Contrary to what fashion magazines and celebrities might lead us to believe, we don't need to cut down on our curves. We just need to dress them up, like this.

• Dress for your true size, not what you want to be or once were.
  
• Dress from the inside out, starting with a well-fitting bra and shapewear to smooth your lumps and bumps.
  
• Skim your body with high-waist, wide trousers and A-line or flared skirts. No clingy stuff.
• Don't cover your curves with big clothes. They make you look, well, big.
  
• End your skirts just before or under the kneecap to lengthen your legs.
• Make your jackets short and fitted to flatter your legs and your waist.
• Avoid elastic waistbands, because while they may be comfortable, they add bulk to your midsection.
• Keep necklines open with a deep V- or scoop-necks.
  
• Use belts to cinch in your waist.
• Counterbalance your wide feet with wide heels, because thin heels draw attention to wide feet.

How do you dress your curves?

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If you love to eat but hate to exercise, I've got news for you: You've got to get your butt in gear. I mean, literally get your butt in gear and move your body. Your health is so important to your overall life satisfaction, say the father-son authors of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth, that even if you hate to exercise, you've simply got to do it. You don't even need to lose weight. You just need to exercise.

Father writer Ed Diener says he doesn't enjoy working out but found that if he listens to books on tape while exercising and stops his session just before the end of a chapter, he'll want to exercise the next day -- if only to get back to his book.

Health in general can increase feelings of well-being, say Diener and his son Robert Biswas-Diener. Plain and simple: Happier people are healthier people.

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Shooting for perfection can undo what we try so hard to achieve, says Alice Domar, PhD. and author of Happy Without Being Perfect. I know this. I have a perfectionist personality. And while two little boys have taught me that I can't always have a perfectly-ordered house or a well-oiled schedule, while I know I won't ever have that unattainable Hollywood body, and while cancer has taught me that simply being alive really is enough, I still stumble on my perfectionist tendencies sometimes. Most of us do, says Domar for The Oprah Magazine (September 2008).

Think of the angst people feel when they cut a workout short. Does a few minutes really matter? Nope. What if we derail our diet because that chocolate brownie is just too hard to pass up? Need we give up on the whole day and eat like crap? No. Just eat the brownie, be OK with it, and get back on track.

The thing is, none of is perfect. And none of us ever will be. We are human. We have flaws, struggles, obstacles, backslides. Which is why Domar says we should cheer ourselves on for the mere fact that we are even thinking about positive change. Yes, it's the thought that counts. Not being perfect.

Here's how it works: I am thinking I will work out tomorrow. What if I don't get to it? Hard as it is to convince myself of this, I know it is OK. I can always catch a workout the next day. And that is good enough.

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