Sadness can come from many different avenues into our lives. Sadness can stem from loss of a loved one, financial loss, job disappointment, or even from stress or worry. Sadness cuts into the soul and can even cause our bodies to become ill. It can cause your body to increase hormones, which can adversely affect your immune systems making it weak and inefficient. Essential oils may help you battle the emotional roots of sadness, when used in combination with coping mechanisms and emotional support. **One of the complication with sadness is that it can ultimately lead to deep depression. Depression is a scary place for anyone who has suffered with the disease. Depression can lead to emotional ups and downs making it hard to stay calm at work, deal with stress, and live a fulfilling life. Sadness that leads to depression may be helped and maintained with essential oils. However, essential oils DO NOT replace the need for professional care! There are symptoms that may signal signs of depression, such as fatigue, sadness, moodiness, low sex drive, low self-esteem, loss of appetite, feelings that the tough days will never end, and never accepting invitations to go out with friends or get involved in activities. I know that seems like quite a list, but there are many more behaviors that could be an indication that you or someone you know is suffering from depression. Don't ignore the symptoms. In clinical trials, essential oils have been proven to elevate mood. You may be wondering how essential oils work in this way. As we previously talked about smells are carried directly to the amygdala & hippocampus, they serve as emotional triggers. The limbic system evaluates the sensory stimuli, registering pleasure, pain, danger or safety. This then creates and ultimately directs our emotional response, which can include feelings of fear, anger, depression and attraction. Smells can also trigger memory and can be used to bring memories to the forefront so they can be properly dealt with and healing can occur. Scents are very powerful in our day-to-day lives because they’re a direct pathway to memory and emotion — which is why they can support and help cope with emotions. Some of the Young Living Oils that may help aid in coping with sadness, grief, anxiety, and depression are Bergamot, Sacred Frankincense, Idaho Blue Spruce, Orange, Ylang Ylang, Palo Santo, Roman Chamomile, Citrus Fresh, Christmas Spirit. Postpartum specific: Dragon Time, SARA, Gentle Baby, En-R-Gee My oldest battles sadness often, her form of ADHD makes her more sensitive to emotional responses both in herself and in others. Last year was a really tough year and a turning point of sorts in how we parent her. She was badly bullied at school last year and struggled academically. In addition, she didn’t have a good relationship with her teacher, which left her feeling alone and depressed, unable to handle the stress of what was going on around her. We didn’t find out about most of this until April of last year, since our daughter kept it to herself until after our youngest was born. After that, we sensed a shift in her happy and joyful personality. Thankfully, we have always been a family who talks about how we feel and finally she was able to tell us that sometimes she looks happy on the outside, but she is really sad on the inside. She felt alone, stupid, and didn’t like who God had made her. She also felt jealous of other often including her siblings, and wished she was different. For those mom’s reading this you can imagine my heartbreak. It was at this point that I began looking into options, and essential oils was introduced to us to help her with focus and calming. Had I realized then how much more they could and would do, I would have dove head first much sooner. The Disney movie Inside Out helped us come up with an exercise she and I use to identify emotions and thoughts that perpetuate this discontentment and sadness. Here is what we do: (I also use this alone to help cope with sadness or other emotions) We go to a quiet place together and she closes her eyes. Then we use 3 oils Release, Joy, and SARA applied using a roller to her wrists and over her heart. Then she inhales the oils from her wrists or we diffuse Orange, Bergamot, and Joy where we are sitting when possible. I then ask her to find the emotion she is feeling and to tell me what it looks like. She describes it as a black or blue ball most of the time. Then I ask her if she needs to feel that emotion right now or if there is anything we need to talk through about it. Usually we have already talked about one of many incidents that has caused her to feel that way and she says no. When we haven't and something new comes up, I listen intently and validate her emotions. Afterwards, I ask the same question and she usually says she doesn’t need to continue to feel that right now. This is the important part of the visualization process. I ask her if she can put that emotion down in a place where it can be accessed later if needed. We affirm that all emotions are okay and have a purpose, but right now this emotion is consuming her and it isn’t the way God wants her to feel all the time. So she puts it down on a shelf or in a box. **Then I ask her what she would like to replace it with, when we put an emotion down we want to fill our thoughts with something to replace it. This replacing keeps her from falling back into the emotion or just picking it back up. We don’t want negativity to become our mood all the time, because it keeps us in bondage and keeps us from experiencing the kind of life Jesus wants for us. She usually says she wants to pick up Joy. I remind her that joy is a fruit of the spirit and that we don’t have to try and produce joy all on our own. We can ask God to give it to us, and then focus on thoughts that go along with that emotion. I ask her to find where her joy is right then. Then I ask her what color it is, she usually says it’s yellow. I ask her to let that color fill her whole self and to bring whatever thoughts or memories are associated with that to the forefront of her mind. Last, I ask her to open her eyes. We usually talk about how she feels now, and I remind her that she can do that anytime all by herself. The first time we did it, she opened her eyes and said this was just like Inside Out the movie. I’ve never been more grateful to a Disney movie then I was in that moment. Her ability to enter this visualization exercise is thanks to Inside Out and Young Living Essential Oils! References:
Essential Oils Desk Reference 7th Edition http://rosyelsawali.com/…/Fight-Sadness-with-Essential-Oils…, https://draxe.com/essential-oils-for-depression/ Comments are closed.
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