Living in Gratitude: A Journey That Will Change Your Life

by Angeles Arrien, Marianne Williamson (Foreword)

What would happen if you made gratitude your focal point for one full year? With Living in Gratitude , Angeles Arrien invites you to find out. Integrating the latest teachings from social science with stories, prayers, and practices from cultures and traditions spanning the globe, she presents a 12-month plan for making gratitude your foundation for daily living.

Opening with themes such as “Beginning Anew” and “The Power of Equanimity” and progressing to “Letting Be and Letting Go,” “The Mystic Heart,” and more, readers will steep themselves in “the parent of all virtues,”

How to overcome habitual tendencies toward envy, comparison, and narcissism
• Blessings, learnings, mercies, and protections―the four portals to the grateful heart, and how to cultivate these key entryways in our work, relationships, health, finances, and personal growth
• Journaling and reflection exercises, perennial and indigenous wisdoms, and universal practices for every season and situation
“The practice of gratitude bestows many benefits,” writes Angeles Arrien. “Anger, arrogance, and jealousy melt in its embrace. Fear and defensiveness dissolve. Gratitude diminishes barriers to love and evokes happiness, keeping alive what has meaning for us.” Living in Gratitude is a dependable resource for making this cherished virtue your guiding light along life’s journey.

Genres: Nonfiction, Spirituality, Personal Development, Self Help

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2011

About the author

cultural anthropologist, award-winning author, educator, and consultant to many organizations and businesses. She lectures and conducts workshops worldwide, bridging cultural anthropology, psychology, and comparative religions. Her work is currently used in medical, academic, and corporate environments. She is the President of the Foundation for Cross-Cultural Education and Research. Her books have been translated into thirteen languages and she has received three honorary doctorate degrees in recognition of her work.

Reviews

[Therese · Rating 3 out of 5]

$3.99

I was going to reread Simple Abundance next year, but this will be a change. It looks like it will be good for a daily and/or monthly read focused on gratitude. Because that has already changed my life immensely, I figured it won't hurt to add some more :-)

This is a book about gratitude and how to bring more into your life that is to be read and worked on over the course of the year. It is divided into 12 chapters, a different topic for each month and time of the year all relating to gratitude. I appreciated the thoughts about each month, and some of the exercises were good as well, but others got to be sort of repetitive. I don't know that this book helped me gain more gratitude in my life since I have already been practicing it for about 15 years, but it was a nice reminder.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really, really wanted to like this book. After all, I’ve loved everything else that Angeles Arrien wrote. But good grief is this book tedious. Like one of the other reviewers, I’ve picked it up and put it down again two dozen times since I purchased it a couple of years ago. There simply isn’t enough here to justify a book— a short article maybe, but not a book.

[Emmalene Umar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book. This book is filled with cross-cultural explorations of gratitude and I love all of the prayers, practices and parables from different cultures, the parallels are astonishing. I love exploring narrative themes and discourses so it was right up my alley! I listened to the audiobook on my walks and I must say she has a fabulous voice for story-telling so I do recommend the audiobook - I used the local library's digital site :)

[Beverly Diehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been picking up this book and trying to get into it for the last six years... and putting it down again. And again. And again.

I already have a gratitude practice, it makes logical sense for me to love this book and lose myself in it, to find new ways to tap into gratitude, but no. I get a page or two in and I'm bored out of my skull.

After this last effort, I am done doing this to myself. It may be a great book - for someone else, and I have no quibbles with the writing, but it is not right for ME.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book.

While the first chapter & the first couple pages of each month is great, including some interesting research & other things to ponder, it's more like a workbook of exercises. Some of the exercises are repetitive but each month has a different focus, so it's not like you're doing the exact same work every month. Repetition helps create lasting habits, and I think that's the point of this book.

If this isn't what you're looking for, this book may not be the best fit for you.

[Meagan Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Necessary.

[Viki Sonntag · Rating 3 out of 5]

You need a particular frame of mind to stick with the reflections and practices, one I found hard to sustain over the year.

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nice book for reflecting on each month of the year with gratitude. It has beautiful poems, thoughtful questions, and stories that help ground each month in gratitude.

[Louise Pare-Lobinske · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to figure out how to approach this book, and this is the second time I attempt it. The first time was a few years ago, when I made a half-hearted attempt to read it until I got to March and then lost interest. Then my psychiatrist suggested looking at gratitude as a way to improve my mental health, I mentioned that I had a book on gratitude that I never finished, and so we came up with a plan for me to re-try the book in 2020.

I did this even though I had my doubts about gratitude as a cure for depression or OCD; it seemed kind of naive, like, "Just look at the bright side!" I felt like saying, Dude, if it were that easy, I wouldn't be depressed. But I gave it a shot. And I actually read to the end this time (not counting the months where I skipped her analysis questions at the end of the chapter). It took me until June to figure out that I needed to journal my experiences with the book separately from my diary, and bought a blank book for that purpose (actually, I bought two; the other one was to record what made me smile each day, something I didn't always do, either record or smile). It took me a few months more to realize that my approach to each chapter/month should be to take the first week of the month to read the main body of the chapter, decide on the practices I would do, spend two or three weeks doing the practices, and then the last week of the month should be devoted to the analysis questions at the end of each chapter. I have not done that this year, but my plan is to do that for 2021. Now that I know how the book should be approached (in my view), I can see if I will get more out of the book if I use the same approach from start to finish.

So, did it help my mental health? Sheepishly, I must admit that it did. My husband has long practiced the art of being grateful for what he has, going back to when he lost his father at the age of 13 and realizing that he still had his mother. But this book has enabled me to follow in his footsteps.

Basically, this is one of those books where you get out of it what you put into it. I encourage anyone picking up this book for the first time to buy a blank book and journal your answers to her questions. If my experience is any indication, you will see that it does make a difference in your life.

[Tristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is created to read a chapter a month for a year. I just finished my year with this book. I really love the work of Angeles Arrien and I feel like it might be difficult to really get into these teachings without having the bigger understanding of Angeles' work. I really loved being reminded to focus on gratitude every month, but I felt that the book really bypassed the darker aspects of self-healing and connecting to gratitude. It's not always easy to feel gratitude and I felt Angeles was really remiss in not even mentioning the more difficult path of authentic gratitude. I also agree with other commenters that the chapters started to feel a bit repetitive. It would have been fun to have something NEW to do every month, instead of the same exercises every time. But still, a nice companion to my year and I really appreciated receiving this as a gift!

[Ethan Fleck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok, I didn't really like the format. It was split into chapters for each month, but I read this all at once. Nothing too special, it was a little too self-reflective. Nevertheless, a decent read around Thanksgiving, and it did stop and make me think about how grateful I am, so not too bad.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did a quick read through, though the format is set up to be read on a monthly basis. I will probably visit it again several times this year, but I really think I will revisit my old stand-by, "Simple Abundance."

There are some beautful thoughts in the writing and I enjoyed being reminded how important an attitude of gratitude is for a life of contentment.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the first month of January and used her format to help me make my New Year's Resolutions. But, I got it out of the library so with the format of reading it every month for a year, that did not work for me.

[Carma Spence · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can read my review of this book at the New York Journal of Books: http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/revie...

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many repititious exercises at the end of every chapter. Content was good

[Mae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit that I was disappointed in this book. There were several great gems but otherwise it was a recipe book with the same activities over and over. Probably not her best.

[Lenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

beetje saai, veel herhaling.

[Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the message, which is why I picked the book up to begin with, but it really wasn't for me.