A new study of middle-aged women, the largest ever to explore the impact of personality and temperament on the heart, shows that optimism can add years to a lady’s life and, yes, life to her years. Best of all, according to one behavioral-medicine expert who commented on the study, those inclined toward pessimism and hostility can learn to see their half-empty glass as half full — and more and more research is showing that such a change in attitude “can not only improve your life but save it.” Sounds like the writer of Proverbs 31 knew what he was talking about when he proclaimed that the “worthy wife” is “clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs at the days to come.” It’s probably not coincidental, either, that the same Hebrew sage pointed out: “Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”