Denise Kiernan is a multiple New York Times bestselling author of narrative nonfiction books including The Girls of Atomic City, the Last Castle, and We Gather Together. Throughout her career as a journalist and an author, she has explored underrepresented stories and characters and the impact they have had on history. These stories of the unsung offer fresh perspectives on historical tales we think we already know. At the heart of many of Kiernan’s nonfiction explorations are women from a variety of different backgrounds and time periods. She has devoted her last three books to the history of Thanksgiving and gratitude, writing separate books for all ages.
I wrote...
We Gather Together: Stories of Thanksgiving from Then to Now
The Young Readers Edition of Kiernan’s book tells the story of how Thanksgiving became a national holiday in the United States. It shares the inspiring story of Sarah Josepha Hale, a widowed mother of five who became one of the most influential magazine editors of the 19th century. Hale petitioned countless government officials, including five U.S. presidents, suggesting Americans pause one day a year to reflect on their blessings and express gratitude. All the presidents ignored Hale’s request; some didn’t bother to answer. But one—Abraham Lincoln—acquiesced in 1863, sensing the need for such a holiday in the depths of the Civil War. Kiernan’s book discusses how humans of all cultures have expressed thanks to their Creator throughout history.
To my mind, Dr. Emmons is the leading scientist in this field. His lab at the University of California has conducted much of the gratitude research that ends up reported in the mass media.
He’s written denser books and major academic papers for psychology journals on the topic. But what I like about this book is that he’s writing for ordinary people, without using medical/scientific jargon that gets in the way of comprehension. What you get is plain talk. Why is gratitude important? What does a gratitude practice mean—and how does it enrich your life?
Yes, you can find more complex books on the topic, but this one is only 96 pages and it’s coming from the pen of an expert. Start here to understand the concept.
Gratitude is the simple, scientifically proven way to increase happiness and encourage greater joy, love, peace, and optimism into our lives.
Through easy practices, such as keeping a daily gratitude journal, writing letters of thanks, and meditating on the good we have received, we can improve our health and wellbeing, enhance our relationships, encourage healthy sleep, and heighten feelings of connectedness.
Easily accessible and available to everyone, the practice of gratitude will benefit every area of your life and generate a positive ripple effect.
This beautiful book, written by Dr Robert A Emmons, Professor of Psychology at UC Davis, California,…
It’s really quite simple: if you focus on negative things, you’ll feel miserable. If you focus on the things that are wonderful in your life, you will feel better. And chances are, you’ve got plenty of wonderful things in your life.
The author of this book is a Maryland pastor, but I don’t think you need to be a Christian to enjoy or even grasp the message of the book. I like that he references the science that has brought gratitude to the masses, and written about it in such a straightforward manner.
Want to feel fully alive? You can feel your best right now by following the simple method laid out in this book. Your life is actually much better than you think it is. It all depends on what you focus on. Order now to find out how you can be your best every day by changing your focus. It is like having a magical set of glasses that you put on each morning. Your entire day will look different when you look at your life through the lens of gratitude. You will begin to notice the good that is already…
The late Oliver Sacks was a neurologist who wrote eloquently about medical topics until he was taken from us by cancer in 2015.
Before he died, he wrote four lovely essays talking about his illness, and the great privilege of being human. Sacks was one of our greatest writers, thoughtful and incisive. Because he was dying as he wrote this, you may wish to wait to digest this book if you have recently experienced the loss of a loved one, and come back to it when you’re in a better place.
Oliver Sacks died in August 2015 at his home in Greenwich Village, surrounded by his close friends and family. He was 82. He spent his final days doing what he loved: playing the piano, swimming, enjoying smoked salmon - and writing . . .
As Dr Sacks looked back over his long, adventurous life his final thoughts were of gratitude. In a series of remarkable, beautifully written and uplifting meditations, in Gratitude Dr Sacks reflects on and gives thanks for a life well lived, and expresses his thoughts on growing old, facing terminal cancer and reaching the end.
Let me be clear: You absolutely do not have to buy a gratitude journal, per se, to practice gratitude. But as a writer, I know that there’s nothing scarier than facing a blank page.
You may have heard that such a practice is important, but you’re a little nervous about where to start. This highly popular journal presents you with two pages a day for 90 days—a morning and evening reflection page. The morning page provides blanks for your daily focus, affirmations, what you’re excited and grateful about. The evening page prompts you to assess the day, spell out what went well for you, and guides you to positive thoughts before bedtime.
To make the most of a book like this, you’ll need to check in twice a day. If you don’t transition from this kind of book to a blank notebook, understand that your choice means you are committing to using four of these editions a year.
Center your life around positive thoughts with this guided gratitude journal!
Celebrate each moment, big or small, and preserve important memories with everyday mindfulness. This 90-day reflection journal gives you a path to developing a habit of daily gratitude that you can carry throughout your life. Cultivating thankfulness is a potent exercise, proven to have a positive effect on a person's mental health and general well-being. Each spread of this positivity journal includes space to record expressions of gratitude, personal affirmations, memories of positive interactions, and commentary on the significance of it all.
This is a sweet picture book for kids that gets them thinking about the concept of gratitude in ways that they can understand.
Through the story of Betsy and her magic stone, they learn, for example, that there are lots of things in life to be grateful for, and sometimes the little happy moments are just as powerful as the big ones. As a picture book, it’s appropriate for children who are not reading on their own yet. Available as a hardcover, paperback, or audiobook.
Do you want to teach your children how to be grateful for the things they already have?
Little Betsy will learn that happiness is made up of simple things in life, both small and big. With the help of the magic stone, she will begin to feel gratitude for her parents, friends, and toys. But what happens when little Betsy forgets to use the magic of her stone? She will realize that the power of gratitude is hidden in her heart.
"Gratitude is my superpower" will teach your little ones to appreciate the warmth of home, time spent playing with…
For decades I have volunteered in different capacities, helping the hurting and those living on the margins by tutoring and teaching literacy to the formally incarcerated or homeless, teaching parenting in a maximum-security jail, and teaching ESL to resettled immigrants. Because my own suburban father fell into homelessness at the end of his life due to depression, job losses, divorce, and more, I feel tremendous compassion for anyone in this situation. And as the mother of four grown sons, we filled our home with books—especially books that taught compassion so our sons would grow into men with big hearts towards others. I believe we succeeded.
Eleven-year-old Sierra just wants a normal life. After her military mother returns from the war overseas, the two hop from home to homelessness while Sierra tries to help her mom through the throes of PTSD.
When they end up at a shelter for women and children, Sierra is even more aware of what her life is not. The kind couple who run the shelter, Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin, attempt to show her parental love as she faces the uncertainties of her mom’s emotional health and the challenges of being the brand-new poor kid in middle school. The longer she stays at the shelter, the more Sierra realizes she may have to face an impossible choice as she redefines home.
Eleven-year-old Sierra just wants a normal life. After her military mother returns from the war overseas, the two hop from home to homelessness while Sierra tries to help her mom through the throes of PTSD.
When they end up at a shelter for women and children, Sierra is even more aware of what her life is not. The kind couple who run the shelter, Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin, attempt to show her parental love as she faces the uncertainties of her mom’s emotional health and the challenges of being the brand-new…
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