“How to Build a Life” is a column by Arthur Brooks, tackling questions of meaning and happiness. Click here to listen to his podcast series on all things happiness, How to Build a Happy Life.

Ever since our earliest days together in our mid-20s, my wife has known about a mystical place called Lincoln City. It’s a modest beach town on the central-Oregon coast, but for me, it holds a Shangri-la-like mythos. Lincoln City is where I spent one blissful week each year as a boy, combing the rough beaches for agates, fishing off the local pier, and playing with matches in the firepit outside my aunt’s trailer home. These are the very happiest of my childhood memories.

So it was with great anticipation that, not long after marrying, I took my wife to visit the Best Place in the World. For me, it was every bit as glorious as I remembered. For her, not so much. She was very pregnant at the time and couldn’t stand the overpowering stench of dead fish. Given that she’s a native of warm Mediterranean shores, I shouldn’t have been surprised that she spent the weekend huddled in our motel room to avoid the howling wind. Ever since, she has considered Lincoln City to be a glitch in my psychological matrix—an unexplainable, almost pathological affection with no basis in reality.

Normally, my assessments of a place or experience differ little, if at all, from my wife’s. If she hates a diner party, I probably do too. In this case, our wildly different perceptions of Lincoln City can be explained by one of the strangest and most overpowering feelings that humans possess: nostalgia. This brew of memory, emotion, and desire can twist our perceptions and judgments, turning even pain into pleasure—or dead fish into the sweetest French perfume. And that gives it a unique power to combat unhappiness.

Psychologists have defined nostalgia as a self-conscious, social emotion, bittersweet but predominantly positive. It develops out of happy memories mixed with a yearning for the past and the close relationships we had back then. Often, nostalgia involves sensory stimuli. For example, the smell of autumn leaves might provoke an intense longing for your childhood home. Neuroscientists have found that it is a complex cognitive phenomenon involving many parts of the brain, including some that are implicated in self-reflection, autobiographical memory, emotional regulation, and reward processing.

Almost everyone experiences nostalgia, although its object tends to vary throughout life. One survey conducted by the psychologist Krystine Irene Batcho found that younger people felt more nostalgia for pets, toys, and holidays than did older people, who felt it more strongly for music. I came of age in the 1980s, and even songs I found hopelessly annoying back then—say, the torturous 1982 hit “Maneater,” by Hall & Oates—can fill me with nostalgic sentiment.

As my colleague Julie Beck has written, nostalgia was originally viewed as an emotional malady when it was first defined in the late 17th century. And, crucially, it often occurs when people are experiencing negative moods or having bad experiences. Loneliness can be a trigger, as researchers found in 2008. Another is bad weather. Or Hall & Oates.

[Read: When nostalgia was a disease]

However, despite its association with negative emotions, nostalgia does not cause or exacerbate unhappiness. Rather, nostalgia is a defense response to unhappiness, one that brings relief from a negative mood. Psychologists writing in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2006 found that provoking nostalgia in experiments strengthened people’s social bonds, boosted their positive feelings about themselves, and improved their mood. Similar research has shown that when people feel nostalgia, it can bolster their sense of life’s meaning, lower an existential reaction to the idea of death, increase spirituality, and raise optimism.

Scholars aren’t sure exactly why nostalgia works; some have speculated that reminiscing about happy memories affirms “valued aspects of the self” in situations when we might otherwise feel lonely or unworthy. Either way, its emotional intensity allows the joy of the past to overpower the unpleasantness of the present, a little nugget of escapism that helps get us through the bad times.

No matter how nostalgia works, the science to date finds more than enough evidence to conclude that it is good for us. Given its benefits, we could all gain from nurturing it consciously so we’re better prepared to counteract bad moods when they arise. Here are three ways to do so.

1. Find a shortcut to your happy place.

Think of a memory of a specific place and time that gives you a feeling of warmth, the kind you reflexively turn to in moments of distress. Now find a picture or object that reminds you of that place and keep it at hand. Maybe it’s a song stored on your phone or a picture of yourself as a child, sitting in your grandmother’s lap.

Better yet, if possible, find something that holds a smell that stimulates the nostalgic glow. Researchers have found that scent-induced nostalgia can be especially effective at raising happiness, self-esteem, optimism, and social connectedness. You could find a candle that smells like a sprig of pine to remind you of your childhood Christmases, or air freshener that evokes cut grass from summer days gone by. I thought of keeping a dead fish in my desk at work to remind me of Lincoln City but feared my colleagues might not see the charm in that.

[From the June 2017 issue: The end of forgetting]

2. Anticipate your memories.

When you think back on the memories that give you nostalgia, they probably feel like kismet, which is part of why they’re so appealing. But your nostalgic memories can have the same effect even if they’re deliberately manufactured. Writing in the journal Cognition and Emotion in 2019, researchers reported that when people anticipated feeling nostalgic about a current experience, they were more likely to experience that nostalgia later and get a corresponding boost in their feelings of social connection and sense of meaning.

You can run such an experiment in your own life. The next time you are having a good time with family or friends, take a mental snapshot, consciously committing the details to memory. You might even write them down. Note that these are the days that will someday make you say “Those were the days.” Later, when you are in a negative mood, you are much more likely to pull off this reminiscence.

[Listen: Pop music’s nostalgia obsession]

3. Build traditions.

A researcher writing in the Harvard Business Review in 2021 made the case that nostalgia can help build strong bonds in groups. I’ve seen this happen myself: At Harvard, I regularly speak to alumni gatherings, including to retirees who graduated from business school 60 and even 70 years ago. The participants get intense joy from seeing their classmates and reminiscing about their old times together. They laugh at memories that are objectively mundane and tear up at simple stories of ordinary things they saw and did together.

We can forge more of these strong bonds in our families, friend groups, and workplaces by creating traditions and rituals and recalling them as the years go by. Create “holidays” around events you experienced with others in the past, such as sports you played as kids or the formation of a friend group in a big city after college. Mark the occasion regularly, so people have something to look forward to. The occasion you’re celebrating doesn’t even have to be purely wonderful; for what it’s worth, alumni seem to be just as nostalgic about terrible classes as they are about the good ones.

Perhaps because it is so powerful and complex, nostalgia has received magical treatment from poets and writers. “The past is hidden somewhere outside the realm, beyond the reach of intellect,” Marcel Proust wrote. On a fourth-century-B.C. Greek tablet we find the anonymous inscription “‘I am parched with thirst and I perish. Give me quickly / the cool water flowing from the Lake of Memory.’ / And of their own accord they will give you to drink from the holy spring.”

I have never read a poem about Lincoln City. But on a windy, chilly day, the sort that would normally make me grumpy, a waft of fish will bring me as much magic as any verse.

After two years of existential crises over the purpose of the Academy Awards, during movie seasons wrecked by COVID and vanishing ticket sales and unstable streaming economies, the Oscars are back this month feeling relatively normal. What a miracle. The ceremony, which airs Sunday on ABC, will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel (the first solo host since Kimmel himself in 2018) and will honor some of the biggest movies of the past year; blockbuster nominees include Top Gun: Maverick, Elvis, and Avatar: The Way of Water.

The awards race is also in an unsettled state, which is rare given that precursor ceremonies such as the Golden Globes and BAFTAs usually establish a narrative before the Oscars arrive. Almost every major category is up in the air, with a few exceptions—including Best Picture, where the sci-fi action-adventure Everything Everywhere All at Once is practically guaranteed to triumph. The story of the night will be whether enthusiasm for that film spills into the technical awards and acting trophies, or if voters spread the love (as they have been wont to do as of late). Here are my predictions for the top categories:

Best Actress

Nominees: Cate Blanchett (Tár), Ana de Armas (Blonde), Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie), Michelle Williams (The Fabelmans), Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once)

Blanchett’s performance as the preening, brilliant, and devastatingly flawed conductor Lydia Tár is far more than awards catnip, though it is certainly the kind of big and brassy work that the Oscars love from a celebrated star. That’s why Blanchett is the nominal front-runner, having won a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a haul of critics awards over the past few months. But she already has two Oscars (for The Aviator and Blue Jasmine), and it’s historically tough to win a third (only seven actors have ever done it). Plus, she has serious competition in Michelle Yeoh, whose film is the Best Picture front-runner. Yeoh has been campaigning hard, is a legend in both Hollywood and the Hong Kong action industry, and is a beloved figure for multiple generations. Her win would also be a milestone—an Asian actor has never won in this category. Yeoh won a Globe in the Comedy field and then had a surprise win at the Screen Actors Guild, where she gave a fantastic speech, so the momentum is on her side.

Who Will Win: Michelle Yeoh
Who Ought to Win: Michelle Yeoh

Best Actor

Nominees: Austin Butler (Elvis), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin), Brendan Fraser (The Whale), Paul Mescal (Aftersun), Bill Nighy (Living)

Fraser has been perceived as the front-runner here for much of Oscar season. His role in The Whale required the unglamorous work of body transformation, which voters have long rewarded in acting categories. His heartwarming comeback narrative plays a role too—a well-liked movie star in the ’90s and 2000s, he practically vanished from Hollywood and has weathered physical and mental trauma, which he’s talked about openly and warmly. I wouldn’t be surprised if he won, but The Whale has proved to be an incredibly polarizing movie because of its grim portrayal of morbid obesity, and the fact that it’s not up for Best Picture or Adapted Screenplay suggests a narrow band of support. Fraser’s primary challengers are Farrell, who has capped a career comeback of his own with his wonderful and understated work in The Banshees of Inisherin, and Butler, who did another thing voters love (imitating a famous musician) very, very well. Elvis was one of the biggest hits of 2022, and Butler’s breakout work was a huge part of that; I think he’ll narrowly emerge the victor of this three-way race.

Who Will Win: Austin Butler
Who Ought to Win: Colin Farrell

Best Supporting Actress

Nominees: Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Hong Chau (The Whale), Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin), Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once)

Perhaps the most uncertain field of this year’s Oscars, the Best Supporting Actress category features two contenders widely perceived by their peers as “overdue” for a win. Jamie Lee Curtis, the daughter of Hollywood royalty (Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis), emerged as a “scream queen” in Halloween and has been an enduring star in genre film for almost 50 years—yet Everything Everywhere All at Once is only her first nomination. Bassett has long been one of the best actresses of her generation, but she was noticed by the Academy just once before, with a lead-actress nomination in 1993 for What’s Love Got to Do With It. Curtis, who won the SAG award, could triumph partly because of Everything Everywhere’s overall support; Bassett, who won the Globe, could be the first-ever acting winner from a Marvel movie, a milestone that might discourage some snobbier voters. Kerry Condon, who won the BAFTA, might surprise for her tender work in Banshees of Inisherin, but I think Bassett’s general gravitas will push her over the top.

Who Will Win: Angela Bassett
Who Ought to Win: Angela Bassett

Best Supporting Actor

Nominees: Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin), Brian Tyree Henry (Causeway), Judd Hirsch (The Fabelmans), Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin), Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)

The one major race that has been locked up for months is Best Supporting Actor. Ke Huy Quan, the child star who barely acted for 20 years before appearing in Everything Everywhere All at Once, seems a guaranteed victor in a strong field, and deservedly so. He’s the moral and emotional center of the film, shouldering the strange challenge of playing multiple versions of his supportive husband character, Waymond. He delivers most of the movie’s complex exposition, and does so with grace and authority. Quan has been a delightful presence on every red carpet and awards stage, and although each nominee in this category is worthy of attention, he’s been my pick here for almost a year.

Who Will Win: Ke Huy Quan
Who Ought to Win: Ke Huy Quan

Best Original Screenplay

Nominees: Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin), Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner (The Fabelmans), Todd Field (Tár), Ruben Östlund (Triangle of Sadness)

Almost all of this year’s Best Picture powerhouses were original screenplays (a rarity at the Oscars), so this category could break in a bunch of ways. If Everything Everywhere All at Once is truly dominant, then the “Daniels” team could take the trophy on the back of their complex, multiverse-centric sci-fi storytelling. Or this could be the place to reward Spielberg (who hasn’t won an Oscar since 1999) and Kushner (who, despite many great collaborations with Spielberg, has never won) for The Fabelmans. Similarly, this could be where Tár gets noticed—screenplay is often the category where “artier,” more challenging work is given its due. I’ll take a flier and predict McDonagh, though, who has never won a writing Oscar and who steered the dialogue-heavy Banshees to major Oscars success this year.

Who Will Win: The Banshees of Inisherin
Who Ought to Win: Tár

Best Adapted Screenplay

Nominees: Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell (All Quiet on the Western Front); Rian Johnson (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery); Kazuo Ishiguro (Living); Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie, Peter Craig, and Justin Marks (Top Gun: Maverick); Sarah Polley (Women Talking)

A bit of a strange pileup, this field includes two sequels (which are automatically included in this category because of Academy rules), Glass Onion and Top Gun: Maverick, the latter of which has the long list of scribes that’s typical for a colossal blockbuster. They are both perfectly structured scripts, but I think mild snootiness toward sequels will rule them out, and although Ishiguro is a revered name, Living is probably too small a film to break through here. That leaves the Best Picture nominees Women Talking and All Quiet on the Western Front. Although I think Polley’s adaptation of a challenging and uncinematic novel is the greater achievement, All Quiet seems like the front-runner because of its broader support, even though there’s been some outcry over its major (and, in my opinion, disastrous) change to the ending of its source text, a classic German novel.

Who Will Win: All Quiet on the Western Front
Who Ought to Win: Women Talking

Best Director

Nominees: Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin), Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans), Todd Field (Tár), Ruben Östlund (Triangle of Sadness)

Academy voters often split their choices between Best Director and Best Picture, giving the latter prize to the more mainstream work and the directing trophy to the more “artful” one (think Jane Campion winning for The Power of the Dog last year while CODA won Best Picture, or Alfonso Cuarón winning for Roma while Green Book took Best Picture). But I think the Daniels are the front-runners here, mostly because Everything Everywhere is a feat of direction and craft, loaded with visual inventiveness and flair. For a while, I figured Spielberg would win, in recognition of his long career and how personal a project The Fabelmans is for him, as well as the fact that he hasn’t won an Oscar in 24 years despite many nominations. But as Everything Everywhere hype continues to build, a split seems less likely.

Who Will Win: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Who Ought to Win: Steven Spielberg

Best Picture

Nominees: All Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick, Triangle of Sadness, Women Talking

A triumphant night for Everything Everywhere All at Once will be cemented here, making it the second film from the insurgent indie studio A24 to win the Oscars’ top prize (the first was Moonlight). In many ways, it’ll be a shocking moment for the Academy—Everything Everywhere is a nerdy sci-fi action film stuffed with complex martial arts and wordy explanations of multiple universes. But it was also a genuine word-of-mouth box-office hit in early 2022, a time when theaters were still struggling to get people back after COVID-related closures. It’s also a more grounded and human piece of storytelling than the juggernaut blockbusters in this category (Top Gun and Avatar). My personal favorite of the year is Tár, and I can see an argument for rewarding the colossal crowd-pleasing success of Top Gun: Maverick, but Everything Everywhere All at Once would be a worthy and relevant winner for an awards body that has endeavored to navigate the shifting tides of populism in recent years.

Who Will Win: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Who Ought to Win: Tár