Nice. For me, it is also going out for a nice long walk. Usually by the sea or lake, or sometimes just walking through the city and seeing the different stories going on. It helps to bring perspective into my life.

When I was growing up and things weren't so good sometimes, I would think to myself, "It could be worse than this" and find happiness in that it wasn't.

If I was sad because I was sleeping on the balcony in the cold I would think "It could be worse than this. There are kids who have no place to sleep. At least I have enough clothes to keep me warm."

If I was sad because my mom was sick with cancer and nearly all of our money went for medical treatment I would think, "It could be worse than this. Some kids never really had a mom."

If I was sad because I only had noodles to eat for dinner I would think, "Well, it's not so bad. At least these are some pretty good noodles."

Then the way I would see it changed. It became more of a game. "What are some creative ways I could warm myself up?", "How many new grey hairs can I count on my mom's head?", "How spicy can I make these noodles?"

It sounds a bit corny, perhaps, but it really helped me growing up and gave me confidence to face just about anything.

It still helps me to this day but it's more automatic. If someone steps on my foot I think, "Well, that's not so bad. It could have hurt much worse."

Or sometimes I think of how they could have done a better job being evil, if it was intentional. Then I think, "Well, they didn't do it that way, did they? Maybe they didn't mean to hurt me that much." I think when people do 'bad' things they don't want to be too bad. Just 'enough' to express themselves.

I suppose we can learn to be thankful for the reality that we find ourselves in, as there is no limit to the ways in which 'bad' things can present themselves.

When my mom died, it took a while for me to realize what it meant. Somehow I learned to deal with it by seeing the good things about her and thinking of how much others really loved and appreciated her. (Something I was made aware of by the sheer numbers of people that came from all around the country to pay their respects.) I had seen her sick with cancer for about 7 years before that, and hadn't realized how much she helped others even during that time.

The thing with feelings is that they colour your entire outlook on life. Everything takes on a new light in the light of sadness or depression.

Often, we do not understand our parents because we spend so much time around them that we take on their thoughts and mannerisms. They may remind us of the parts of ourselves that we are uncomfortable with.

But if I hadn't 'resolved my issues' with my mother, I suppose I would still have problems understanding the real value of a relationship with an other woman.

Sometimes we need to look at the woman (or man) we 'once' loved and think, she could be worse than that.

Then we can learn to 'love' it in ourselves, because there is no need to resist something that we've known for 13 years, for example.