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simply transform the way we perceive the world without altering
reality itself. Let me give you an example. While writing these lines,
my friend calls. He is at Heathrow Airport waiting to get on a plane
to Austria for a skiing holiday. His plane has been delayed for three
hours already, because of snowstorms at his destination. "I guess this
is both a good and bad thing," he says. Waiting at the airport is not
pleasant, but he quickly concludes that snow today means better
skiing conditions tomorrow. His brain works to match the unexpected
misfortune of being stuck at the airport to its eager anticipation of a
fun getaway.
A canceled flight is hardly tragic, but even when the incidents that
befall us are the type of horrific events we never expected to
encounter, we automatically seek evidence confirming that our
misfortune is a blessing in disguise. No, we did not anticipate losing
our job, being ill or getting a divorce, but when these incidents occur,
we search for the upside. These experiences mature us, we think.
They may lead to more fulfilling jobs and stable relationships in the
future. Interpreting a misfortune in this way allows us to conclude
that our sunny expectations were correct after all — things did work
out for the best.
Silver Linings
How do we find the silver lining in storm clouds? To answer that, my
colleagues — renowned neuroscientist Ray Dolan and neurologist
Tamara Shiner — and I instructed volunteers in the fMRI scanner to
visualize a range of medical conditions, from broken bones to
Alzheimer's, and rate how bad they imagined these conditions to be.
Then we asked them: If you had to endure one of the following,
which would you rather have — a broken leg or a broken arm?
Heartburn or asthma? Finally, they rated all the conditions again.
Minutes after choosing one particular illness out of many, the
volunteers suddenly found that the chosen illness was less

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