Can gratitude help us live longer? We don’t know but researchers have shown that a positive attitude contributes years to a person’s life. Researcher Dr. David Snowdon, well known for the Nun study, has followed a group of School Sisters of Notre Dame religious affiliation for many years. One study involved positive attitudes: 180 of these Catholic sisters wrote handwritten autobiographies as young women (average age 22 years). Those who wrote positive content were most likely to be alive six decades later.
Researchers at Mayo Clinic looked at 839 patients over a 30 year period and found that optimists live longer. People who were more pessimistic live a shorter life span. Optimists vs. Pessimists: Survival Rate among medical patients over 30 year period, http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/75/2/140.full.pdf
A gratitude quote for today: "Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it." William Arthur Ward at Gratitude Quotes, http://www.abundance-and-happiness.com/gratitude-quotes.html
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