Choosing Gratitude

Gratitude is a choice. If we fail to chose it, by default we choose ingratitude. And once allowed into the heart, ingratitude does not come by itself but with a lot of other seedy companions that only succeed in stealing joy. To not choose gratitude - daily and deliberately - is more costly than we usually realize. And when we do choose a lifestyle of heartfelt, humble gratitude, we are mindful of the benefits received from our gracious Savior and those He has placed around us. By intentionally thanking God and others, bitterness and entitlement are replaced with joy and the humble realization of just how undeserving we really are. Derived from a popular Revive Our Hearts radio series, Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy challenges and equips the reader to live a life of intention. A life based on thankfulness - for the freedom Christ has provided and for the blessings of others. As a bonus, a 30-day plan of journaling, prayer and activities to help the reader on her path to joy is included.

"In a society consumed by fears of not having "enough" -- money, possessions, security, etc. --Autry suggests that if we cultivate gratitude as a way of being, we may not change the world and its ills, but we can change our response to the world. If we fill lour lives with moments of gratitude, we will indeed love the life we have." -- publisher.

'No one tells a story better than Ellen Vaughn' ---Chuck Colson Why read a nice book about gratitude? After all, being thankful is not controversial. Everyone agrees that gratitude is a good thing. Nor is it rocket science. It is simple. But radical gratitude is also powerful, provocative, life-changing. It's like a pair of glasses that get progressively sharper: the more we thank, the more we see to be thankful for. Gratitude is the lens that reveals God's incredible grace at work. It is the key to tangible, everyday joy. True to Ellen Vaughn's signature style, this book overflows with unforgettable, surprising stories that show gratitude's transforming power. It is fun, slightly quirky, deep . . . and immensely refreshing.

Relax and enjoy a creative approach to gratitude with this beautiful coloring book for adults filled with breathtaking illustrations and inspirational quotes from writers, hymns, and Scripture. In today's hectic, stress-filled world, taking stock of our blessings and truly experiencing gratefulness isn't always easy, but this coloring book offers a beautiful and unique way to find moments of peace and quiet to meditate on gratitude. Each beautifully illustrated page features an original design from one of seven talented artists that illustrates a corresponding quote. Features include: - Large format 9.75" x 9.75" (25x25cm) pages - 45 single-sided coloring pages - High quality, bright white paper stock--heavy enough to use pencils, pens, or markers - Quotes from the Bible, hymns, and variety of inspirational writers, such as Charles Stanley, Henry Ward Beecher, Maya Angelou, Louisa May Alcott, Martin Luther King Jr., Shauna Niequist, Bob Goff, G.K. Chesterton, Mr. Rogers, and more - A link to the "Gratefulness" playlist to help set the mood for worship, contemplation, creative expression, and a spirit of gratitude - Illustrations by Holly Camp, Jennifer Tucker, Ann-Margret Hovsepian, Katie Howe, Laura Marshall, Bridget Hurley, and Radha Carlson--all artists previously featured in the bestselling Whatever Is Lovely and Everything Beautiful This coloring book will take you on a journey towards deeper gratitude. Whether you are embarking on this journey by yourself or in a group, pick up your favorite art supplies and color your way to a new understanding of what it means to be truly grateful.

True gratitude is not an incidental ingredient in a woman's life. It's a crucial one. It's a grace-infused commitment we choose minute by minute, throughout our hectic day. And as we do, we journey closer to the heart of God."30 Days of Choosing Gratitude" will help you grow the attitude of gratitude in your own life. As you keep track of your journey, you'll gain biblical insight and practical ideas for how you can choose gratitude on a daily basis.

Produce your best work. Live your best life. Make your greatest impact. You have everything you need--and you are everything you need--to do the writing you are meant to do. And yet the path to success can be difficult to find and follow. Veteran author and writing guide Sage Cohen believes that ferocity is your best compass for finding your true way forward. She shows you how to transform your attitude and practices so you can: • Unleash your creativity • Cultivate your strengths • Overcome resistance, fear, and other obstacles • Define success on your own terms • Move intentionally toward your goals • Become unstoppable in your evolution In this collection of contemplative and inspiring essays, you'll unlock the secrets to naming your deepest desires, eliminating the challenges that hold you back, and committing to your practice. Fierce on the Page is your trustworthy companion for crafting your best writing and your best life. Join the conversation about the fierce writing life at fierceonthepage.com.

Is there a secret to success? Business consultant Danelle Delgado would say yes, but she would add that each of us has a slightly different formula for a happy, productive life. She offers a practice used by many of the world's most successful people-an uncomplicated system for fostering joy, creativity, and transformation. That system is gratitude practice, and it changed Delgado's own life. Deceptively simple, gratitude practice asks you to take three small but vital steps every day: Record your gratitude for ten things in your life. Write down three goals. Commit to personal and professional growth. Performed consistently, these three steps will transform your beliefs, your attitudes, and your thinking. You'll create a habit shared by some of the world's wealthiest, most creative, and most successful individuals. I Choose Joy provides you with the space you need to record your gratitude and goals every day. Designed to make the process as easy as possible, each page offers you both the structure and space you need to develop a daily gratitude habit. Delgado offers you a road map to success, but she leaves the destination to you. All you have to do is start.

What is the difference between genuine faith and counterfeit faith? How do we know for sure that our faith is real? How can we know joy even in trials, and patience even in suffering? James is a book full of practical, life-changing help for real life. James For You makes clear its teaching and applies its challenges to the experiences of everyday Christians as Sam Allberry brings his clarity, wisdom and humour to every page. You can read through this book as a normal book... work through it as part of your daily Bible-reading routine... or use it to help you teach this letter, whether in small groups or from the pulpit.

In our fractured, “me-first” world, the science and practice of thankfulness could be just the antidote we need. Gratitude is powerful: not only does it feel good, it’s also been proven to increase our well-being in myriad ways. The result of a multiyear collaboration between the Greater Good Science Center and Robert Emmons of the University of California, Davis, The Gratitude Project explores gratitude’s deep roots in human psychology—how it evolved and how it affects our brain—as well as the transformative impact it has on creating a meaningful life and a better world. With essays based on new findings from this original research and written by renowned positive psychologists and public figures, this important book delves deeply into the neuroscience and psychology of gratitude, and explores how thankfulness can be developed and applied, both personally and in communities large and small, for the benefit of all. With contributions from luminaries such as Sonja Lyubomirsky, W. Kamau Bell, Van Jones, and many more, this edited volume offers more than just platitudes—it offers a blueprint for a new and better world.

Paul Williams is an alcoholic. Tracey Jackson is not. But together, these two close friends have written Gratitude and Trust, a book designed to apply the principles of the recovery movement to the countless people who are not addicts but nevertheless need effective help with their difficulties and pain. Williams, the award-winning songwriter, actor, and performer, has embraced a traditional alcoholism recovery plan for more than two decades of sobriety. Jackson, a well-known TV and film writer—and veteran of many years of traditional therapy—has never been a drunk or a drug abuser, but she realized that many of the tenets of Williams’s program could apply to her. In Gratitude and Trust, Williams and Jackson ask: What happens to those who struggle with vexing problems yet are not full-blown addicts? Are there any lessons to be learned from the foundational and time-tested principles of the recovery movement? Whether you’re tethered to your phone or you turn to food for comfort; whether you’re a perfectionist and can’t let things go or are too afraid to fail to even try; whether you can find intimacy only on the Internet or you’ve been involved in a string of nasty relationships—the first step toward feeling better about yourself and your life is the realization that you are what’s standing in your way. Williams and Jackson have designed a new, positive program, based on a half-dozen new affirmations, that can help conquer your vices, address personal dysfunction, and start to brighten the darkest moods. Gratitude and Trust is an essential, inspirational, and uplifting guide to identifying and changing maladaptive behaviors in order to uncover your most productive, healthiest self.

This companion journal to the "30-Day Growing in Gratitude Devotional Guide" in Nancy's book Choosing Gratitude will help you grow the attitude of gratitude in your own life. As you keep track of your journey in this easy-to-use journal, youll gain biblical insight and practical ideas for how you can choose gratitude on a daily basis.

Choose Gratitude Start your days off right with the expression of gratitude. It takes time to develop an attitude of gratitude but our journals make the journey easier. Inside you will find prompts that set you up for a win. By writing down each day something you are thankful for - healthy food, a loving spouse or just waking up that day, you set yourself up to have a great day. We offer a variety of interiors in our Gratitude Journals. Just click the look inside to check it out. Grab a copy for yourself and a friend today!

The idea was deceptively simple: New York Times bestselling author A.J. Jacobs decided to thank every single person involved in producing his morning cup of coffee. The resulting journey takes him across the globe, transforms his life, and reveals secrets about how gratitude can make us all happier, more generous, and more connected. Author A.J. Jacobs discovers that his coffee—and every other item in our lives—would not be possible without hundreds of people we usually take for granted: farmers, chemists, artists, presidents, truckers, mechanics, biologists, miners, smugglers, and goatherds. By thanking these people face to face, Jacobs finds some much-needed brightness in his life. Gratitude does not come naturally to Jacobs—his disposition is more Larry David than Tom Hanks—but he sets off on the journey on a dare from his son. And by the end, it’s clear to him that scientific research on gratitude is true. Gratitude’s benefits are legion: It improves compassion, heals your body, and helps battle depression. Jacobs gleans wisdom from vivid characters all over the globe, including the Minnesota miners who extract the iron that makes the steel used in coffee roasters, to the Madison Avenue marketers who captured his wandering attention for a moment, to the farmers in Colombia. Along the way, Jacobs provides wonderful insights and useful tips, from how to focus on the hundreds of things that go right every day instead of the few that go wrong. And how our culture overemphasizes the individual over the team. And how to practice the art of “savoring meditation” and fall asleep at night. Thanks a Thousand is a reminder of the amazing interconnectedness of our world. It shows us how much we take for granted. It teaches us how gratitude can make our lives happier, kinder, and more impactful. And it will inspire us to follow our own “Gratitude Trails.”

Gratitude, like other positive emotions, has inspired many theological and philosophical writings, but it has inspired very little vigorous, empirical research. In an effort to remedy this oversight, this volume brings together prominent scientists from various disciplines to examine what has become known as the most-neglected emotion. The volume begins with the historical, philosophical, and theoretical foundations of gratitude, then presents the current research perspectives from social, personality, and developmental psychology, as well as from primatology, anthropology, and biology. The volume also includes a comprehensive, annotated bibliography of research on gratitude. This work contributes a great deal to the growing positive psychology initiative and to the scientific investigation of positive human emotions. It will be an invaluable resource for researchers and students in social, personality, and developmental, clinical, and health psychology, as well as to sociologists and cultural anthropologists.

Choose Gratitude Start your days off right with the expression of gratitude. It takes time to develop an attitude of gratitude but our journals make the journey easier. Inside you will find prompts that set you up for a win. By writing down each day something you are thankful for - healthy food, a loving spouse or just waking up that day, you set yourself up to have a great day. We offer a variety of interiors in our Gratitude Journals. Just click the look inside to check it out. Grab a copy for yourself and a friend today!

The Wilbur Award-winning book Grateful is now available in paperback and with an updated subtitle. If gratitude is good, why is it so hard to do? In Grateful, Diana Butler Bass untangles our conflicting understandings of gratitude and sets the table for a renewed practice of giving thanks. We know that gratitude is good, but many of us find it hard to sustain a meaningful life of gratefulness. Four out of five Americans report feeling gratitude on a regular basis, but those private feelings seem disconnected from larger concerns of our public lives. In Grateful, cultural observer and theologian Diana Butler Bass takes on this “gratitude gap” and offers up surprising, relevant, and powerful insights to practice gratitude. Bass, author of the award-winning Grounded and ten other books on spirituality and culture, explores the transformative, subversive power of gratitude for our personal lives and in communities. Using her trademark blend of historical research, spiritual insights, and timely cultural observation, she shows how we can overcome this gap and make change in our own lives and in the world. With honest stories and heartrending examples from history and her own life, Bass reclaims gratitude as a path to greater connection with god, with others, with the world, and even with our own souls. It’s time to embrace a more radical practice of gratitude—the virtue that heals us and helps us thrive.

This poetry anthology, edited by Miranda Paul, explores a wide range of ways to be grateful (from gratitude for a puppy to gratitude for family to gratitude for the sky) with poems by a diverse group of contributors, including Joseph Bruchac, Margarita Engle, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Naomi Shihab Nye, Charles Waters, and Jane Yolen.

As a busy wife, new mother, business owner, and designer, Emily Ley came to a point when she suddenly realized she couldn’t do it all. She needed to simplify her life, organize her days, and prioritize the priorities. She realized that she had been holding herself to a standard of perfection, when what God was really calling her to do was step into his grace. In this four-session video-based study (DVD/digital downloads sold separately), Emily describes the journey that led to her pursuing a simpler life–one that allowed her to breathe, laugh, and grow–and provides ways for others to simplify their lives. She reminds each of us that God abundantly pours out grace on us, and because of this, we can surely extend grace to ourselves. This message is for everyone who has been trying to do it all… only to burn out. Learn to find joy and acceptance in the midst of life’s beautiful messes. Sessions include: Let Go of the Perfect Life Surrender Control Build True Community Live in God’s Grace Designed for use with the Grace, Not Perfection Video Study (sold separately).

Do you want to have a wonderful life? Be thankful! With gratitude, we recognize and acknowledge the goodness in our lives. In the process, gratitude helps us connect to something greater than ourselves, to other people, and to our Creator. This leads us to humility and an opening of the heart to receive more blessing. Counting your blessings makes it easier to notice them. The more good you see in your life, the happier and more successful you're likely to be. Studies show that regular practices of acknowledging gratitude increase happiness, improve health and relationships, and increase motivation - all of this in just a few minutes a day! A study in 2005 found that happiness could be increased by a simple gratitude exercise. Participants took the time to write down 5 things they were grateful for each week, for 10 weeks. At the end of the study this group was 25% happier than a comparison group who simply listed five events from the week. That's it - just five things a week! Surely we can find five things to be grateful for in a whole week. Let's do this! How To Use This Journal Each day, write down something you are grateful for. There are journal prompts to help you get started and a quote for your focus each week. You can relax with the coloring pages to help you let your thoughts flow, and use the goal lists for planning. There is also a Gratitude Action Plan at the end to help you pay your feelings of gratitude forward, so that you can help others by using your talents and the things you love to do. If you can, find a friend who also wants to become 25% happier through gratitude journaling. At the end of each week, email each other 5 things you were grateful for during the week. Watch your joy increase as you recognize and enjoy more and more blessings in your life! 52 Week Full Year Gratitude Journal 365 Daily Writing Prompts Undated Daily Goal Planner Inspirational Quotes & Affirmations Coloring Pages to relax and let your gratitude flow Just 5 minutes a day will increase your happiness! A life of joy and mindfulness in just 5 minutes a day!