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

By Nina Lesowitz and Mary Beth Sammons

Whatever is given — even a difficult and challenging moment — is a gift. Living as if each day is a thank-you can help transform fear into courage, anger into forgiveness, isolation into belonging, and another’s pain into healing. Saying thank-you every day inspires feelings of love, compassion, and hope. These ideas are the basis for this timely book. Authors Nina Lesowitz and Mary Beth Sammons present a simple, but comprehensive program for incorporating gratitude into one's life, and reaping the many benefits that come from doing so. The book is divided into ten chapters from "Thank You Power" and "Ways to Stay Thankful in Difficult Times" to "Gratitude as a Spiritual/Cultural Practice " and "Putting Gratitude into Action." Each chapter includes stories of individuals whose lives have been transformed by embracing this program, along with motivating quotes and blessings, and a suggested gratitude practice such as keeping a weekly gratitude journal and starting a gratitude circle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Release date: Oct 15, 2010
• ISBN: 9781573446457

Nina Lesowitz

Nina Lesowitz has over fifteen years experience orchestrating parties for corporations and organizations throughout northern California. She has planned special events on behalf of hotels, restaurants, medical centers, architectural firms, book publishing companies, and nonprofit organizations.Mary Beth Sammons is an award-winning journalist and women's issues columnist whose work appears frequently in Family Circle, the Chicago Tribune's lifestyle section, and leading consumer women's magazines. She is currently the "Finding You" editor for www.BettyConfidential.com and writes for various health and business publications. As an editorial vicepresident, Mary Beth launched the editorial departments of the largest consumer health online Web site--RevolutionHealth.com and its subsidiary, CarePages.com, for which she writes separate blogs. In addition, she is currently working with the Stanford Research Institute as editorial director of a storytelling project focused on consumer health and wellness. Mary Beth specializes in stories that inspire ordinary people to do extraordinary things from a place deep in their hearts. She has written six books in the women's self-help and mind/body/health field including, We Carry Each Other: Getting Through Life's Toughest Times (Conari Press, 2007). She lives in Chicago's suburbs with her three children.

Reviews for Living Life as a Thank You

[m.belljackson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Living Life as a Thank You is a loving, peaceful, and inspiring connection to gratitude in a variety of forms.Gentle humor guides practices toward change and caring.My favorite quote is from Arthur Ashe:"From what we get, we can make a living;what we give, however, makes a life."It was fun to list Favorite Smells = wet dog, opening bag of coffee beans, the first lilacs,fresh air after a good strong rainfall, peppermint, baking bread, cinnamon, pine trees, lime...As well, it was a challenge to list Ten Negative Thoughts from the Past Week,then turn them around into statements of positive energy.

[barbwebb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Every once in awhile, you encounter a book that can be summed up in one lovely word- INSPIRING!Living Life as a Thank You: The Tranformative Power of Daily Gratitude by Nina Lesowitz and Mary Beth Sammons is a motiving guide, filled with daily inspiration and affirmation.The opening line asks, "Imagine living as if each day were a gift," and Living Life as a Thank You offers the wisdom and insight to lead you down the path.The book is divided into ten chapters, each chock full of stories of individuals whose lives have been tranformed by thanfulnees, motivational quotes and blessings, and suggested gratitude practices. The book can be read from cover to cover, or used daily for ideas and meditative time.One of my favorite "mom" stories in Living Life as a Thank You is "Finding Thanks at Target." It certainly gave me a new perspective to read how an ordinary shopping trip became an extraordinary experience of gratitude for a mother and child.