Quarter

Many years ago, a psychology professor showed that he could significantly change people's ratings of their own moods by arranging for them to "find" a quarter on the floor of an experiment room before they made their mood ratings.

A pretty fascinating scenario, you might think. And what better way to go beaming with joy after simply bumping into a coin than manipulating all those complicated molecules like endorphin and serotonin?

But think again. We are simply humans whose ups and downs can be the result of completely inconsequential events. The emphasis, perhaps, should not be on unleashing our high spirits after a minor incident such as finding a quarter on the floor, the positive (albeit unspoken) impact of which has rippled throughout centuries. Another lesson we can glean from that experiment is to appreciate how vulnerable we are – to be irked and shaken by trivial events. We don’t have to be taught to laugh after finding twenty-five cents. Rather, we need to learn to remain unscathed after losing five hundred bucks.