Britain’s most prestigious scientific institution, the Royal Society, will host a meeting for some of the world’s top psychologists. Their aim is to find out why it is that some people’s lives go so right. What is it that makes them happy and fulfilled, while others seem doomed to founder in misery, dissatisfaction and dejection Psychologists have known for some time that optimism is a good defense against unhappiness.“If you are optimistic and you think life is going to get better, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy,” saysBaylis. “You will involve yourself more, you will take more care of yourself. You will figure that if you do more exercise and not booze as much, life will be better.”Positive psychologists believe optimism can be learned, and we can teach ourselves to see a half-empty glass as half-full.“Research on depression shows that one of the biggest causes of depression is ruminating about something that went wrong in the past,” saysBaylis.“What happens is you look into the past and think about some event and keep turning it over, saying, ‘I messed up, I messed up,’ and you let it hurt you.” But just as dwelling on negative events can lead to depression, dwelling on things that have gone well can help pick you up.“You have to thank your lucky stars about what goes right on a daily basis. Whenever you get the feeling of being negative about things, just take a moment out and remind yourself of the stuff that has gone well. It could be anything from a conversation to your garden looking nice, or that it didn’t rain on you when you were out on your bike. It’s an extremely powerful technique.” By reminding ourselves what went well instead of what went wrong, positive psychologists believe we can build a buffer against unhappiness, making us better able to take life’s knocks when they come. a cushion-like device that reduces shock (Par