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Another story that helps me to put things into proper perspective is a passage from Anna Quindlen's "A Short Guide to a Happy Life." The text was originally her commencement address to Villanova University. Click here for the entire speech.

I entitled this section of her book, "Enjoy the View," something that I need to continously remind myself.

I found one of my best teachers on the boardwalk at Coney Island maybe 15 years ago. It was December, and I was doing a story about how the homeless survive in the winter months.

He and I sat on the edge of the wooden supports, dangling our feet over the side, and he told me about his schedule, panhandling the boulevard when the summer crowds were gone, sleeping in a church when the temperature went below freezing, hiding from the police amidst the Tilt a Whirl and the Cyclone and some of the other seasonal rides.

Fellow Beliefnet blogger and bestselling author Bruce Feiler believes that Mother Teresa's crisis of faith makes her more human. To read his blog post about the modern saint, click here.

Find out how grateful you are by taking Beliefnet’s gratitude quiz (by clicking here). Do me a favor, and don’t tell me your results. Because knowing yours is higher than mine will have me in the same funk I felt when my friends and I had to take the practice SATs.

I’ve been meaning to compile all the sentiments among you readers that thank fellow readers for being transparent (along with me), those who share their stories and wisdom on the message boards. I, of course, appreciate them. But so do other readers. Here’s what some of them have said:

Fellowship in the journey IS the true blessing. –"?" on the message board of "The Carnival of Depression and Bipolar Disorder"

Very strange that two people who don’t know each other can help one another in such a big way. –Aarti on the message board of “They Just Don’t Get It”

All of us touch others’ lives at times and in ways we’d least suspect, and reminding ourselves of that when depression has us in its jaws and is shaking us like a dog with a bone, it does help (at least me, anyway) to remind ourselves that there is a purpose to our lives, a silver thread which runs through and at times has connected us to those around us who don’t necessarily have this (very real) beast to keep at bay! It never ceases to amaze me how things which have seemed totally inconsequential to me have impacted another human being! –Margaret on the message board of “A Small Thank You”

It’s official. I’m not a country girl. Eight days buried in rural Cedar, Michigan, without access to high speed Internet, was just too much for my online-dependent self to bear.

I’m not sure how my twin sister and I shared a womb: she is a gourmet chef, I can’t boil water; she fetches her eggs from the chickens in her front yard, I make Eric drive to our supermarket because even that task stresses me out.

I suppose it’s time to turn myself in to yet another support group—for those online junkies who can’t vacation without access to the cyber world.

Mistake number one: In an experiment to see just how many Diggs you need to end up on page one or two or 54 of Digg.com, I e-mailed 100 of my closest friends to tell them to Digg my Depression Busters (if you want to, go ahead and click here and press Digg, and then set up an account if you don’t have one). This message entered the digital highway an hour before I left for the airport. Bad timing for a person with OCD.

Here's a cool blog post (click here) by Wendy Schuman about the singer Edith Piaf, who prayed to St. Therese of Lisieux (whom she credited with curing her childhood blindness). In the movie, she hears Therese’s voice. I'm always intrigued...