A beautiful boxed set of 5 premium quality greetings cards with envelopes, each with a different message pertinent to a world where there can be an oppressive demand to look on the bright side.

These cards allow us to bond with others around an honest admission of some truly sobering realities. Send one to a friend with a dark sense of humour, share with a family member resistant to being jollied along but open to an empathetic gesture, or frame one and put it on your desk as a reminder that being pessimistic is not necessarily a bad thing, but an acknowledgement of a fundamental truth of the human condition.

 It might sound rather grim to send someone a pessimistic card, but, in fact, it is one of the kindest and most generous things one could do. That’s because what often makes us sad and angry isn’t disappointment, but a sense that our hopes have not come true and that our lives are unusually bitter; that we have been singled out for particular punishment. These cards suggest otherwise. Life isn’t incidentally miserable, they tell us; it is fundamentally, deeply difficult for everyone.

At The School of Life, we believe that much of life deserves solemn and mournful states, and that acknowledging this can lead to true loyalty and friendship. Learn more about this and other aspects of emotional intelligence in our blog, The Book of Life.

Example cards:

• 'The only people we can think of as normal are those we don't yet know very well.'

• 'All great choices come down to deciding what variety of suffering we'd prefer.'

• 'To think well of oneself: a privilege reserved for those who have not begun to understand themselves.'

To read more on the subject of Pessimism, visit our blog The Book of Life.

5 foil blocked greetings cards with accompanying envelope | 156 x 110mm | 350gsm | Printed gift box