[aceregen]

I noticed the following characteristic about one friend who always sounded cheery.

When things go wrong (and there's often 1001 ways things go wrong, and 1 way where they go right) - We often slap ourselves and say "It could have been better if.."

However, I noticed my friend tend to think along these lines - "It could have been much worse, but that didn't happen. Somehow we got through it."

What doesn't kill you, make you stronger anyway.

[bumbledraven]

That's the way of thinking described in "How to make yourself happier in just a few seconds" http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1152224