When you drive in the large sand dunes of southern Arabia, you come to a region called the Mundafin.  In this area, the dunes are hundreds of feet high.  One side of each sand dune has a gradual slope leading to the top of the dune.  The other side consists of a sharply angled slip face.  These sand dunes run in long corridors that can be anywhere from a few kilometers to hundreds of kilometers long. 

As you drive in the soft sand, you quickly learn the tricks and traps of navigating in the Mundafin.  Novices easily become trapped in these dunes, because the way out of the dunes is different than the way in. 

When a city slicker drives his jeep down a hundred-foot slip face, he suddenly realizes he has entered the land of no return.  If he ever escapes from the dunes, he will have to find a way out different than the way he came in, because it’s impossible to drive up a hundred-foot slip face. 

There is one other Mundafin surprise for the city slicker.  Just when he thinks he has found the way out of a long corridor of sand, the end of the corridor closes off and is impassible.  The apparent way out evaporates, and he’s trapped. 

The Bedouins who live in the Mundafin know the secret of the sand.  If one sand valley doesn’t take you where you want to go, then drive up and over the top of the next dune, ride the hundred-foot slip face down to the bottom, and try the next corridor of sand, because it may take you where you want to go. 

As long as you don’t run out of fuel or panic, you’ll be fine.  Sometimes you must travel in the wrong direction for twenty kilometers before you reach a sandy corridor that allows you to escape from the sand trap.  The way out isn’t impossible; it’s just different than the way in.

Negative thoughts are like the sands of the Mundafin; they are hard to escape, and the way out is different than the way in.  Negative thinking gets you into trouble, but it can’t get you out.  You need to head in a new direction, and that direction needs to be positive.

If you find yourself stuck in the dunes of depression, you will need the help of someone who knows the way out.  A positive friend may be able to show you the way, or you may need a therapist to help you escape.

Excerpt from :

Zero Tolerance To Negative Thinking : Good-by Depression - Hello Positive Mind

David J Abbott M.D.