Many people first became aware of amber because of the movie Jurassic Park, in which scientists extracted DNA from fossilized in order to create dinosaurs. This process has yet to be repeated in reality, but amber serves to connect us to the ancient past in other ways.
Some of it is as old as 400 million years. Found in Russia, Poland, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and other countries around the world, it may have been the first gem worn by our ancestors and the first used as a magical and healing tool.
Amber has evolved from the resin of extinct evergreen trees. Although it is commonly called sap, they serve different functions Sap might be compared loosely to blood in that it flows through the branches and leaves of trees. Resin has a more specific purpose. A tree exudes it in response to injury or disease. Among other functions, it heals insect damage and wounds caused by broken branches.

Resin becomes amber after it's deposited in areas where oxygen can't interact with it, such as places with a lot of sand or clay. Lack of oxygen means the resin doesn't decay. Instead, it undergoes a process of hardening. The result is a material that's light and soft enough to carve or drill.

As a physical healer, amber has, in the ancient and medieval past, been used to cure disorders as diverse as gout, jaundice, asthma, and sexual problems. Over the millennia, people have also used it for psychic and emotional work. Zuni artists still carve fetishes in amber, and it has often been used for psychic protection. Alchemists employed it in their potions, and tribal leaders made it part of ceremonies and rituals.

A Piece of Sunlight

In contemporary times, we can experience amber as a partner in the restoration of emotional balance. Although Greek gods and heroes cried "tears of amber," it is generally considered to relate to a feeling of happiness. By partnering with it, we have the opportunity to address a variety of emotions that work against feeling happy.

Depression
This is a profound state of disconnection from well being. When we're in this state, we usually have trouble creating anything but more depression. Though this mood can feel as if it totally blankets your being, if you can manage even a small increase in cheerfulness you can open the way to more positive emotions.
Holding a piece of amber while meditating and visualizing golden, cheering energy flowing through your being can shine some sunlight through those dark clouds. I would recommend also taking the Bach Flower Remedy Mustard (a sunny golden flower), an essence for relieving depression of unknown origin. If your depression has a known cause, choose instead Gentian (BFR).
Chakra Balancing
Unlike clear quartz, amber tends to find areas of least resistance and flow through them, thus gradually dismantling a blockage. Although for purposes of chakra balancing, it is usually placed on the navel area it can be placed at any point where you feel that you need to be gently revitalized.
Self-Esteem

Shades of yellow and gold relate to the third chakra, whose key issues are self-esteem, personal empowerment, and manifestation. Amber has a natural connection to these issues. While it doesn't address them directly, it does address related emotions that can block our ability to manifest.

When we're loving and taking good care of ourselves, we tend not to get overwhelmed by anger and stress. Anger tells us clearly that we're blocking our self-esteem and creative powers. Stress indicates that we're not taking good care of ourselves. Clearing up these issues is often a necessary first step to wholeness.

Wearing Amber

Early people often wore amber. I recommend continuing this ancient practice. If you are feeling a desire for overall rebalancing or if you have a particular emotional wound, wearing amber (especially if you remind yourself why you're wearing it), can be a cheering experience.

Learning Healing from Trees

I find it wonderful that trees know how to heal themselves, sending resin to insect-damaged areas, sealing off the wounds from broken branches, and closing the spaces between growth rings. Imagine applying this energy to your life.

When you feel that people are poking at you emotionally and/or verbally, you may be left feeling battered and perhaps ready to poke back. The psychic salve I like to apply when that happens to me is to think, "They do what they do because of who they are not because of me." Thinking this in no way prevents one from requesting the poker to cease and desist, but once the peck marks are healing, I can do that in a calmer way.

Broken branches may symbolize the loss of beloved friends or family members. Here the salve consists of reminding oneself that they will always be present in your blessed memories and, depending on your beliefs, not extinguished, but available in other realms of existence.

The sealing of spaces between growth rings makes me think of what's called "growing pains." Though this term is usually applied to adolescents, accelerated change can be painful for people of any age if they don't go with it. I think of the emotional resin of closing the gaps and of being able to see change not as creating an unbridgeable gap, but as part of a journey begun long ago.

In each of these situations, meditating with and/or wearing amber can greatly ease the process of rebalancing. While meditating, imagine that, like a tree, your being has the ability to identify imbalance and to effortlessly correct it. Rather than focusing on the areas you think are out of alignment, allow your greater wisdom to send balancing forces according to its own design. Simply visualize a golden glow circulating through you, filling you, and returning you to wholeness.