Are you happy? Or just 'not depressed?'

There is a big difference between not being depressed and actually being happy. It seems all too often we're focused on the avoiding the negative (stress, depression, anxiety) that we lose track of pursuing the positives. Just because you aren't depressed doesn't mean you're happy.

So in the interest of changing your focus away from preventing negative feelings and more toward creating positive ones, try incorporating these habits into your everyday life:

• Every night write down three good things that happened during the day, and why you think they happened. Gratitude is a powerful tool for the positive.
• Share good news as often as you can, and encourage and reinforce others when they share good news with you.
• Work on cultivating at least one of the following five qualities, all of which have been shown to have close ties with life satisfaction: love, hope, gratitude, curiosity, and vitality.
• Don't always go for "the best." You'll save yourself stress and a lot of emotional energy if you aren't constantly setting the bar so high just because everybody else is. Think about what you really want and really need, and not just what you're supposed to want and need.