Connect your friend's negative statement about Phil with a positive one. Set yourself up to find positive in anyone's statement and you will keep negative thoughts and depression from overtaking your life.

4. Get physical exercise

Adults forget about exercise when suffering from depression. Make sure you are exercising daily and sending more oxygen to your brain cells. The result of exercise will improve your health as well as your attitude.

5. Breathe deep and relax.

Practice following breathing exercise to relax your body and mind.

Breathe deeply and relax. For 3 minutes each hour take a short mental vacation.

You can engage in this exercise while you are standing in checkout line at supermarket or when listening to others while talking on a telephone. You can complete exercise at home or at work.

Take three deep breathes and relax. As you inhale, concentrate on calm and peaceful thoughts. You may think about relaxing by a mountain, by ocean or comfortably in your favorite room at home.

As you exhale, concentrate on pushing any tension out of your lungs.

Focus on positive images in your life. Focus on laughter, love, excitement, and hope.

Keep breathing in and out in this pattern until you feel better. If you practice exercise often, you will notice wonderful changes in your outlook and in other aspects of your life.

Reduce your depression now! Enjoy your family, your friends, and your life.

--Wayne F. Perkins

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Wayne F. Perkins is a clinical hypnotherapist and author of "How to Hypnotize Yourself Without Losing Your Mind." offers hypnosis scripts for a variety of problems. http://www.wayneperkins.net/hypnosis/scripts.html

"My mission in life is to help you achieve your mission in life."

6. If you are cooking food, prepare healthier versions of traditional dishes. Don't go too far by trying to completely cut out fat. Just make some slight changes such as mashing potatoes with low-fat milk, adding less butter to food, and serving more salads and veggies. Or make stuffing in a casserole dish outside of turkey, so it does not soak up extra fat.

7. Deal with food-pushing hosts by complimenting them. When they try to force more food on you, smile. Say how much you love their food, but unfortunately you are so full, you can't get in another bite. And that you'll be delighted if they gave you some of this food to take home, if there is anything left after party!

8. Choose turkey breast meat, since it has fewer calories then dark meat. Also, most of fat in a turkey is contained in skin. So, if you can, don't eat skin. Skinless turkey breast is actually a healthy choice. But go easy on a fat-laden gravy!

9. Eat small amounts of various foods, as opposed to large portions of few foods. Sampling everything on menu will leave you more satisfied since you've tried everything there is. But remember, moderation is key.

10. Eat that dessert. The trick here is to eat a small piece of it. This way you can have your cake and eat it too!