Ask yourself, “Will this really matter a year from now?” Chances are, the answer is no! Or try to consider your problem in the context of space and time. When my (Sonja Lyubomirsky’s) son went through an astronomy phase, I was surprised how serene and unruffled I felt every time I read him a book about galaxies, stars, or planets. How can I stress over my carpooling situation when the farthest galaxy is thirteen billion light-years away? When the universe is expanding! It seems magical that this knowledge would have such power, but it does.

Sonja Lyubomirsky and Jaime Kurtz, Positively Happy: Routes to Sustainable Happiness, Coventry: CAPP Press, 2008, p. 51