How to Be an Optimist

STACK THE DECK IN YOUR FAVOR

It's easy to be envious: Compare yourself to those with thinner thighs and fatter bank accounts and you'll always come up wanting—and pessimistic. But the corollary is also true: No matter how bad things get, there's always someone who's worse off. In one simple study, subjects were randomly divided into two subgroups. One group was to finish the sentence "I wish I were a ______." The other was asked to complete the sentence "I'm glad I'm not a ______." When individuals rated their sense of satisfaction with their lives before and after this task, those who completed the "I'm glad I'm not a ______" sentence were significantly more satisfied than before.