What does it mean to truly live gratefully, every day? In Wake Up Grateful, Kristi Nelson, executive director of A Network for Grateful Living, unlocks the path to recognizing abundance in every moment, and gives readers the tools to bring this transformational shift in perspective into their daily lives. Nelson goes beyond the proverbial question of whether the glass is half full or half empty, and encourages readers to awaken to the gift of having a glass at all. With questions for reflection, daily exercises, and perspective prompts for appreciating the fullness of life as it is, right now, this book promises profound personal change through the practice of taking nothing for granted.
“A mini-formula for grateful living runs through this whole book: Stop. Look. Go. Moment by moment, life is offering you gift after gift — exactly what you need to thrive. But unless you stop, you will rush right by that gift; unless you look, you will miss it; and only if you go and do
– Brother David Steindl-Rast
something with it can you fully avail yourself of that gift. Kristi Nelson speaks with depth and weight when she is talking about grateful living. She knows the deep joy that springs from simply being alive and can show you ways toward finding joy in your own life.”
My Review of Wake Up Grateful
I don’t need to be sold on the power of gratitude. Gratitude has changed my outlook on life and has been a life altering experience for me. I was curious though to read Nelson’s perspective on gratitude and to understand how I could learn to bring gratitude into more areas of my life.
The books is divided into two large sections –
Part 1 – includes Five Guiding Principles: Life is a Gift, Everything is Surprise, The Ordinary is Extraordinary, Appreciation is Generative and Love is Transformative.
Part 2 – shows us how we can bring the practice of gratitude into areas like relationships, loss and legacies.
The book is honest, brimming with wisdom and full of practical ways to be grateful. There are questions and journal prompts to help you move more deeply into mindfulness and gratitude.
If you are looking for a deeper practice of gratitude, this book will certainly serve as a guide.
I read the book and listened to the audio version too and I’m grateful to NetGalley for an advanced readers copy of both.