Download or read book The Gift of Thanks written by Margaret Visser and published by HMH. This book was released on 2009-11-19 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A scholarly, many-angled examination of what gratitude is and how it functions in our lives” from the bestselling author of The Rituals of Dinner (The New York Times). Known as an “anthropologist of everyday life,” Margaret Visser has won numerous awards for illuminating the unexpected meanings of everyday objects and rituals. Now she turns her keen eye to another custom so ubiquitous that it often escapes notice: saying “Thank you.” What do we really mean by these two simple words? This fascinating inquiry into all aspects of gratitude explores such topics as the unyielding determination of parents to teach their children to thank; the difference between speaking the words and feeling them; and the ways different cultures handle the complex matters of giving, receiving, and returning favors and presents. Visser elucidates the fundamental opposition in our own culture between gift-giving and commodity exchange, as well as the similarities between gratitude and its opposite, vengefulness. The Gift of Thanks considers cultural history, including the modern battle of social scientists to pin down the notion of thankfulness and account for it, and the newly awakened scientific interest in the biological and evolutionary roots of emotions. With characteristic wit and erudition, Visser once again reveals the extraordinary in the everyday. “An anthropological and philosophical account of how and why we give thanks. . . . All delivered in elegant, clear prose. A book to be thankful for—sympathetic to human foible, deeply learned and a pleasure to read.” —Kirkus Reviews “A delightful and graceful gift of a book, for which any fortunate recipient will be thankful.” —Publishers Weekly

Download or read book The Little Book of Thanks written by Anne Rogers Smyth and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2015 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With inspiring words of gratitude, this tiny book with a great big message, helps us recognize the people who make our lives brighter and our hearts lighter. Enlightening quotes and short writings paired with adorable animal photos provide the perfect way to acknowledge everyone who makes a difference: a parent, friend, sibling, spouse, colleague, teacher, mentor, or anyone else who has enriched your life. Filled with page after page of inspiring and humorous photos, this gift will show the people who matter just how much you care.

Download or read book Thanks written by Robert A. Emmons and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2008 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A scientifically groundbreaking, eloquent look at how we benefit -- psychologically, physically, and interpersonally -- when we practice gratitude. In Thanks!, Robert Emmons draws on the first major study of the subject of gratitude, of “wanting what we have,” and shows that a systematic cultivation of this underexamined emotion can measurably change people’s lives."--

Download or read book Living Life As a Thank You written by Nina Lesowitz and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2010 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the Positive Power of Gratitude Living as if each day is a thank you can help transform fear into courage, anger into forgiveness, and isolation into belonging. Authors Nina Lesowitz and Mary Beth Sammons present a simple yet comprehensive approach for incorporating gratitude into one's life and reaping its many benefits. The book is divided into ten chapters, including ''Ways to Stay Thankful in Difficult Times,''.....''Gratitude as a Spiritual Practice,'' and ''Putting Gratitude into Action.'' Each chapter includes stories of individuals whose lives have been transformed by thankfulness, motivational quotes and blessings, and suggested gratitude practices. Whatever is given - even a challenging moment - is a gift. With this book, you will be able to feel more connected to the flow of life and less alone in your struggles and fears.

Download or read book Giving Thanks written by Jake Swamp and published by Turtleback Books. This book was released on 2002-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Native American Thanksgiving address, offered to Mother Earth in gratitude for her bounty and for the variety of her creatures

Download or read book One Thousand Gifts written by Ann Voskamp and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2011-01-04 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 1.5 million copies sold! What if you discovered that the life you already have is the life you’ve always wanted? What if joy is possible right where you are? New York Times bestselling author Ann Voskamp invites you to embrace everyday blessings and embark on the transformative journey of chronicling God's gifts. How can you find joy in the midst of deadlines, debt, drama, and even the death of loved ones? What does the Christ-life really look like when your days are gritty, long, and sometimes even dark? How is God even here? “It is in the dark that God is passing by . . . our lives shake not because God has abandoned but the exact opposite. God is passing by. God is in the tremors. Dark is the holiest ground, the glory passing by. In the blackest, God is closest, at work, forging His perfect and right will. Though it is black and we can’t see and our world seems to be free-falling and we feel utterly alone, Christ is most present to us...” In One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp invites you to discover a way of seeing that opens your eyes to ordinary amazing grace, a way of living that is fully alive, and a way of becoming present to God that brings deep and lasting joy. It's only in the expression of gratitude for the life we already have, we discover the life we've always wanted . . . a life we can take, give thanks for, and break for others. Come to feel and know the impossible right down in your bones: you are wildly loved by God. As Ann invites you into her own beautiful, heart-aching moments of amazing grace, she gently teaches you how to: Biblically lament loss and turn pain into poetry Intentionally embrace a lifestyle of radical gratitude Slow down and catch God in the moment Not a book merely to read, One Thousand Gifts is an invitation to engage with truths that will serve up the depths of God’s joy and transform your life forever. Leave pride, fear, and control behind, and abandon yourself to the God who overflows your cup.

Download or read book Thank You written by Sandy Gingras and published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. This book was released on 2010-03-23 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gift of gratitude for those who do one of the hardest jobs in the world and impact our lives in ways that are forever being revealed: educators. As artist and writer Sandy Gingras so aptly points out in the introduction to her book Thank You, a life lived well is perhaps the highest form of thanks a person can give to teachers as a way of repaying them for their attention and effort. A simple thank-you is also nice. Thank You is Gingras’s own delightful way of conveying this sentiment. This charming keepsake book features her soft, sweet watercolor artwork and thoughtful original text celebrating teachers and all they do for us. Always striking the right tone of gratitude without being overly sentimental, Thank You is a wonderful way to show appreciation to teachers for their enduring gifts to us both great and small.

Download or read book Thanks A Thousand written by A. J. Jacobs and published by Simon & Schuster/ TED. This book was released on 2018-11-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.”

Download or read book The Thank You Project written by Nancy Davis Kho and published by Running Press Adult. This book was released on 2019-12-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gratitude and happiness go hand-in-hand -- and The Thank-You Project provides an easy-to-follow approach for creating more of both. Who helped you become the person you are today? As Nancy Davis Kho approached a milestone birthday, she decided to answer that question by sending thank-you letters to the many people who had influenced her, helped her, and inspired her over the years: family, friends, mentors, teachers, co-workers, even a couple of former friends and exes. While her recipients always seemed genuinely pleased to read the letters, what Nancy never expected was the profound and positive effect the process would have on her. As it turns out, emerging research proves that actively appreciating the formative people in your life, past and present, can lead to a lasting increase in your happiness levels--and The Thank-you Project offers a charming, entertaining roadmap to see, say and savor your way there.

Download or read book Help Thanks Wow written by Anne Lamott and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-11-13 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestseller from the author of Dusk, Night Dawn, Hallelujah Anyway, Bird by Bird, and Almost Everything. Author Anne Lamott writes about the three simple prayers essential to coming through tough times, difficult days and the hardships of daily life. Readers of all ages have followed and cherished Anne Lamott’s funny and perceptive writing about her own faith through decades of trial and error. And in her new book, Help, Thanks, Wow, she has coalesced everything she knows about prayer to these fundamentals. It is these three prayers – asking for assistance from a higher power, appreciating what we have that is good, and feeling awe at the world around us – that can get us through the day and can show us the way forward. In Help, Thanks, Wow, Lamott recounts how she came to these insights, explains what they mean to her and how they have helped, and explores how others have embraced these same ideas. Insightful and honest as only Anne Lamott can be, Help, Thanks, Wow is the everyday faith book that new Lamott readers will love and longtime Lamott fans will treasure.

Download or read book Grateful written by Diana Butler Bass and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book When You Love a Prodigal written by Judy Douglass and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Loving a prodigal is a long and desperate journey, filled with fear, worry, anger, self- recrimination. You wait for the phone call--will it be from jail or the hospital? You plead with your loved one. You search for help. You feel the shame. You cry out to God, "How long, Lord?" Author Judy Douglass knows these lovers of prodigals well. She is one herself and has created a large and growing community with others. When You Love a Prodigal is a collection of 90 essays--90 days of perspective on what God offers to you as you love your prodigal. At the end of each brief essay, response questions will help you process how God intends to use the wilderness journey to mold your spiritual life. You can work through it day by day, or you can read it straight through. Judy has traveled this road with her own prodigal--reading, learning, praying, and seeking God. Over and over he continued to give her wisdom, he sustained her, he covered her with grace, and he filled her with hope. May you, too, be strengthened and filled with hope as together you discover how God will take you through your own valley.

Download or read book Thank You and Good Night written by Patrick McDonnell and published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2015-10-06 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An homage to classic bedtime stories and their creators, from a Caldecott Honor recipient and bestselling artist! Patrick McDonnell's first bedtime book captures the magic of a sleepover with friends, and reminds us to cherish life's simplest pleasures. During a fun pajama party, three animal friends dance and play, but at last everyone is getting sleepy. Is it time for bed yet? Not before taking the time to say thank you for the day, the night, and good friends.

Download or read book One Thousand Gifts Devotional written by Ann Voskamp and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2012-11-20 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The devotional companion to the New York Times bestselling One Thousand Gifts, this book will be your daily guide to giving thanks and finding joy amid the struggles of life. Renew your appreciation for the breathtaking beauty that surrounds us in life's simplest details. Encouraging you to reflect even deeper on the concepts explored in her bestselling book One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp offers sixty wisdom-soaked devotions, complete with scriptures, prayers, reflection questions, and space to record your own insights. As practical as it is profound, this devotional offers real life transformation with intentional space to begin the radical habit of thanking God for your own one thousand gifts. The endless grace of our overflowing God is meant to be experienced directly. The most important thing is simply to begin. This devotional contains: 60 reflections for two months of daily devotional study Bible verses and prayers in each chapter Space at the end of each chapter to write notes A special section with one thousand lines to journal your own list of gratitude When you pick up a pen and this book, you can change your life. Take the dare to fully live! God is waiting to bless you with the greatest gift of all: more and more of Himself. For extended study into this message, pick up the original One Thousand Gifts book and the One Thousand Gifts video study and study guide.

Download or read book Thanksgiving written by Melanie Kirkpatrick and published by Encounter Books. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We all know the story of Thanksgiving. Or do we? This uniquely American holiday has a rich and little known history beyond the famous feast of 1621. In Thanksgiving, award-winning author Melanie Kirkpatrick journeys through four centuries of history, giving us a vivid portrait of our nation's best-loved holiday. Drawing on newspaper accounts, private correspondence, historical documents, and cookbooks, Thanksgiving brings to life the full history of the holiday and what it has meant to generations of Americans. Many famous figures walk these pages—Washington, who proclaimed our first Thanksgiving as a nation amid controversy about his Constitutional power to do so; Lincoln, who wanted to heal a divided nation sick of war when he called for all Americans—North and South—to mark a Thanksgiving Day; FDR, who set off a debate on state's rights when he changed the traditional date of Thanksgiving. Ordinary Americans also play key roles in the Thanksgiving story—the New England Indians who boycott Thanksgiving as a Day of Mourning; Sarah Josepha Hale, the nineteenth-century editor and feminist who successfully campaigned for Thanksgiving to be a national holiday; the 92nd Street Y in New York City, which founded Giving Tuesday, an online charity established in the long tradition of Thanksgiving generosity. Kirkpatrick also examines the history of Thanksgiving football and, of course, Thanksgiving dinner. While the rites and rituals of the holiday have evolved over the centuries, its essence remains the same: family and friends feasting together in a spirit of gratitude to God, neighborliness, and hospitality. Thanksgiving is Americans' oldest tradition. Kirkpatrick's enlightening exploration offers a fascinating look at the meaning of the holiday that we gather together to celebrate on the fourth Thursday of November. With Readings for Thanksgiving Day designed to be read aloud around the table.

Download or read book Unthinkable written by Helen Thomson and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-06-26 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Amazon Best Nonfiction Book of the Month Indiebound Bestseller Award-winning science writer Helen Thomson unlocks the biggest mysteries of the human brain by examining nine extraordinary cases Our brains are far stranger than we think. We take it for granted that we can remember, feel emotion, navigate, empathise and understand the world around us, but how would our lives change if these abilities were dramatically enhanced – or disappeared overnight? Helen Thomson has spent years travelling the world, tracking down incredibly rare brain disorders. In Unthinkable she tells the stories of nine extraordinary people she encountered along the way. From the man who thinks he's a tiger to the doctor who feels the pain of others just by looking at them to a woman who hears music that’s not there, their experiences illustrate how the brain can shape our lives in unexpected and, in some cases, brilliant and alarming ways. Story by remarkable story, Unthinkable takes us on an unforgettable journey through the human brain. Discover how to forge memories that never disappear, how to grow an alien limb and how to make better decisions. Learn how to hallucinate and how to make yourself happier in a split second. Find out how to avoid getting lost, how to see more of your reality, even how exactly you can confirm you are alive. Think the unthinkable.

Download or read book Many Thanks For All Your Hard Work written by Team Motivation Press and published by . This book was released on 2019-07-14 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you been showing your workers enough appreciation. Some studies have shown that employees believe turnover may decrease if managers and employers simply said "thank you" more often. This 6x9 blank notebook is perfect for celebrating a finished project, anniversary, retirement, or just a random gift for someone who is awesome to work with. Click brand name for more ideas and designs that will encourage your team and increase moral ans satisfaction.