The Grateful Life

It’s time for our Gratitude Circle for January and I’ve decided to share with you about a book I came across that certainly helps to put gratitude in perspective for me.

I love the title of the book because I think that if there’s one thing that defines my life today, it is gratitude.

I am living the grateful life!

The Grateful Life: The Secret to Happiness, and the Science of Contentment  is a guide to discovering—and realizing—one’s dreams though a positive attitude. Through years of research and practice, authors Nina Lesowitz and Mary Beth Sammons have discovered that grateful living can transform lives. Grateful people are happier people, as shown by neurobiology studies at University of California Berkeley’s Greater Good Center (greatergood.berkeley.edu). This book contains inspiring stories about those who practice gratitude as a spiritual practice to rise out of adversity to new life. It will also show how grateful living is central to the good life and to attracting abundance.

Filled with motivational quotes, resources and exercises, The Grateful Life will help people on their journey to create the life they’ve always wanted. Taking the concept of the bestselling Living Life as a Thank You to the next level, The Grateful Life includes absorbing and transformative stories from the frontlines of real people, who unveil the secret to achieving success—big and small—in life.

Some statistics we can appreciate: 

Charity: Grateful people give an average of 20 percent more to charities.
Psychology: Gratitude is related to age. For every 10 years, gratitude increases by 5 percent.
Community: Grateful people have a stronger bond with the community.
Health: Grateful people will have 10 percent fewer stress-related illnesses, are more physically fit, and have blood pressure that is lower by 12 percent.
Work: The incomes of happy people are an average of 7 percent higher.
Friends: Grateful people have more satisfying rela- tionships with others and be liked more.
School: Grateful people are 20 percent more likely to get “A” grades; 13 percent have fewer fights.
Location: The most grateful countries are South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, and India.

About the Authors: 

Nina Lesowitz is a gratitude practitioner and volunteer for literacy organizations. She also runs Spinergy Group, a public relations firm that represents authors and corporate clients as well as nonprofits. The recipient of numerous awards and tributes, including a national award for excellence in media relations, she is also the coauthor of the best-selling The Party Girl Cookbook. Along with Mary Beth Sammons, she is the coauthor of Living Life as a Thank You. She lives in Oakland, CA.

Mary Beth Sammons is an award-winning journalist and author who has contributed to Family Circle, the Chicago Tribune’s lifestyle section, and various online health and wellness websites. The author of seven books in the women’s self-help and health and wellness fields, including We Carry Each Other: Getting Through Life’s Toughest Times, My Family: Collected Memories, and Gifts with Heart. She lives in Chicago.

Connect with the authors on Facebook.
My review

The book is such an interesting mix of interviews, stories, quotations, research and practices. Writing in an easy style, the authors have given so much practical material on how to increase our gratitude quotient and so live a life that is full of blessings and well-being.

The last chapter has a few gratitude practices. Here’s an example:

Grateful Life Practice: Meditation

“I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness. It’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.” —Brene Brown

1. Bring to mind a time when you felt very grateful. You may have received good news about a friend or family member, or perhaps you were surprised by a wonderful gift from someone you care about.
2. Relive that experience as if it’s happening now.
3. Notice feelings and physical sensations as you vividly recall this experience of gratitude. Experience this from your head to your toes for two to four minutes, or as long as you would like.
4. Then let go of this particular memory, but continue to relax into the positive sensations that feeling grateful evokes in you.
5. At various points throughout the day, take a minute or two to bring this experience into your awareness.
6. On another day you may choose to recall a different memory of gratitude.

You will likely have many bright moments on the days that you do this practice.

This month, I’ve been very mindful of all the gifts I have in my life – apart from comfort, food, health and books – I’m most grateful for love. On the 27th, José and I celebrated 8 years of marriage. It’s difficult to find words for how grateful I am for our relationship. So I’m borrowing some words to give thanks!

“there were hurts and tears, there was love and trust. there was dancing and there was stumbling. there was loss and there were new beginnings. there were questions and answers and frustrations and doubts. there was laughter and play and holding and caring. and thru it all, there was you and i creating our history. creating our love. creating us. ” – Terri St Cloud

 

What are you grateful for? Write a gratitude post on your blog and add it the linky here below. Grab the lovely Gratitude Circle Badge from the sidebar.

You’re welcome to join our Gratitude Circle on Facebook too. 

If you would like to have the linky on your blog, Vidya and I would be happy to share it with you.