I saw my therapist recently who specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy. I told him that my manic/depressive episodes often coincide with the seasons. For example, the winter often brings depression whereas the summer tends to bring on mania or hypomania. He said that is known as seasonal affective disorder (not new news to me)...then he said something interesting...something that made perfect sense..."On a cold dark winter day what is your first thought when you go outside?" I said, " aw **** this sucks! It's cold as hell! Damn! Great I have to drive in this??" He said "That's one way to say it. You are making a judgment. You are setting yourself up and conditioning yourself to be depressed when it's cold or the weather sucks"... "OK..." I said. "If you walked outside and made an OBSERVATION instead of a JUDGEMENT you would probably feel less depressed..." he said. "What do you mean?" I said. "Imagine walking out and simply making the statement 'it's cold out" with no emotion behind it. You are simply observing the weather and there is no implication that the weather or environment will have any impact on how your day turns out." I thought this was really valuable advice. You can apply it to anything. Give it a try. I hope it gives at least one of you some kind of peace in your life. MAKE OBSERVATIONS. DON'T MAKE JUDGEMENTS.