the reason you have descended into physical life is to unleash the power of your soul upon Earth. - Caroline Myss

I have since become convinced that when we define ourselves by our wounds, we burden and lose our physical and spiritual energy and open ourselves to the risk of illness.

In energy terms, depression literally is a release of energy — or life-force, if you will — without consciousness. If energy is like money, depression is like opening your wallet and announcing, “I don’t care who takes my money or how it is spent.

Spiritual depression presents itself in much the same way as clinical depression — but not quite. The marks of distinction are crucial, yet hard for the untrained to recognize. They make the difference between interpreting the source of depression as a problem that may require medication or as a process of transformation that is best served by reflection, discussion of the stages of the dark night, and understanding the nature of mystical prayer. I have met many people who have been treated for depression and other conditions when they were, in fact, in the deep stages of a spiritual crisis. Without the proper support, that crisis becomes misdirected into a problem with relationships, a problem with one’s childhood, or a chronic malaise. Spiritual crises are now a very real part of our spectrum of health challenges and we need to acknowledge them with the same authority as we do clinical depression.