The Gratitude Practice: A Practical Workbook

Some of the most-returned-to writing on this blog has always been about gratitude — “The Art And Science Of Gratitude!,” the 17 practices that increase joy, gratitude and appreciation, and the Thanksgiving-week post that celebrated gratitude in words and in pictures. Perhaps that is because the struggle underneath them is so ordinary. As I wrote in the introduction to the practices: feeling and expressing gratitude is something we might still struggle with on a daily basis — especially if your life is not going as planned and you feel like life has thrown you a curved ball.

That writing has now become a book — the most complete one I have made from this material.

The Gratitude Practice gathers those essays into one system, The Ever Expanding Circle, and completes them as a workbook. The name comes from the gratitude essay itself, where I described how one person’s gratitude moves outward into action, creates gratitude in another, and widens the circle. The system has four movements, and it is a circle, not a ladder. Notice — see the good: begin with awareness, with simple pleasures and the little things that hold a life up. Record — count your blessings: the journal, the list of five, reminders through the day, the gratitude jar. Express — say it, live it: say thank you, smile, write the letter, serve, and carry gratitude into your health and your closest relationships. Return — the ever expanding circle: reframe the complaints, thank the setbacks, get over the “why me,” imagine life without — and let the widened circle bring you back to noticing, seeing more than you saw before.

Twenty-seven chapters walk that circle. Because this is a workbook, reading is only half of it. Every chapter pairs the essay with a real-life example — John Kralik writing 365 thank-you notes out of the lowest year of his life, Helen Keller imagining what she would do with three days to see, Oprah’s five things every night, Nicholas Winton’s quiet service, Viktor Frankl’s last freedom — each story checked against published sources, with a References & Further Reading section to explore. Then come five Questions to Consider, five Action Tips, a Try This Today exercise, and a Reflections page with guided prompts and room to write. Between Record and Express, an Interlude keeps the Thanksgiving post’s celebration of gratitude in words and in pictures — and at the end, a Printable Workbook of ten worksheets turns the whole system into a daily practice, from My Gratitude Map and the Thank-You Letter Page to the 30-Day Gratitude Tracker and your own Gratitude Practice Action Plan.

Gratitude is not a list you make once. It is a circle — and circles are walked daily. That is the practice this book is built for.

The Gratitude Practice is a 150-page instant-download PDF, available now at the launch price of $4.99 (regular price $9.99).

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You may also like the rest of the Launch Your Genius collection — Unshakable Self-Esteem, 42 Ways To Be More Creative & Brilliant, Let Go of Limiting Beliefs, 8 Keys to Master Your Inner Game, Beyond Perfectionism, Unshakable Confidence, 25 Cognitive Biases and How to Get Beyond Them, and Be Relentlessly Creative — all in the same shop.

Notice the good. Count your blessings. Say thank you — and watch the circle grow.