Happiness in Ireland is a concept which has started to provoke interest in the media over the last couple of years. It is about time that the focus was put on happiness instead of depression. So many people suffer from depression and what few realise is that the more 'depression' is a problem, the bigger it will get.

You see, instead of trying to overcome the 'problems of depression'... we need to start looking at the 'quest for happiness'. Happiness is as intangible as depression but generally refers to a state of well being. When I asked Richard Bandler how to be happy, he said 'PRACTISE IT'.

Now, put so brilliantly it got me thinking, what do we tend to do when we think about depression. Well, we depress our selves about being depressed. Depression is literally depressing. But what if, instead of being depressed, we became happy about happiness.

Ok, what I mean by this is the following. If I practise feeling good then I'll start to feel good about feeling good. I can practise feeling good by doing things which makes me feel good. Now, there are two main types of 'feeling good'.

There is the short term... 'pleasure' we call it and there is the longer term 'happiness' we call it. It's good to do things which make you feel pleasure as long as they also contribute tio your happiness.

The key questions to ask yourself is: 'Do I feel good about myself, my life, my future when I feel this pleasure?' and 'Does this experience enrich the quality of life for me and those in my life?' That way, you can tell which kinds of pleasurable experiences to engage in.

As for practising long term happiness... since it involves feeling good about yourself, your future and your life... start being nicer to yourself, start defining your goals and get excited by them and start making progress towards them. Start connecting with more people and helping more people and design your life as an experience which you enjoy and which improves the quality of life on this planet.

It's quite simple actually.