Awakening after depression

Depression...it almost ruined my life! It almost ruined a lot of lives, including my four children, parents, sisters, etc. But, out of depression I am becoming awakened. I no longer just want to sleep my life away. I no longer live in the shame and guilt of what I'd become. I can wake up an feel joy and look forward to what the day will bring to me. Now this joy did not come to me overnight. It's taken years and a lot of tears, wrong turns, mistakes, etc. It came with a price, but every bit of sadness and every mistake I've ever made, has brought me to where I am now. I can't say I've gotten here by just doing "one" thing. But, by changing a number of things in my life, on the whole it is so much better. I began my quest for healing by keeping a journal. A journal of my thoughts and a journal about my dreams. I never knew why my dreams fascinated me so, but they always have. I've always known there was some kind of "key to healing" in my dreams. Years back I began to study my dreams and what they were suppose to mean. Back them I dreamed of tornadoes, my body out of control, people breaking into where I lived to attack me, etc. I definately knew I had issues to work on. I still have issues to work on...