Ever feel down? Ever suffer from an attack of the Blues?
You're not alone. It happens to us all, that dreaded sinking feeling that clings like an enmeshing spider's web which cannot be shaken off.

One of my sons is a Gemini. As a child, his mood would swing from the heights to the depths. Gloom would ensue. The spreading sort that could pull us all into its folds.

In desperation one day, when the gloom thermometer was falling fast, I drew the child into the garden, ignoring his miserable grumbles of protest and told him to look up to the hills. He was reluctant at first but slowly raised his eyes. "What do you see?" I asked. He was silent. "Look down," I ordered. He did so. "Now tell me which view you prefer."

He raised his head to look up. "This one, I can see the light up there."

 A vestige of a smile appeared.

"This is what I do when I feel low," I told him. "I invariably find it works for me. I think its working for you too."

His smile broadened.

"Now that you can see the light, hold it in your mind and put some of the things that make you happy into it and see how the light makes them shine. Have you found anything to put there?"

Eagerness and enthusiasm were restored. The list was forthcoming: Janus, the cat, my cricket bat, my red London bus...

A little while ago I was reminded of this when talking on the phone with a friend who was bemoaning an attack of the blahs. I told her of the procedure above. "Think of the words of the psalmist, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

The phone rang next day. "Remember what you told me to do yesterday?" she asked excitedly, and before I had time to gather my wits, she rushed on, "It worked! I did as you said and it really worked! I'm feeling on top of the world now!"

- Sylvia Roff-Marsh