The principal remedy for depression

Today while I was websurfing for something to blog about, stumbled upon Eric Maisel. He is a creativity coach, therapist and author of many books, including The Van Gogh Blues: A Creative Person's Path Through Depression. He says that:

In order for you to live an authentic, meaningful life, which is the principal remedy for the depression creative people experience, you must feel that 1) the plan of your life is meaningful, 2) the work you do is meaningful, and 3) the way your spend your time is meaningful.

To reach this goal, you must consciously hold the following four intentions:

1. To articulate a life plan that feels meaningful and to strive to live by that plan.
2. To articulate what constitutes worthy work and to accomplish that worthy work.
3. To articulate how the seconds, hours, weeks, and years that make up your life will be made to feel meaningful and to strive to actually make them feel meaningful.
4. To put the first three intentions into practice in a coordinated way.

From Meaningful Life, Meaningful Work, Meaningful Days

In other words we need to intentionally make meaning. Stumbling upon this man's ideas is like finding an unexpected gift. So I followed his web-trail and found he also had interesting things to say about creative mindfulness, which takes traditional mindfulness and puts it in the service of creativity. Eric Maisel Creativity Central is a blog where he and guest blog correspondents from around the world write about creativity, and the creative life. Interesting stuff.

Now that I'm inspired to action I'm off to have a think about making meaning.