Article: Consider buying a journal that you can designate just for writing down your thoughts and feelings. Often it is helpful to document your feelings of sadness in writing in order to better make sense of them. This will help you get "in tune" with yourself and achieve a deeper level of self-understanding.  Journaling - even for 20 minutes a day - works to clarify and organize your thoughts about your sadness, which may help you to better pinpoint the reasons why you are feeling sad. It also helps you keep track of your behavioral and emotional patterns. Additionally, some research has found that journaling can even help your physical health and strengthen your immune system because it works to reduce stress.  While writing, concentrate on what you are writing, not how you are writing it. In other words, don't focus on your grammar or spelling. An example of a journal entry may look something like this: "I have had a particularly rough day today - my sad thoughts about the divorce will not leave me alone. Sometimes I'm not sure if I should even still feel sad about it because even though it happened a year ago, the marriage had been dead for a long time. I know that. But I do worry that I'm stuck in the past and that my kids are suffering for it. I'm also angry at myself for not being able to let myself let the sadness past go. People get divorced all the time, so why am I having such a hard time? Talking with my sister helped the last time I had a rough day; I think I'll call her. I know tomorrow is another day.” Studies have shown that the very act of smiling can improve your mood and make you feel happier In addition, laughing releases endorphins, those brain chemicals that enhance your mood.  Even though you may not feel like it, even using those small muscles that facilitate laughing and smiling can make you happier. So, try faking it. It may be forced at first, but laughing or smiling could trigger a funny or happy memory and cause a real laugh or smile to occur.  If you want to try smiling or laughing without the effort, try watching a funny movie, reading a humorous book, or spending time with a friend who you know is likely to make you smile. Even though you may not want to cry because you are trying to feel better and want to feel happy again, sometimes crying can improve your mood. If you feel the urge to cry, then don't hold back and instead let the tears out when you feel like it. The act of crying might make you feel better and more relieved, as the act of purging the tears can create the sense that you got the sadness "off your chest".  Studies suggest that a majority of people who cry feel better than they did before they cried. In part this is because crying is one of the body's natural ways of ridding itself of stress hormones.  However, although it can be helpful to cry to reduce stress and improve your mood, it is important to know that not being able to control your tears may be a sign of a more serious emotional or hormonal issue. If you find that you cannot stop crying, you should seek professional help from a physician or therapist. What else is in your life that makes it worth living? Try to think about all of the other things that you value in life, such as your friends, family, and health, and you'll see that you probably have much to be happy about and thankful for, even if you don't feel very happy or thankful in the moment. Numerous studies have shown that gratitude is deeply connected with happiness.  Think about good memories. If you've lived through them once, you can have them again. That's the beautiful thing about memories; just because things may seem bad right now doesn't mean that they'll be that way tomorrow. In the case of sadness based on a minor life event, such as getting a bad mark on an assignment, put the event into perspective and consider whether you'll feel sad in 10 years and whether the event will even matter then. Consider using that old phrase, "don't sweat the small stuff."  Make an effort to find one thing to be happy about each day. There are lots of challenges on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram that use hashtags such as "100happydays" or "findthelight" to encourage people to find little moments of happiness and gratitude in their everyday lives.  Even if your sadness is based on a traumatic life event, such as the loss of your spouse, reflecting more broadly on your life may be useful. For example, you may find comfort in remembering the good memories with your now-deceased partner as well as a sense of happiness and gratitude that you had him in your life, even as you grieve the loss that was too soon. Sometimes when we are sad, it's hard to think of anything else. However, dwelling on your sadness can actually do more harm than good and can increase feelings of helplessness and powerlessness. Pleasant distraction can help you focus on something other than your sadness and also reduce your stress - scientists call this "flow". You're not avoiding your problems, but instead engaging in an activity where you forget time and place.Here are some examples of ways in which you can distract your mind:  Listen to music. Resist the temptation to go for the sad music. Try listening to energetic, jumpy, soulful, or happy tunes, along with songs that inspire you or remind you of good times. Music can be and is used as a very effective therapeutic tool.  Look at some of your childhood pictures or photos from trips, graduations, and major life events. If a funny one pops up, don't push it away. Savor it. It'll help remind you that life passes by quickly and that there have been a lot of happy (and funny!) moments in your life along with the sad ones. Lose yourself in another world or in the past. Books transport us to places we've never been often, those places are more adventurous and romantic than the places we're currently in. Whether you're reading historical fiction or a steamy romance, being absorbed in another world will help you relax your mind and place our focus elsewhere. Just six minutes of reading can help reduce your stress level by two-thirds.

What is a summary?
Write down your feelings. Laugh and smile. Have a good cry. Try to look at the bigger picture. Distract your mind. Read.