While you can’t prevent these darker aspects of life, there is a corresponding element you do control: your reaction to those events. Suffering often leads to fear and frustration, but those are creations of our minds, not reality, as the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu agree . Mental immunity , as they call it, is the equivalent of a healthy immune system: you’ll still feel pain, but you’ll be able to ward it off a lot better.

For example, when you treat a traffic jam as an opportunity to practice patience, rather than fretting about whether you’ll make it on time, you’ll be a lot less stressed.