I wake feeling my usual malaise with the world and the effort to get out of bed and engage with life this Sunday morning all feels like a damp stinky woollen rag hung around my neck.

I decide to Whatsapp a friend who is sensitive and doesn't find life an easy ride. We are quite similar in many ways but when we get together we lift each other and open the joy inside of us.

Message comes back "Am at an all time low – free for a chat?"

Wow! That is a shake up. I call and find that he feels his world has fallen apart. He is blaming himself for it all. True, he has made a mistake. He accepts his lack of organisational skills had led him to miss a very important flight with ensuing ramifications for a future elsewhere.

He sounds as if he is going to give up. Not wanted, not loved, feeling useless and blaming himself for everything. That awful gremlin "negative self-talk" is having a field day.

Funnily enough, my malaise vanishes, my warrior spirit rises as I listen and gently talk him through some options. This is me who finds this nigh on impossible to do for herself! Incredible what some distance – and care - can do.

One hour later we end with simple tips from me which I have learned the hard way:

Make the best of a bad day by getting that uplifting music on.

Make a list of realistic jobs to do for today and tick them off so you feel you have achieved something and you are not useless.

Get physical – clean the house, even just one room.

Be prepared for tomorrow and buy a soothing book.

Most importantly, send loving thoughts.

So, I am now up and moving, acting, realising that my mistakes and pain have at least led to some insight and strategies and have allowed me to support a friend in a dark place.

Sunshine in the rain

A Moodscope member