Living Life as a Thank You: The Transformative Power of Daily Gratitude Hot

One thing I have come to believe: the most profound teachings often seem the simplest on the surface. Gratitude is one of these. My first reaction reading this book was a sense of quiet relief. Available to us any time, in any circumstance, is the power to transform our lives. In numerous investigations, gratitude has been shown to increase personal happiness, enhance health, and to help people move from fear to courage, isolation to belonging, and connect to “the flow of life beyond our personal concerns.”

Completely lacking is the sensationalism so pervasive in our culture. The perspective presented in Living Life as a Thank You focuses our attention on being grateful for even the smallest things and rewires our brains to see the glass half-full. In the process, the energy that squandered by living in the past or the future is for the first time available to us, resulting in profound changes in our own lives and those of others.

The radical change in perspective made possible by gratitude may be vital to surviving this period in which financial and natural disasters can destroy overnight the lives with which we identify. Going through these shocking losses and witnessing the suffering of others can leave us feeling abandoned and hopeless. Gratitude is a tool to guide us through the re-evaluation necessary to return to our core values.

Through vignettes from people's lives and practices to use ourselves, Living Life as a Thank You sets us on a profound journey that begins with just one step. As Meister Eckhart counseled, “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was ‘Thank You,’ that would suffice.”