by Karyn Campbell

Created on: November 11, 2007   Last Updated: November 12, 2007

It's Thanksgiving Day and the Lucky family sits down to a five-course meal at the family table. All of the family is present from Great-Aunt Edna, the widow of Mr. Lucky's uncle once removed, to little Davey, the first grandson. Little Davey will be eating with a silver spoon this year quite appropriate for the child who is destined to inherit the family fortune one day.

On the other side of town, third-grader Debbie Needy spreads peanut butter and jelly on bread from the discount grocery store. Her mother has to work as an aid at the hospital, but they will be together tonight for a few hours between shifts.

As they Luckies dig in to the ham and turkey with oyster stuffing, conversation centers around the dismal state of the stock market and the buffoon in charge at the White House, staccatoed with snide remarks about the latest social scandal.

Debbie bows her head and gives thanks for her meal and reads her favorite book from the library. She is looking forward to the evening when she and her mom will eat chicken noodle soup, followed by a lively game of Crazy 8.

While most of us probably envy the Luckies, academic studies show that what we learned in kindergarten is really true: it's not things, but attitude that truly makes us happy.
"People who describe themselves as feeling grateful to others and either to God or to creation in general tend to have higher vitality and more optimism, suffer less stress, and experience fewer episodes of clinical depression than the population as a whole," explained noted author Gregg Easterbrook on beliefnet.com.

Easterbrook based his conclusions on a recent study by Robert Emmons of the University of California at Davis, a psychologist and leading figure in the new field of gratitude research.
Emmons studied college students who kept gratitude journals every day for several weeks. He found that no matter what circumstances you find yourself in, you can be happier and healthier just by expressing gratitude. And it has nothing to do with actually having the cars, jobs and loved ones that we think bring happiness. In fact, Emmons found that students who thought they were better off than others were actually less happy than those who focused on things to be thankful for.

This means the upcoming holiday is more than a time to eat a lot of Aunt Stella's famous cornbread stuffing and grouse about the upcoming shopping season. Being genuinely thankful can actually be good for us. Who knew?

So this Thanksgiving, no matter what kind of table

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