Happiness and well-being are important. Not spiritual growth.

[vespa68]

The fact that you are asking such questions means you are self aware. Try to address your depression and accept it. Just try to sit with it and focus on it for a couple of minutes a day. Your depression is telling you something about your life. You want to change things. If you face your depression you can have a deeper understanding of yourself which would lead to soul growth and more happiness. But you first need to find yourself and you need to try to help yourself first. Yes we learn from suffering ; this is how we get to our true selves.

[Aboriginal]

Originally Posted by MattMVS7

But I am living a life of misery here on Earth since I have depression and ocd. I know I would of never chosen to be here. So if there is a heaven, then why wasn't I born up there where I can be happy and have no such misery in my life?

Hi MattMVS7, I can really relate to your situation, as I have mental illness as well. The fact that you have to put up with suffering means that you indeed have come here for spiritual growth, m8 :).

The first thing you can do to get through the suffering is to plow straight through it by acknowledging and expressing your own pain to yourself as something that is completely okay to have. Ask yourself in contemplation what is your personal story and substance of OCD and depression that puts you in angst? The way the world is that we've grown up in shapes our sense of perception of both it and ourselves in almost 360 degrees. In the modern world, we've grown up in materialism (e.g. chemical imbalance vs the "I'm alive!" substance of pain) so thick it that we aren't even allowed to feel pain, and that drowns our inner, discerning perception of the tears we cry within. Believe me, we in affluent society are in general in a collective misery, we just don't admit it or are quick to judge others with stigma.

Over time, gradually but surely gaining clearer awareness of both sadness and happiness, you will come to see and address the hurt and pain beneath the suffering in your life and be able to put them to work for you. They are signals for a process of developing clearer perception and more perspectives of the entire web of suffering that is often the case.

[alphamind]

Though I get where you're coming from...and am currently existing as the first category of building character...I do believe and can conceive of a balance. There is no reason why you cannot make realizations while being in a state of joy and abundance in the world.

[MattMVS7]

Originally Posted by Aboriginal

Hi MattMVS7, I can really relate to your situation, as I have mental illness as well. The fact that you have to put up with suffering means that you indeed have come here for spiritual growth, m8 :).

The first thing you can do to get through the suffering is to plow straight through it by acknowledging and expressing your own pain to yourself as something that is completely okay to have. Ask yourself in contemplation what is your personal story and substance of OCD and depression that puts you in angst? The way the world is that we've grown up in shapes our sense of perception of both it and ourselves in almost 360 degrees. In the modern world, we've grown up in materialism (e.g. chemical imbalance vs the "I'm alive!" substance of pain) so thick it that we aren't even allowed to feel pain, and that drowns our inner, discerning perception of the tears we cry within. Believe me, we in affluent society are in general in a collective misery, we just don't admit it or are quick to judge others with stigma.

Over time, gradually but surely gaining clearer awareness of both sadness and happiness, you will come to see and address the hurt and pain beneath the suffering in your life and be able to put them to work for you. They are signals for a process of developing clearer perception and more perspectives of the entire web of suffering that is often the case.

I completely disagree that I would of chosen this life of suffering. All moments of depression in my life never resulted in any growth anyway. They were moments of hell that I had to get out of. So even through all those hellish moments, I still remained the same person with the same values. There was no change.

Not having that misery in my life and having my feelings of happiness back is all that matters. So that being the case, heaven would of been the ideal place for that and the reason why I think I wasn't born up there and remained up there is because there might really be no God or afterlife. This life could really be all there is and that once you die, then that is it.

[vortex]

You can learn though fixing or breakthrough your choice
You can live in the past or present your choice

Love to all you be

[Melahin]

Originally Posted by MattMVS7

I completely disagree that I would of chosen this life of suffering.

You have chosen to come here to enjoy life. Your negative emotions are an indication that you are not in alignment with that. Spiritual growth or expansion of beingness happens whether you suffer or not; so that you wish to value your happiness and well-being as the important thing in life just indicates that you understand where you desire to be.

Originally Posted by MattMVS7

So if there is a heaven, then why wasn't I born up there where I can be happy and have no such misery in my life?

Joy is the path towards the paradise within, the fountain of life flowing effortlessly through you.

You should find, not just now but always, the beauty within every storm cloud, that abundant pot of gold at the end of every rainbow. It is right there within yourself and here is how you reach it: engage life in a way that raises your spirit and lightens your mood; simply be joyful in your every action. The more in balance you become with this, the closer you will be to the fountain of life.

What I am saying is that heaven is not a place outside of you, it is one that lives within you, it is one that embraces you, it is one that flows through you, and you, yourself, is the one that hold the key to the gates. And it is so that appreciation is the key to everlasting bliss; so if you start practicing appreciation, then the gates will open all by themselves

[MattMVS7]

Originally Posted by Melahin

You have chosen to come here to enjoy life. Your negative emotions are an indication that you are not in alignment with that. Spiritual growth or expansion of beingness happens whether you suffer or not; so that you wish to value your happiness and well-being as the important thing in life just indicates that you understand where you desire to be.

Joy is the path towards the paradise within, the fountain of life flowing effortlessly through you.

You should find, not just now but always, the beauty within every storm cloud, that abundant pot of gold at the end of every rainbow. It is right there within yourself and here is how you reach it: engage life in a way that raises your spirit and lightens your mood; simply be joyful in your every action. The more in balance you become with this, the closer you will be to the fountain of life.

What I am saying is that heaven is not a place outside of you, it is one that lives within you, it is one that embraces you, it is one that flows through you, and you, yourself, is the one that hold the key to the gates. And it is so that appreciation is the key to everlasting bliss; so if you start practicing appreciation, then the gates will open all by themselves

Since heaven is so important, then I see no need for hell. This life is very unfortunate and not everyone is lucky enough to create their own paradise here on Earth. There are many people in psyche wards who have their lives destroyed and create their own hell on Earth.

This life is the worst possible place to create your own heaven. Not everyone is lucky enough to do so. I don't understand why there is such suffering in the first place since it only leads people into hell. Some people are in such misery that they can't create their own heaven.

[Aboriginal]

Matt, I believe that at least part of what you're feeling is from how humanity has ended up as a whole. I endured a lot of suffering myself because of how badly public education and like you say mental health is. Corrupt people creating policy for the rest of us through screwed up politics is rampant and probably helps cause a good measure of mental illness. These environments are far from ideal for cultivating happiness and wellness. All I can say is try to stay away from the mental health system because it aligns itself and its teachings to materialism instead of spiritualism and creates dependency.

[Melahin]

Originally Posted by MattMVS7

Some people are in such misery that they can't create their own heaven.

I buy that there are peolpe who are in a state where they can't see their way out of the mess their life has become. The positive is that that is not the sense they should use anyway. They should feel their way to the heaven within by deliberately focussing on thoughts that make them happy. This is a process of gently shifting momentum from one state of being to the desired state of being; and it will take as long as you need it to take. And will change as many times as it needs to change, as you gain greater clarity the more you come into alignment with your Inner Being.

[alphamind]

Originally Posted by MattMVS7

Since heaven is so important, then I see no need for hell. This life is very unfortunate and not everyone is lucky enough to create their own paradise here on Earth. There are many people in psyche wards who have their lives destroyed and create their own hell on Earth.

This life is the worst possible place to create your own heaven. Not everyone is lucky enough to do so. I don't understand why there is such suffering in the first place since it only leads people into hell. Some people are in such misery that they can't create their own heaven.

I hear you.