There is a lovely Persian tradition that turns the longest night of the year, the winter equinox, into a celebration. It’s called ‘Shabeh Yalda’ – Night of Yalda. I find this concept quite brilliant, as it is basically a healthy community approach to combat winter depression. I think more things like this should be put in place all over the world, especially in cold countries.

A personal favorite of mine is International Talk like a Pirate Day. Yes, that exists, I’m not making it up! Just imagine how it would be if everyone talked like a pirate for an entire 24 hour period. Now add sprinkles of accents from all around the world, and voilà! A recipe for a crazy day of laughter. And as we all know, laughter has many therapeutic benefits, one of which is to help ward off sadness and mild symptoms of depression. Which, as all us poor northerners know, there is a lot of during the winter.

How about adding laughter to winter sports? An arena full of laughing fans – that should be quite the experience…