Following celebrities or people you don't regularly see in person often doesn't add to our happiness. The best use of social media is to deepen existing close relationships or create new ones.

Too quickly, venting can turn into dumping garbage on the people around us.

There is no greater prediction in the research of our levels of happiness than the breadth and depth of our relationships.

People are pulled towards the best in themselves, and spotlighting the right is a much stronger approach than nagging.

My big "double-aha" moment came while anchoring the national news at CBS News. It was at the height of the recession, and on top of the usual negative stories, my newscasts became full of especially heart wrenching stories of people losing their homes, jobs, and retirement savings. Starting the morning off like that could leave even the most optimistic person feeling helpless and hopeless. The lightning bolt came when we changed how we talked about the negative.

For me, I love dancing!

I realized there was a better way to broadcast the news that empowered people to believe they could overcome challenges.