Seeking true happiness? Harness the power of negative thinking | André Spicer

There are limits to being relentlessly upbeat. Embrace pessimism - accepting it will all end in ruin releases us to live

Early on New Year's Day, I began scrolling through the messages people had left on social media. Usually you find a note of hope among popping corks and exploding fireworks. Not this year. All I found were posts like "2018 was a terrible year. Don't expect more from 2019" or "I dread the year to come".

I started to suspect that those I followed on social media were all just a bit depressing. But that theory evaporated when a new batch of articles trying to capture the spirit of our age appeared. "It's all over," one piece declared. "All that's left to us is making the best of a bad situation," another announced. A fascinating new book bore the title The Worst is Yet to Come.

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