Feb. 22, 2010 — Living deeper

Back in the mid-1960s, 7,000 students at UNC-Chapel Hill took the MMPI, a widely used personality test.

It measures our ability to trust if we have unresolved emotional issues, how we deal with authority, whether we are optimistic or pessimistic, and other key assessments of emotional health.

After 40 years, some researchers did a statistical study of this group and determined that the pessimists had a significantly greater likelihood of dying sooner and that optimism was associated with living longer.

Well, Jesus once said that he came to bring life in abundance, which means much more than living longer, but living deeper.

Just a thought. I'm Sid Batts from First Presbyterian Church in downtown Greensboro, fpcgreensboro.org.