This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedanta.

We've all been there. You park your car in a giant lot, only to come back a few hours later, and have no idea where you parked.

You wander around your arms laden with shopping bags, cursing.

TV shows like Seinfeld, make these situations for laughs.

Look at that! How is this car, Brave?

We need a system!

I'm gonna be here.

Why are you using so many colors? The numbers go up to 40.

Maybe it's not on this level.

When things like this happen in real life, you probably don't laugh.

Or take bigger things. You slip on the ice and you break a wrist.

Someone leaves the stove on and your house catches on fire.

Or the world suddenly and inexplicably is gripped by a major pandemic.

The huge jump in COVID-19 cases across the US is causing a triple threat of problems,

rising hospitalizations, a shortage of tests and staffing issues in healthcare facilities and beyond.

Livelihoods are lost. Lives are lost.

The world passed another milestone in the pandemic this week.

Five million people have now died from the virus, 700,000 of them in the United States.

Life is filled with tragedies and hardship.

For thousands of years, philosophers have come up with strategies to help us cope with setbacks.

This week on Hidden Brain, we return to an episode from 2020 about an ancient philosophy

that's backed by modern psychology. It shows us how to respond wisely to disappointment and misfortune.

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