Perhaps above all, be as healthy as you can. Nothing is more valuable than your health and little is more likely to make you unhappy than ill-health.

Most fundamentally, recognise that happiness is a state of mind and not something which can be defined objectively. You can change your state of mind in many ways including the following suggestions.

More importantly than anything else, live with a partner whom you love and respect and who feels the same about you. Kiss and cuddle and compliment often and regularly buy unexpected little gifts.

When you're old enough and in a steady relationship, have a son or a daughter. Tell them often how much you love and admire him/her and do anything to help him/her.

If you have a cat or a dog. Stroke often.

Keep in close touch with relatives and a small circle of friends. You can't beat their love and support.

Conversely, if there is a person in your life who is a negative influence and who is dragging you down in some way, don't be afraid to remove such a person from your life.

Smile a lot. Smiles make you miles better - and you smiling will make others smile. As Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810) put it: “Always wear a smile. The gift of life will then be yours to give.”

Laugh a lot.

Say what you mean and mean what you say. Honesty really is the best policy.

Be politely assertive. Say how you feel and explain what you want. Friends and colleagues can't be mind readers.

Give lots of compliments. You will make others feel good about themselves and find that this gives you pleasure too.

Give small gifts to your friends. To give is even more pleasurable than to receive.

For a special thrill, perform acts of kindness anonymously so that the person benefiting does not know that you're responsible. If you don't understand this, watch the French film "Amélie".

When your birthday or Christmas is coming, prepare a list of the presents you'd like and give it to a partner, relative or friend to 'manage'. That way people won't struggle to choose a gift for you and you'll receive what you want and like.

Spend less than you earn. The figures may have changed and the decimal system may have arrived, but the lesson is still the same as when, Charles Dickens in "David Copperfield" had Mr Micawber opine: "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen, nineteen, six, result equals happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds, nought, and six, result equals misery".

Use your credit card as a convenient way to pay for your major expenditures on a monthly basis - not to obtain credit at an outrageous level of interest. If you can't pay for it now, think twice about whether you need it.

As Shakespeare put it in "Hamlet", "Neither a borrower nor a lender be". Don't borrow money unless you absolutely have to (for instance, to buy a house or car). Don't lend money - even to relatives - unless you genuinely don't mind if it's not repaid.

Don't gamble. There's enough uncertainty in your life without you adding more - and anyway, in the long run, you can't win. (A little flutter on the lottery is allowed.)

Give regularly to the charities of your choice.

Wear the most expensive after-shave (usually men!) or perfume (usually women!!) you can afford. It will make you feel good.

If you are a woman, get your hair done. This will always make you feel better about yourself.

Surround yourself with pleasant smells. Have flowers, pot-pourri or scented candles in most rooms of the house.

Stay close to nature. Have flowers and plants in your home - Spend time in the garden or local park. Take walks in the countryside and by the seaside.

Every so often, spend a little time observing the night sky. As you contemplate the distances and time involved, it will put your life and your concerns into more perspective.

Read a on a daily basis. Learning is fun and the easiest way to learn is to check out news and features each day so that, over time, your knowledge and interests grow and deepen. When we are isolated in our own world, we can't be part of the world.

Take a weekly or monthly magazine reflecting a personal interest. You'll come to really look forward to each new issue, like a visit from a friend.

Read regularly and widely. Good fiction will widen your vocabulary and put you in touch with your emotions, while a range of non-fiction will extend your imagination, knowledge and interests.

Listen to some rousing music. 

Have a favourite television programme, so that you can really look forward to seeing it. Mine used to be "Friends" and then "The West Wing".

Watch "It's A Wonderful Life" It's really life-affirming.

Go out and see a good movie. A romantic comedy - something like "Bridget Jones's Diary"  or "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"  - usually works well.

Treat yourself often to something 'cheap and cheerful' that you like - chocolates, flowers, a magazine, a cake, a CD. It costs little and you're worth it.

Cultivate a few favourite places to eat and drink outside the home. Then, when you go to familiar café or restaurant where you like the ambience and the menu and the staff know you, you'll feel comfortable and content.

Stretch yourself physically. At the mimimum, regularly go for a brisk walk - it will raise your spirits. If you can, join a gym and take more vigorous exercise - it will make you feel good and lengthen your life.

Stretch yourself mentally. Go on courses on different subjects - they don't have to be academic courses (they can be at your local college) and they don't have to be long (they can be as short as a day or even half day).

Stretch yourself geographically. Go to places you've never seen before. Even in your home town, try taking a different route than usual and notice the different locations that you've never seen before.

Do something you've never done before, learn about your society and history. You'll probably surprise yourself at how much you love it and you'll have found a new interest.

If you can afford it, take regular holidays in different countries and savour different cultures. If you have friends abroad, ask if you can visit.

Keep a diary or journal. It will give structure to your life, an easy way to revisit good times, and a reminder that bad times don't last.

Take lots of photos. You'll love looking at happy times and old friends.

Have a political vision on how to create a better world - and do something to make that vision more of a reality.

One way of dealing with a difficult problem is to imagine how you will feel about that problem next week, next month, next year. Now try to bring those feelings into the present. It will give you a sense of perspective. Problems rarely look so formidable in retrospect.

If you are uncomfortable or frightened about a situation, try to take yourself to a mental safe place which you have previously created in your mind and where you feel relaxed and comfortable. It might be an imaginary garden or beach or just an image of your study or bedroom.

If you're stuck for advice on a problem, talk to a professional Counsellor, friends and family often lack the objectiveness required and they often side with you, this can be unhelpful, even though they want to help. 

If you're down, remember it could be a lot worse. If you need reminding, read "Still Me" by Christopher Reeve (quadriplegic) or "The Diving Bell And The Butterfly" by Jean-Dominique Baulby (locked-in syndrome).

If you've still got problem and you're still down, remember the line from the actor Jason Lee, in his role as Brian Shelby, in the movie "Vanilla Sky": "Without the bitter, baby, the sweet ain't as sweet".

As M People put it in their pop song, "Look for the hero inside yourself". You are someone very special - so you should respect yourself. If you can't, why should anyone else?

Regularly consider affirmative statements or aphorisms.

Whatever your age, it's never too young to start planning your retirement. Regularly increase your mortgage repayments and pension contributions - this is a sensible use of the money you don't need for current expenditure and it will increase your longer-term lifestyle options.

Make a will, detailing the arrangement for your funeral and the dispersion of your assets. The only thing certain about your life is that it will end, so have peace of mind that the circumstances that follow your death will as far as possible be as you wish them to be.

Make arrangements to donate your organs on your death. That way, even your leaving of this world will give something special to others.

Remember that all generalisations are dangerous (even this one). So don't regard these tips as instructions, but as suggestions. You are the expert on you, maybe you just havn't thought deeply enough before.

However, if you try out all these suggestions and you're still not happy, you're either an android or an alien. In the former case, see an electronics engineer - or watch "Blade Runner" In the latter case, go home to your own planet and tell your people that we humans will survive. Seriously though, if you can't kick your unhappy feelings - request a session and talk things through with someone who would like to help, because I really do think everone has a right to happiness.

Many people e-mail me to thank me for this advice - But some ask how they can avoid sadness and pain. The answer is:

You can't - sadness and pain are part of life and being human. It is how we respond to these that determines whether we are fundamentally happy and hopeful. I hope that these tips help you.

If you have any thoughts of your own, please feel free to email them, I'd love to see them.