Mr Salteena is not quite a gentleman on Nostr: I am one of those annoying people who uses a habit tracker (Loop, it's open source ...

I am one of those annoying people who uses a habit tracker (Loop, it's open source and pretty nice Android app) and regularly writes in a diary. So I can see the correlation between doing things that keep me cheerful, and actually being cheerful. And there's no doubt that (eg) staying in touch with friends, playing music, and reading a book makes for a happy me on a daily basis.

But... it's also clear to me that doing those things without jumping a big hurdle of resistance relies on being somewhat happy in the first place.

So the unfortunate irony of practices that are good for your mental state is, that if they have slipped for any reason, and slipped too far, you have to really push through to get them back... and it will be hard.

The meta-practice you need is: making yourself do things, even if it's just the tiniest gesture in the right direction.

(Recognising that for some people and condiitions the tiniest gesture is not possible: "you" here really means me and people like me.)