I’m typing this entry on my phone. It’s not the easiest way to write a blog, and it might even lead to a typo or two. But my laptop is in someone else’s possession now. Yesterday, someone broke into my house in broad daylight and made off with a few good items.

I remembered reading about a concept in Shawn Achor’s book, The Happiness Advantage, called “falling up,” which describes the very real psychological and professional advantages of positive thinking even in negative situations.

Achor presents this scenario. Imagine you are in a bank with 50 other customers. The bank is robbed and you are shot in the arm. Do you lament your bad luck to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, to have been the only person hurt out of 50? Or do you find relief in your good fortune that you weren’t more severely wounded, and that nobody else was hurt? One way or another, your brain is going to process this experience, and how it does so affects you in the future.

I may not have all the details exactly correct (I read the book on my Kindle, which was also stolen).  But I do remember Achor’s message that happier, more successful, and even just luckier people are those who can find the positive path out of a negative situation instead of becoming helpless bystanders to their misfortune.

Things really could have been much worse. My wife, infant son and I could have been home. They could have taken a lot more than a few computers and some jewelry. They left the watch that’s been in my family since the 60’s and is irreplaceable. I still have a house to live in. We have insurance. We’re all healthy. We’re fortunate. What is there to complain about?

I’ve written about this concept before for families going through the college process, but it bears repeating–there are very few, if any, tragedies in college admissions. One grade, test score, or admission denial from a college (even from your dream school) won’t ruin your life. It’s a temporary, minor setback at worst.  You still live in a country with the most open, accessible, coveted system of higher education in the world. Hundreds of schools admit the vast majority of their applicants, and any one of them will give you opportunities to learn, grow, and have fun.  You’re almost certainly going to one of them. The only question is which one.

It all looks a lot better when you focus on the positive.