From time to time we get posts from people who are desperately depressed because of the seeming impossibility of getting a fair deal for men, because they have been divorce raped, because they have been falsely accused or for some other reason.

Of all the spiritual practices which might help the one with the highest reward/effort ratio is probably the practice of gratitude.

It is a simple practice to get into the habit of, and there are many ways to do it. In days gone by, people used to express gratitude for food before eating, but this has fallen by the wayside along with belief in God. Nonetheless, taking time to appreciate things is a worthwhile activity.

You can do it by deliberately thinking of something or several things to be grateful for at the end of the day. For a while our family kept a jar of notes that we would add to each time there was something special worth remembering. From time to time we would open it and read them. This had the added bonus of reminding us to do things we had enjoyed before.

As a trainer on a back to work scheme, I used to get the group to come up with something at the beginning of each day. While I couldn’t measure it, I am sure that this made the whole programme much more positive. (These courses tend to be a bit negative since the participants are compelled to attend on pain of losing their benefits.)

What I also found was that, at first, many of them could not come up with anything, although I could fire off half a dozen things for them (living in Australia, being in good health, free Internet in the library, benefits while not working, etc.) After a while, most people got the hang of it and started recognizing the good things in their lives without taking them for granted. Interestingly, it was often small things that seemed to make people happy. People at first often seemed embarrassed to say something they thought others might not take seriously, but after a while everyone realised 1. that such judgements were not for others to make and 2. that no-one made them anyway.

It is an easy habit to get into and one which, if practiced habitually will tend to guard against depression and increase happiness. It being New Year's now might be a good time to start this habit.

Edit: while on the subject of New Year's resolutions, if you resolve to give up smoking, people will come up to you at five past midnight and casually offer you a cigarette. So every year, I resolve to give up oral intercourse. Disclaimer: This may not work for everyone.