Gratitude During the Holiday Season
This has been a divisive and difficult year for our country. With the holidays upon us, now is the time to reflect on the positive. Most of us have a lot to be thankful for, and the holiday season is a wonderful time to truly reflect and focus on becoming more grateful.
This selection of library books should help you on your quest to become a more grateful person.
Just when his dearest life dreams seemed to have slipped beyond his reach, John Kralik was struck by the belief that his life might become at least tolerable if, instead of focusing on what he didn't have, he could find some way to be grateful for what he had. He set the goal of writing 365 thank-you notes in the coming year.
The Gift of Thanks by Margaret Visser
This fascinating inquiry into all aspects of gratitude ranges from the unusual determination with which parents teach their children to thank, to the difference between speaking the words and feeling them, to the ways different cultures handle the complex matters of giving, receiving, and returning favors and presents. It also illuminates the modern battle of social scientists to pin down the notion of thankfulness and discover its biological and evolutionary roots.
No writer has succeeded in capturing the medical and human drama of illness as honestly and eloquently as Oliver Sacks. During the last few months of his life, he wrote a set of essays in which he movingly explored his feelings about completing a life and coming to terms with his own death.
The Gratitude Diaries by Janice Kaplan
On New Year's Eve, journalist and former Parade Editor-in-Chief Janice Kaplan makes a promise to be grateful and look on the bright side of whatever happens. She realizes that how she feels over the next months will have less to do with the events that occur than her own attitude and perspective. Getting advice at every turn from psychologists, academics, doctors and philosophers, she brings readers on a smart and witty journey to discover the value of appreciating what you have. Relying on both amusing personal experiences and extensive research, Kaplan explores how gratitude can transform every aspect of life including marriage and friendship, money and ambition, and health and fitness.
Gratitude Works! by Robert A. Emmons
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