Shift

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.

*Stephens-Davidowith, Seth. “Dr. Google will See You Now”, New York Times Sunday Review, p. 1