Those who are haunted by feelings of loneliness, anxiety, fear, worthlessness, or hate – open your ears wide – because I want to share with you something that I find is a very important factor in overcoming depression.

How do both writing and meditation make us better attuned to ourselves and help us to recognize our own divinity?

What is stopping us from choosing to live happily right here and right now?

What are the benefits of exercising our creativity? How does it help us build character and self-worth? What are some activities one can do even if they are not artistically-inclined?

If you are unemployed then I encourage you to take these suggestions to heart. The key ideas here are to get involved in your community, make steps in personal development that you don’t normally have the time for, and stay active.

It is only during these strange times of holiday cheer that we begin to feel comfortable enough to actively spread love and happiness. Let us maintain this positive momentum for the following 364 days of the year as well. For any time of the year, here are some ideas that I find most important to consider whenever we are giving gifts or doing someone else a favor.

By focusing on these different dimensions of life we can determine which areas need work and which areas we already have a good handle on.

The good life necessitates that we find balance. Whether it is physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social or financial, how do we keep our lives together without drifting too far one way or another?

Milton Erickson was an American psychiatrist specializing in medical hypnosis and family therapy. He was founding president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis and a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

Life is filled with hardships, but we don’t need to be a zen master to experience unconditional love and content.

Happiness is something we like to believe we know and know well, but in practice it can become quite a difficult and elusive thing to obtain. Recently, positive psychologists and other researchers have begun to ask the question, “What is it that makes an individual truly happy?”