The first 10 Controversial Affirmations for People Who Choose to Fight Depression received a much more enthusiastic response than anyone had expected. Some very encouraging reader comments—including wise advice and valuable lessons of experience.

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Many have asked for a print version of all twenty affirmations in a format that places each on its own page. That helps when you want to post one on your fridge door or leave some lying on your night table. So we’re providing a downloadable file.

Always best to have a friend or mentor you can speak these through with. We’re not designed for going it alone.

Whatever you do with them, we would love to hear back from you. Leave a comment, let us know how these work for you. And if you find them helpful, please share with others.



11. Who Made This Mess?




I didn’t create myself. Who made this mess and why?

It could only be that a loving Creator has decided to invest in resources that anyone else would completely ignore—because He alone sees the great potential there. As for me, I need only to dig, and I will find the gold.

With such a deep investment, the payoff must be big, very big.



12. Pain




I choose to embrace the pain I feel. This pain is not my enemy. It is my body fighting against death. It means I want to live.

This pain is my friend. A wicked friend, but not one worth fighting. Instead, I will embrace it and await the time when it will become deep pleasure.



13. Tough Stuff




Sometimes, life throws me tough stuff. Sometimes, I can handle it. Sometimes I search inside, and there’s nothing there that can handle this. I’m being swept away by a tsunami, blown off a cliff, falling helplessly.

Which could only mean one thing: That buried very deep within me are powers I never imagined I might have. Powers to surf a tsunami, to dive off a cliff and swim through the rapids below.

As for this tough stuff—this is my Creator’s way of bringing those powers out of me.



14. Higher View




Bad stuff happens. Sometimes I can see a silver lining. Sometimes, there’s just no way anyone can convince me there’s any good at all.

Sure, these things pass. I’ll get over it. Just that it feels like the One who made me has left me behind. He’s chosen not to exist in my life.

But I know that when my time down here is up and my soul ascends way high, then I’m going to look back down and I will be stunned by the beauty of it all. Everything was good. The hard times were when He picked me up higher, and the dark times were flashes of His blinding light.

I will see that I was never alone. There were times that we were close. And there times that we were in tight embrace.



15. One Buddy




Maybe I don’t have any friends. Maybe nobody really cares. Where are they when I need them most?

But I am never alone. The One who made this place and runs it, He and I are the closest of buddies. Even when I mess up real bad, He eagerly waits at the door for me to come back home.

The One who made me believes in me far more than I believe in Him. He never gives up.



16. Change




The way I am now is not how I always was. The way I will be is not how I am now.

I may be a captive prisoner of this moment now, but with struggle, with endurance and with the help of my friends, I will break free.

One day, I will be who I choose to be.



17. Who Am I?




I am not a depressed person. I am a profoundly happy person with a deep appreciation of life.

I am fighting now, because that is what deep people do. Everything we accomplish is through battle; all our achievements are victories. That is how we come to perceive the depth of life that others will never glimpse.



18. What If?




What is expected of me? If I had no depression, what would make me feel successful in life?

If I could be up and dressed each day.

If I could sustain a close relationship with one other human being.

If I could watch a sunset and wonder at its beauty, breathe in air and appreciate that I am alive.

If I could do one thing that would make the life of another human being a little easier—even that of some little creature. If I could make someone feel more loved, more significant, to feel they have a place in this world.

Then life would be worth it. I would be a success.

And today, no matter how I feel, I can do any and all of those.



19. Both At Once




Just because my heart tastes bitter doesn’t mean I cannot feel joy. Each voice has its private compartment in my heart, each singing its own tune.

On the contrary, they drive one another like two opposite poles of a dynamo to create the energy of life. Together, their voices sing out the song that belongs to my soul alone.

The ecstasy of the most beautiful song is driven by its bottomless agony; the agony, by the unquenchable thirst of ecstasy. All is good, everything has its place in divine beauty.



20. Why I Am Here




I know this is not the way the world was meant to be. It’s meant to be G‑d’s garden, a magnificent symphony in which its Infinite Creator is felt in every breath.

But it’s not finished. It’s broken. It’s a mess.

The people who shine light into the world, they help things along. But the real work is done on the ground, picking up the broken pieces and painstakingly gluing them back together, trying to make sense of the crazy noise, facing the meaningless darkness of this world on its own terms, confronting the dragon in its lair and not running away.

It’s through that battle that darkness will come to shine. Nothing will be left to obstruct our physical eyes from seeing the divine. In each thing and everywhere we will see G‑d. And for that, all things were made.