying to console her, and I said, "You have to try to enjoy life. You never know what might happen." Suddenly, as if on cue, there was a knock at the door. A nurse entered with a large flower arrangement. The flowers were from a neighbor who had move away years before. The accompanying note said, "Just found out you were sick. We just wanted you to know we are thinking of you. Please get well soon."

The old woman look stunned, stopped crying, and slowly smiled. She began to reminisce about her neighbors and how they had such fun together. She talked about how nice it was to be remembered by such nice people.

I left the room around that time, but spoke to her husband a few days later. He said that the good spirits lasted about one hour, and then she returned to her crying. She died one year later, never, to my knowledge, experiencing such joy again.

Things are as they are, not as they were, nor as they might be. Don't bring the miseries of the past into the present unless you want to be miserable. Don't fear the future, for it will never be exactly as you project it to be.

Life life in the present and enjoy it. It is all that is real. And if it isn't all that great right now, it is OK to look back for fond memories and ahead for better times.