Becca Anderson - Every Day Thankful: 365 Blessings, Graces and Gratitudes

Copyright 2017 Becca Anderson
Published by Mango Media Inc.

Design: Laura Meja

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Every Day Thankful: 365 Blessings, Graces and Gratitudes

ISBN: 978-1-63353-527-5

Printed in the United States of America

Deepest love and appreciation to the elders in my family who survived the Great Depression and shared stories of living through hard times with humility and a sense of gratitude. I owe you so much for the wisdom.

Wake at dawn with a winged

Heart and give thanks for

Another day of loving.

Khalil Gibran

Table of Contents

The Importance of Living Life as a Thank You
by Nina Lesowitz

A re you tired of walking around with a hole in your heart? Do you need more inspiration? Studies showand experts counselthat gratitude is a key component of our own happiness. People who are grateful about events and experiences from the past, who celebrate the triumphs instead of focusing on the losses or disappointments, tend to be more satisfied in the present. In her popular book The Secret, Rhonda Byrne writes, With all that I have read and all that I have experienced in my own life using The Secret, the power of gratitude stands above everything else. If you do only one thing with the knowledge of this book, use gratitude until it becomes your way of life.

The recent buzz surrounding the power of gratitude is overwhelmingly positive. Jeffery Zaslow, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, recently wrote there may be a positive by-product of the troubled economic times that followed the 2008 stock market dive: a decrease in the urge to complain. People who still have jobs are finding reasons to be appreciative. It feels unseemly to complain about not getting a raise when your neighbor is unemployed, he wrote. Homeowners are unhappy that home values have fallen, but its a relief to avoid foreclosure.

Indeed, in these times of economic woe, gratitude is popping up everywhere. Turn on the TV. We listened as a career coach on The Today Show advised job seekers to put the words thank you in their job search tool kits, declaring that the key to distinguishing oneself from the masses is to send a thank you note. Click on to Facebook and check out the gratitude groups, where hundreds of people log on each day to give thanks for everything from the sun rising that morning to their neighborhood dog parks. Cathy, of Greenville, South Carolina, wrote, I am grateful for a bark park to take my dog-children to, so I picked up extra poop and trash this morning. Mary, from Philadelphia wrote, I am so grateful for the beautiful snow outside.

Gratitude floats our boats and moves us to do all kinds of things inspired by joy. Gratitude can help us transform our fears into courage, our anger into forgiveness, our isolation into belonging, and anothers pain into healing. Saying Thank you every day will create feelings of love, compassion, and hope.

But the fact is, the art of livingfor that is what we speak about when we speak of gratitudeisnt something that comes naturally to most people. Most of us need to work intentionally to increase the intensity, duration, and frequency of positive, grateful feelingsa daunting challenge indeed. But fear not, this workbook is here to help! Inside we have provided you with mindful meditations, hands-on exercises, profound practices, inspiring quotations, space for writing, thought-provoking questions, and even positive power tools that will help you build a more grateful life. Becca Andersons book is one I will turn to on a daily basis. To master the art of being a gratitude practitioner, you have to take time for gratitude every day; that works for me and it will work for you. Youll be glad and oh-so-thankful you did.

Dear Reader,

Gratitude is one of the loveliest paths to personal growth. It can be subtle; after contemplating what it is to approach your life-thankfulness, you may find that you have the half-full mindset. Maybe instead of worrying Sunday nights about work and meetings and goals, you relax and remember to be grateful to have work you really enjoy. Next thing you know, your co-workers picked up on the fact that you were less stressed out and more fun to be around, and your desk becomes on oasis of positivity in the office and people leave your workspace with a spring in their step. Your family responded in kind, and your home is a calmer, happier place filled with calmer, happier people. Your friends who used to call you and complain about life now call and tell you all the good things happening. That one took a while but your aura of gratefulness eventually took hold and bloomed.

You, my friend, have an attitude of gratitude and are making the world a better place.

Well done, and please allow me to be the first to say thank you. I guarantee you, I wont be the last. I am a big one for setting intentions and do so every morning. I intend you grow and soar in your wisdom and, if some of the ideas, quotes, and suggestions from the

gratitude gurus included in this book inspire you, all the better.

Blessings to you on your journey,

Becca

Power Thoughts:
A Thankful Way of Life

Gratitude and esteem are good foundations of affection.

Jane Austen

Enough is a feast.

Buddhist Proverb

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be aliveto breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.

Marcus Aurelius

I have found that worry and irritation vanish the moment when I open my mind to the many blessing that I possess.

Dale Carnegie

It is impossible to feel grateful and depressed in the same moment.

Naomi Williams

How to Have an Attitude of Gratitude

Be grateful and recognize the things others have done to help you.

When you say thank you to someone, it signals what you appreciate and why you appreciate it.

Post a Thank you to all on your Facebook page or your blog, or send individual e-mails to friends, family, and colleagues.

Send a handwritten thank you note. These are noteworthy because so few of us take time to write and mail them.

Think thoughts of gratitudetwo or three good things that happened todayand notice calm settle through your head, at least for a moment.