Master This Attitude And You Will Never Be Depressed

When we learn to appreciate life to its fullest, we will be oblivious to many of its painful aspects.  We will definitely try to deal with them effectively, but will not feel emotional suffering since the joy of being alive will outweigh anything negative that might occur.  Imagine a person who just now won a large sum of money in a lottery.  He will feel such joy that if he accidentally broke a glass cup, he would feel no suffering whatsoever because of that loss. The joy of being alive can be much greater than the joy of winning millions upon millions of dollars.  A person able to master this attitude, which admittedly is extremely difficult to do, will not have psychosomatic difficulties, since he will not view anything that happens to him as negative.

- Heard from Rabbi Chayim Shmuelevitz; Sichos Mussar 1971, essay 3