I've been feeling really depressed but reading this thread has really uplifted me. Laura you really are inspirational. When I feel depressed or like life is conspiring against me, I usually feel a bit sorry for myself. I used to feel guilty and ashamed for doing this but now I've realised that when you feel sad be sad. Otherwise you get emotionally screwed up. When I finish feeling sorry for myself I think about the situation what does this situation teach me, what can I learn from this? Thats the most important thing for me. In life sometimes good things happen and sometimes bad things happen its all just a part of life and you just have to go with the flow. I found a really good quote today. I think it contains an important lesson: Will Buddhism solve the problems of everyday life? No. As the Buddha says, if you've got 83 problems, he can only help with your 84th problem, which is that "You want not to have any problems".