📖 Introduction

Many people struggle with depression, mood swings, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion while trying to become a better version of themselves.

They read more books, attend seminars, learn new techniques, and create higher standards for themselves, believing that self-improvement will eventually bring happiness. Yet despite all their efforts, they often remain trapped in cycles of self-judgment, disappointment, and emotional suffering.

In this meditation testimonial, Florin shares his journey through years of recurring depression, mood swings, therapy, medication, and personal development programs. While searching for answers, he eventually discovered something unexpected: many of his struggles were not caused by external circumstances, but by the endless expectations and beliefs he had created about how he should live.

Through meditation, he learned how to let go of those burdens, become less attached to self-imposed standards, and find greater freedom, acceptance, and inner peace.

💬 Meditation Testimonial: My Journey with This Meditation

By Florin

When I first started this meditation a year ago, I was coming out of seven years of severe mood swings and recurring depression.

During that time, I visited numerous psychiatrists and psychologists. Initially, I was diagnosed with seasonal depression because my depressive episodes often occurred during the winter months in Romania. Later, I received a diagnosis of cyclothymia, a mild form of bipolar disorder.

Over the years, I was prescribed various medications, but despite my efforts, I found little lasting relief.

Three years ago, I moved to Singapore and felt hopeful that things would finally change. After all, there was no winter there.

For a while, I convinced myself that I had overcome my mood swings.

Unfortunately, I was wrong.

The depression returned.

Once again, I found myself desperately searching for answers. I explored personal development programs, psychoanalysis, hypnosis, and numerous self-improvement seminars. Time and time again, I believed I had found the solution, only to discover that another depressive episode was waiting around the corner.

It was during one of these particularly difficult periods that I first discovered this meditation.

As always, I approached it with great enthusiasm and high expectations. I wanted a permanent solution to my problems.

However, my expectation of feeling happy immediately became an obstacle.

Although I noticed some positive changes during my first two months of practice, I became impatient.

I felt the process was taking too long.

So I quit.

Unfortunately, quitting meditation did not solve my depression.

Three months later, after realizing that none of my old patterns had changed, I decided to return and start again.

This time, I stayed.

🌱 The Endless Burden of “Should”

As I progressed through the meditation levels, I began to discover something important.

The source of my emotional ups and downs was not simply external circumstances.

Much of my suffering came from my attachments and deeply rooted beliefs about myself.

In particular, I became aware of the countless “shoulds” that governed my life:

  • I should always be confident.
  • I should always be on time.
  • I should never eat sweets.
  • I should exercise every day.
  • I should always perform well.

Over the years, I had accumulated an endless list of rules about how I was supposed to live.

Eventually, I became trapped by them.

Whenever I met those expectations, I felt good about myself.

But whenever I failed, even slightly, I would fall into self-criticism, self-loathing, and depression.

Meditation helped me realize how many of those beliefs were unnecessary burdens that I had been carrying for years.

✨ Learning to Let Go Instead of Adding More

For years, I approached personal growth by adding more things to my life—more books, more seminars, more techniques, and more rules.

I was constantly trying to improve myself through accumulation.

This meditation was completely different.

Instead of adding more, it taught me how to let go.

The process was about subtraction rather than accumulation.

And that felt incredibly liberating.

As I discarded many of these false concepts and expectations, I began experiencing greater freedom.

I became more flexible.

More accepting.

And far less trapped by the endless demands I placed on myself.

🔍 Seeing the Patterns I Had Been Avoiding

Meditation also helped me see aspects of myself that I had previously ignored.

I realized how self-centered I had often been and how much of my attention was focused on my own desires, fears, and expectations.

I became aware of habits I had developed over the years—overeating, oversleeping, procrastinating, and spending excessive amounts of time on the internet.

Many of these behaviors were attempts to escape reality whenever life failed to match the image I had created in my mind.

I wanted reality to fit my expectations so that I could be happy.

When it didn’t, I looked for ways to avoid facing it.

Meditation helped me recognize those patterns and gradually let them go.

🕊️ Moving Toward My True Self

Today, I feel that I have come a long way.

At the same time, I know there is still much more to learn and discover.

Part of me still wants everything to happen quickly.

But I also understand that freedom from a lifetime of habits, beliefs, and attachments is a gradual process.

After all, it took me twenty-six years to build the mental world I had been living in.

It makes sense that dismantling it will take time as well.

What gives me confidence is knowing that I now have a method that allows me to continue moving forward.

Step by step, I can keep discarding the false pictures, concepts, and beliefs that have accumulated in my mind.

And one day, I hope to complete this journey toward discovering my true self.

For anyone searching for a meaningful spiritual practice and a way to create lasting change from within, I sincerely recommend this meditation.

Thank you.

🌈 Conclusion

Florin’s story reminds us that emotional suffering is not always caused by external circumstances alone. Sometimes the greatest burden comes from the unrealistic expectations, judgments, and beliefs we carry within ourselves.

Through meditation, he learned how to let go of self-criticism, release limiting beliefs, and move toward greater acceptance, freedom, and peace of mind.

His journey shows that lasting change may begin not by becoming someone new, but by letting go of what no longer serves us and rediscovering our true selves.

🌱 Learn more about this meditation at Santa Clara Meditation.