Sunday morning. The grass was still wet late yesterday afternoon after a day of late-autumn sunshine. This morning there are new threads of fresh dew, pulsing with reflected light as the breeze discomposes each blade. Now and then a miniature rainbow breaks forth from a solitary tremulous bead, reminding me, if not the birds, that our experience of light is highly subjective.

I was reading last night that the incidence of depression has increased ten-fold from that experienced by people in the first half of the 20th Century. The author posits that 'learned helplessness' is probably responsible for this astonishing change and a results, partly, from our losing a sense of control in our lives. Put another way, the way we think about ourselves and our environment, the way we perceive and internalize what happens daily - how we process change, setbacks and the occasional loss of agency - forms a vital part of the feedback loop that regulates self-esteem and the drive to act meaningfully in the world.

Our grandparents and great grandparents endured two major wars, an economic depression and far tougher living conditions than we do. Yet they suffered depression much less.

Food for thought.