3 out of 4 stars
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Do you live your life in gratitude? Or do you focus on the negative circumstances that surround you? Richard Cavaness wants to make sure that we are living each day with an attitude of thankfulness.
The Gratitude Effect has 15 short chapters teaching us how to form a new habit of gratitude. At the end of the chapter, he gives you the key principle to think about along with questions to consider and practical ways to apply the lesson. One of the lessons discusses writing handwritten thank you notes to one person on each day of the year. Mr. Cavaness also cites scientific studies that prove gratefulness boosts your health and can even lower your risk of heart attacks.
Lately, I've been feeling pretty ungrateful, choosing to focus on my overwhelming circumstances instead of my abundance of blessings. So, I felt that this book came at an appropriate time in my life. It has started me on a journey to focus on all that I have instead of all that I lack.
However, the book did get a bit repetitive in spots. The author seems to reiterate the benefits gratitude can have on your health in multiple chapters. This might just be to drive the point home, but it felt a bit much to me.
In addition, the book starts out with two and a half pages of positive reviews for the book. I felt that the author should have let the book speak for itself instead of inundating the reader with accolades from other readers. It seemed to be a bit too self-focused for a book on thankfulness. After the conclusion, there were also several pages on booking the author to come speak. I felt this would be better saved for the author's website as, again, it seems too self-centered for a book of this sort.
On a positive note, I believe that this book would be appropriate for a wide audience. Mr. Cavaness does discuss a higher power and being thankful that you were created. Nevertheless, he leaves room for multiple religions to be in view here. While the author seems to be coming from a Christian viewpoint, he doesn't leave out those that have differing beliefs and views of God.
I am grateful that I was able to review this book and start on my journey to a more positive life. For this reason, I rate The Gratitude Effect 3 out of 4 stars. It's due to the repetitive nature of the book as well as the focus on the author at the beginning and end that this did not earn full marks. Still, I recommend it to those who find themselves ungrateful or who are looking to improve their lives.
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The Gratitude Effect
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