{"text":[[{"start":7.5,"text":"The writer is the author of the upcoming ‘The Kitchen Book: Good Food for Every Day’ "}],[{"start":12.95,"text":"It’s nice when science makes sense, isn’t it? I feel this way about the latest news on optimism: it appears to be our best weapon in staving off dementia and, possibly, cardiac trouble. According to recent studies, changing your outlook on life might just change the way life rolls out for you."}],[{"start":31.95,"text":"The only problem, of course, is that we live in a gloomy time. Things, as the poet said, fall apart. Nothing, let alone the centre, can hold. Cruelty and chaos reign supreme; every day the news is bad, then worse and worse. By and large, pessimists find their worldview rewarded."}],[{"start":51.8,"text":"And yet are those pessimists themselves rewarded? Do they feel better? Does anyone feel better because of their pessimism? The science suggests, statistically, that it really is better to be happy than to be right. The power of I-told-you-so is tempered almost into insignificance by the fact of our shared suffering in the end. "}],[{"start":72.44999999999999,"text":"I am a naturally pessimistic person: darkness stands for me “plain as a wardrobe”, as Larkin wrote, and I tend to the belief that “death is no different whined at than withstood”. And yet to live according to these beliefs is intolerable. Happiness is a practice, and practising it makes life worth living (perhaps, if these studies are true, in more ways than one)."}],[{"start":97.24999999999999,"text":"There is room for optimism in the face of truth: there are reasons that it is better to be alive than dead; always reasons to get up and go about your day in the hope of something better. Community gardens; babies; one single cigarette at a wedding. Being a bit drunk in a hot bath. A hot bath, generally: the many miracles of human co-operation that make a hot bath possible. When you get into a hot bath, consider that, for thousands of years, this experience was the preserve of kings and kings alone. Clean water; international commitments to clean water. International commitments generally. International co-operation generally. The small diplomatic acts that talk down a major crisis, the kind we never hear about. "}],[{"start":142.45,"text":"How often humanity manages, against all odds, not to die. How often a car drives past without mowing down a pedestrian (almost always!); how often we stand with strangers, in an elevator, say, or in a queue, in perfect harmony. To stand cheerfully with a stranger is kind of a miracle. How many miracles rarely make headlines: child mortality (under five) is down by a full 60 per cent since 1990, the near-eradication of the Guinea worm, the near-eradication of polio. The total eradication of smallpox. Vaccines, and the fact that almost 90 per cent of the UK just get on with having them, even though they aren’t any fun. "}],[{"start":183.39999999999998,"text":"New vaccines. Vaccines against cancer. Injectable immunotherapy for cancer. Huge medical leaps every single day. Scientists. Painters. Long lives. Solar power. Blue skies. Cold coffee. Hot coffee. Travelling, not just for business. Those guys who invented the little vacuum machine for taking microplastics out of beaches. Litter pickers. The fact that you can buy so many kinds of crisp in almost any supermarket. The fact that a billion fewer people live in poverty worldwide than they did 30 years ago. "}],[{"start":215.54999999999998,"text":"And the fact that spring is here and everywhere you look things are growing, even through concrete. Things are still alive. Lilac, butter, bread, cut crystal glasses, crayons, names, pubs, ponds, anything green, fresh paint, mint, smoked salmon, the incomparable cost-benefit ratio of a £1.99 new pen, a tin of gin on a train. Trains anywhere. Saying thank you to the bus driver. Holding doors open for people. Someone holding a door open for you. Complimenting a stranger. Being complimented by a stranger. "}],[{"start":248.14999999999998,"text":"These things are reasons for optimism: my personal reasons for optimism. Feel free to offer your own. You’ll feel better. And you might just live longer. "}],[{"start":263.79999999999995,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1776986443_9628.mp3"}