Whenever sadness creeps in, I just acknowledge it as being sadness. Okay, so I am sad. I don't run from it. I don't try to deny that I am sad. I don't try to numb it. It is a human emotion. I don't run from being a human. I don't try to deny that I am a human. I don't try to numb the fact that I am a human being. I am just a human that is "being" sad at the moment.
Leave your front door and your back door open. Allow your thoughts to come and go. just don't serve them tea. Shunryu Suzuki
To move forward and allow new thoughts and feelings to come in, I help someone else. Doing so, gets me out of self and makes the life of the person I help, possibly a bit better and easier. If nothing else, they realize that they are not alone. At the same time, it helps me to come to the realization, that I am not alone either.