In Good Times, and Bad Times

In my reading last night of Stephen King’s Needful Things, Danforth Keeton is nice to his wife, for a change. Ordinarily, he is verbally abusive towards her, as he harshly berates her whenever things don’t go his way. But he’s happy right now because he got from Leland Gaunt a device that helps him to predict winners in horse-races.

It can be a challenge to be nice to people (especially family) when one is in a bad mood, or when things are not going one’s way. But there are many people who manage to do it. What is their secret?