Thanks!: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier

This is a wonderful, powerful, and fun book that puts the science of happiness and gratitude at your fingertips. Yes, Virginia, there is a science to happiness. This leading researcher shares ways to cultivate a perpetual attitude of gratitude that really work in making us grateful, but also happier. Wisdom traditions the world over have long understood the power of gratitude. A happiness habit of gratitude gives life meaning. It also has the potential to make every interaction we have throughout our day richer and more fulfilling.

This little book was a big surprise. The book is a scientific study on gratitude and how it can impact your life. Included are religious and philosophic views. Am I grateful that I had the opportunity to read this book!

In his latest book, "Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude can Make you Happier," Dr. Robert Emmons shares his expertise about the personal and interpersonal benefits of gratitude. While gratitude has a long history among philosophers and theologians, it was not until the turn of the 21st century that psychology finally began to give gratitude its deserved empirical homage. The individual largely responsible for the scientific advancement of gratitude is Dr. Emmons. In its simplest terms, gratitude is a positive response to a benefit. But its related outcomes reach well beyond those associated with being polite. Indeed, pioneering research conducted and reviewed by Dr. Emmons shows that gratitude improves emotional and physical health, as well as bolsters relationships and communities. "Thanks!" ends by providing readers with 10 practical strategies for becoming more grateful. Some strategies include keeping a gratitude journal, learning prayers of gratitude, and using visual reminders. Following the advice of Dr. Emmons, my screensaver now reads: "Life is a Gift--Thanks!" Cultivating an attitude of gratitude is tough. It is, according to Dr. Emmons, a "chosen attitude." We must be willing to recognize and acknowledge that we are the recipients of an unearned benefit. If we roll up our sleeves and commit ourselves to becoming grateful, we will see that with gratitude comes abundance. "Thanks!" is a highly readable, colorful, and downright fun book. Personal anecdotes and gratitude essays written by research participants bring to life Dr. Emmon's research program demonstrating the strong and enduring benefits of gratitude. So with patience and persistence, happiness, health, and stronger relationships await you. It just comes down to one simple, yet highly complex word--thanks!

No modern author/scientist has done more for advancing the power of Gratitude than Dr. Robert Emmons whose latest book is a treasure trove of information on just how maintaining an attitude of gratitude can enhance our life. Not only is this book worthy of 5 stars, but so too is Emmons' career which has left such a mark through his work on Gratitude...a mark on all of us who have benefited from his work and writings, as well as a mark on him. He closes the book expressing his gratitude "It's highly unlikely that I will ever find again a topic as satisfying and inspiring to devote my research energy to. For the opportunity to learn about gratitude and inform others of my findings in the hope that this knowledge will produce for them the best life they are capable of, I am deeply grateful." Now, that is walking the talk! This book came out at about the same time as Deborah Norville's book, "Thank You Power." I highly recommend that book as a companion read so as to get a double dose of the power of Gratitude. I found the two to be delightfully reinforcing of one another...yet with enough difference to justify the time invested in reading both. This book's closing ten prescriptions for practicing gratitude are, without doubt, a roadmap for a better life, when implemented and maintained. The challenge as the book makes clear is to maintian an attitude of gratitude even in the face of hitting some of the potholes of life.

It is hard to ignore the large number of books written over the past few years on the nature of happiness. In the past year, I had an opportunity to read over a dozen of these "positive psychology" books and glance through quite a few more. Most of them summarize the same set of research studies on what makes people happy, why it is difficult to attain and sustain happiness, who is most and least likely to find happiness, and how these positive experiences can be cultivated. This led me to read Robert Emmons' latest book with some degree of trepidation. I wondered if "Thanks!" would offer anything new to my growing fascination of these topics. Even though I already knew a great deal about Emmons' work and the study of gratitude, I found this book to be remarkably interesting and a reservoir of compelling insights and practical tips. Let me detail a few reasons why this book offers something new and why it belongs on people's bookshelves. First, many "positive psychology" books are written by therapists, counselors, teachers, journalists, and other people who read and summarize the writings of scientists. Their books often lack the enthusiasm, creativity, and wisdom that can only be found by those devoting their lives to a topic. Robert Emmons is the world's leading authority on gratitude. His research is responsible for much of what we know about gratitude. It becomes readily apparent that Robert Emmons has spent years thinking about gratitude, studying gratitude, talking to people about gratitude, and trying to understand how gratitude fits into the "big picture" of achieving lasting happiness in a world fraught with moments of pain, stress, and adversity. His passion and wisdom are evident on nearly every page. I could not imagine reading a book on gratitude written by anyone else. Second, the information in this book is backed by scientific research. This is not a book based on the musings of one person or a few people who believe that gratitude is a good thing. It is also not based on a few studies conducted by one researcher. The information in this book is based on a careful summary of research conducted on thousands of people by a number of different researchers around the world. Taken together, these studies show that gratitude is one of the strongest contributors to happiness and meaning in life. But more than that, gratitude has been shown to strengthen people's social relationships, improve people's physical health, and motivate people to act in ways that enhances the quality of their moments, days, and lives. In addition to discussing his own research, Robert Emmons reviews and integrates the work of other researchers, philosophers, and literary minds. In a little more than 200 pages, "Thanks!" has quickly become the essential source of everything there is to know about gratitude (so far). Third, it is spiritually uplifting. Emmons weaves in stories of real people sharing how gratitude played (or failed to play