Sunday August 11, 2013
“So, Amy,” I said, “I think there was a Shift in the
Universe last night.”
“What?”
I had her attention.
“Well, I woke up this morning feeling happy. I felt a
lightness. No depression . No anxiety. It was great. Frequently I do feel this
way about mid August.”
“Really?” she looked at me skeptically as only a daughter
can.
“Or,” I recanted, as only a mother can, “It could be that my
high school friend Judy told me yesterday that I looked younger than my old
nemesis, Caroline Watson.”
“I have to say, Mom, knowing you and your age thing. I tend
toward what Judy said. I really don't know about shifts in the universe.”
“Well, I do. I always
feel happier at this time of year, especially now that I don't have to go back
to school.”
I left it at that.
I left it at that until the next day when I began reading
the N. Y. Times Sunday Review. *There on page 12 was an article titled “Calling
Dr. Google”.
It seems that researchers are using Google hits to track
depression. Not the Great Depression but the mental state. They have confirmed
that people living in cold climates look up information on depression much more
frequently that do people living in cold climates. The incidence is much higher
in Alaska than in Hawaii.
It was interesting to me that the Google research confirms
other forms of research on mental health as well as what I would call common knowledge.
Who wouldn't be more depressed in Alaska than Hawaii? Anyway, the Google
research, I thought, could be assumed to be fairly reliable.
The author also reported that every year on or about August
11 there were fewer Google searches any and everywhere for depression than at
any other time of the year. Across the
board, North to South.
So!!! There is a Shift in the Universe every August and I
have Google to back me up. Not to
mention the New York Times.
