WHY ARE SOME PEOPLE DEPRESSED AND SOME AREN'T?

How can one person look at the world and see beauty and joy whilst another person looks and sees heartache and pain?

Is it a question of genetics?
Is it down to our chemistry?
Is it purely due to circumstance?
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There’s a part of our mind called the reticular activating system (RAS), and its only job is to decide what you notice and what you don’t. It acts like a filter between the conscious and the subconscious. Whilst we couldn’t possibly be consciously aware of everything that is going on around us, we are fortunate enough to have a part of our mind deciding which of the hundreds of things going on we choose to notice. Thank you, RAS!


It will bring things that apply to you into your conscious awareness and filter out the things that don’t.


It’s why when we buy a new car we suddenly get the impression that everyone has just bought the same car, because we seem to see a lot more of them than we did previously. It’s not that there are more of that particular make and model out there, it’s just that now (because this type of car is OUR car) we are noticing them as they pass rather than allowing them to drive past unnoticed. 
As such, this particular type of car suddenly applies to me and is taken off of the list of things that I can easily ignore.

Have you ever been in a pub or a restaurant and you’re talking to the person opposite completely unaware of the conversations going on around you?
Unaware that is until somebody says your name. Suddenly that single word jumps out at you from across the room. The person on the other side of the room didn’t say it at you…neither did they say it louder than the rest of their conversation. It just jumped out to you because your mind flagged it up as something you usually pay attention to and brought it into your conscious awareness.

So how does your mind decide what you notice and what you don’t?

Well it basically runs its own version of a social media algorithm. It looks at what you are noticing these days and shows you more of the same. 
So if life has been showing you some pretty negative things over the years, your mind will decide the world is a bad place and will then find more negative things to show you. It will actively pursue the validation of your particular outlook on life, even if that outlook is wholly unpleasant for you.
At the same time it will filter out all the positive stuff that the person next to you is noticing a lot of because it believes this stuff simply doesn’t apply to you.

Your mind is invested in maintaining a consistent version of reality. This is the main reason why some are programmed to notice the dark stuff and some are not. 
It’s not hereditary. 
It’s not chemistry. 
It’s programming. 

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You have been taught a certain view of the world, and now your mind is backing up that view.

Now I’m not saying this to suggest changing the way you view the world is straightforward. most of us will need help to do this. It would be a mistake to regard my position as one of not treating depression as a serious condition to be in. 
However, it would also be a mistake to think that depression is permanent and unchangeable.

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I write this blog to suggest that changing the way you view the world is possible. 


It all begins with understanding why you are not left helpless and stuck in this particular state. 
This outlook was learnt. No matter how long you have had this outlook and accepted this reality you can always learn new and better things and change your outlook.

You are not a victim of depression. You can create your change.
To find out more about how this is done then click the link below: 
http://thecontrolsystem.co.uk/about-control.html