It’s the season of gratitude! Take some time to enjoy the crisp, November air and ponder your reasons to be thankful. Expressing gratitude is comforting and healing – and is one of the best practices to include in a happy life. Here are some books that both encourage and inspire you to be grateful for the goodness in your life.
A 100 Days of Gratitude by D’angelo Thompson
(Self-Help / Spiritual)
If you seek to begin a daily gratitude practice but don’t know quite how to get started, then this is the perfect book for you. D’angelo Thompson’s empowering book makes practicing gratitude a clear and practical process that will bring positive change to your life.
Author D’angelo Thompson has practiced gratitude for over a decade. It has allowed him to be more present and serviceable to others. Through his teachings, you will find that a daily gratitude practice will do wonders for your mental health and happiness. If you are ready to take the first step in your gratitude journey, this book offers great structure and wisdom to begin.
Life: The Whole Enchilada, A Gratitude Memoir by John R. O’Neil
(Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoir)
John O’Neil’s gratitude memoir takes readers on a wonderful learning journey. The best-selling author of The Paradox of Success enlightens and inspires in his new book – introducing you to the many teachers, mentors, character shapers, and wisdom carriers who have influenced him.
Join John as he meets Eleanor Roosevelt, studies with Abraham Maslow, discusses intellectual development with Jonas Salk, and helps Nelson Mandela spread a culture of innovation and learning across the new government of South Africa. But you’ll also get to know John as he gets to know himself by humbly and hungrily devouring all he could learn from the caretaker and cook on the ranch where he grew up, his high school English teacher, and even a New York City limo driver who cautions him against becoming boring. Throughout the book, O’Neil suggests what might be learned by adopting his curiosity-driven approach to life, beginning with, “Magic is everywhere for the asking and miracles abound, especially in nature. Keep looking, asking, and honoring everyone who teaches you.” He also encourages readers to examine their own lives, offering ways to help them capture their own accumulated experiences and wisdom as a legacy.
Destination Real Food by Angela Jenkins
(Health & Fitness / Food)
Gratitude is a practice that manifests in many forms. As we prepare for holiday gatherings, I think it’s especially important to be appreciative and grateful for the food that nourishes us. I encourage you to learn more about your food and its origins to gain a newfound understanding and appreciation for it.
Destination Real Food shows how supporting regenerative, organic agriculture, that restores the biome of the soil, provides a healthier food option not only for the person consuming it but for our most valuable resource, the earth. This book exemplifies how building a relationship with real food, not that which comes from the larger industrialized model, helps facilitate making the right choice, the easy choice. Come journey along and see what simply daily decisions can be made to ensure not only your personal health and then, how together we impact our local food economies, ecosystem, and communities.
Knights of New York by Eugene Ditaranto Jr.
(History, United States)
Knights of New York is a terrific read that inspires appreciation and gratitude for America’s brave fire fighters and first responders. The book is powerfully written by Eugene Ditaranto Jr., a 23-year veteran of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY).
The FNDY’s longstanding traditions and acts of bravery are well documented, from their sacrifices on 9/11 to how they handled the Covid-19 pandemic. These brave men and women are the example for others to follow. Knights of New York is a detailed look into the leadership, management, and commitment to service taught by the greatest fire department in the world. Not just for firefighters, this one-of-a-kind book is the definition of what it means to put the needs of the people before yourself.
Gratitude: The Startling Impact of Giving & Receiving Appreciation by James R. Lucas
(Self-Help / Personal Growth & Happiness)
Gratitude is becoming scarce in our world. Author James R. Lucas recognizes that complaints and discontent have become commonplace in our day-to-day experience. As human beings, we tend to dwell on negativity and take positive forces for granted. This book uncovers a surprising remedy to this damaging, debilitating tendency.
Lucas gives us a window into his pilgrimage in practicing the art of gratitude. He takes us on a journey to understand what genuine gratitude looks like. He describes how it transforms not only the lives of the recipients, but also the lives of the givers. He shows the way to discover how gratitude can be practiced in so many ways, from small actions that take only a few seconds, to larger ways that may take a bit of playful creativity. Lucas does this with real-world accounts of his own journey that can be easily applied to the reader’s life. He complements this with examples from many areas of life, and with wonderful quotes from a fascinating mix of people past and present.
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