Grateful : the transformative power of giving thanks

Title:

Author:

Bass, Diana Butler, 1959- author.

Summary:

More and more people are finding God beyond the walls of traditional religious institutions, but these seekers often miss the church community itself, including its shared spiritual practices such as gratitude. Bass explores why gratitude is missing as a modern spiritual practice, offers practical suggestions for reclaiming it, and illuminates how the shared practice of gratitude can lead to greater connection with God, our world, and our own souls. -- Adapted from jacket.

Edition:

First edition.

Contents:

Prologue: Confession: no thanks -- Part I. Me: emotion-gifts and thanks -- Feeling grateful -- Heart matters -- Part II. Me: ethics-awareness and practice -- Habits of gratitude -- Intentional practice -- Part III. We: emotion-joy and celebration -- Grateful together -- Thankful and festive -- Part IV. We: ethics-community and politics -- The grateful society -- Circles of gratitude -- Epilogue: A call to the grateful way.

Physical Description:

xxxi, 224 pages ; 22 cm

Subject Term:

Gratitude -- Religious aspects -- Christianity.

Gratitude.

Publisher:

HarperCollins Publishers,

Publication Date:

2018

ISBN:

9780062659477

Publication Information:

New York, NY : HarperCollins Publishers, [2018]

Call Number:

241.4 BASS

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003359596	Adult Nonfiction	241.4 BASS	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

The Wilbur Award-winning book Grateful is now available in paperback and with an updated subtitle.

If gratitude is good, why is it so hard to do? In Grateful, Diana Butler Bass untangles our conflicting understandings of gratitude and sets the table for a renewed practice of giving thanks.

We know that gratitude is good, but many of us find it hard to sustain a meaningful life of gratefulness. Four out of five Americans report feeling gratitude on a regular basis, but those private feelings seem disconnected from larger concerns of our public lives. In Grateful, cultural observer and theologian Diana Butler Bass takes on this "gratitude gap" and offers up surprising, relevant, and powerful insights to practice gratitude.

Bass, author of the award-winning Grounded and ten other books on spirituality and culture, explores the transformative, subversive power of gratitude for our personal lives and in communities. Using her trademark blend of historical research, spiritual insights, and timely cultural observation, she shows how we can overcome this gap and make change in our own lives and in the world.

With honest stories and heartrending examples from history and her own life, Bass reclaims gratitude as a path to greater connection with god, with others, with the world, and even with our own souls. It's time to embrace a more radical practice of gratitude--the virtue that heals us and helps us thrive.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Bestselling author and scholar Bass (Grounded) takes two seemingly contradictory recent surveys of the mood of Americans as the jumping off point for her excellent call for a more conscientious practice of gratitude. Eight out of 10 Americans feel "a strong sense of gratitude or thankfulness," according to the Pew Research Center. At the same time, the Public Religion Research Institute finds that Americans are "more anxious, less optimistic, and more distrustful" than ever before. Bass asks how both could be true. Her answer focuses on what she calls the "gratitude gap," and she writes that most people feel grateful when "someone does us a favor or when greeted by a beautiful surprise" but also feel a "sense of powerlessness from thinking we will never have enough." To close this gap, Bass asks readers to consider how they express gratitude. She believes that most people have an "imbalance of gratitude" and suggests ways of rethinking how to give thanks in order to find "communal gratefulness." For example, someone who feels gratitude while listening to the national anthem should also think about how to contribute to public service, and someone who feels obligated to send thank-you notes might need to consider actions that would express deeper thanks. Bass's persuasive book will please her longtime fans as well as readers interested in living a more productively thankful life. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal Review

Does gratitude simply mean thank you notes and politeness? Bass (Grounded) delves into the spiritual aspects of gratitude and the life and world-changing effects of practicing gratefulness in personal and civic spaces. Her aim is to illustrate that "gratitude is not a transaction of debt and duty. Rather, gratitude is a spiritual awareness and a social structure of gift and response." By weaving a picture of gratitude as both a "me" and a "we" response composed of ethics as well as emotions, the author successfully creates a four-fold picture of thanks as a way of life. Although writing as a Christian, Bass includes other religious and nonreligious viewpoints, asserting that even politics can be transformed by changing from a quid pro quo system to one that is pro bono, based on gifting and gratitude rather than payment and debts. Personal anecdotes and spiritual insights enrich this portrait of gratitude as a goal and way of life. VERDICT Will appeal to the spiritually minded seeking an encouraging and challenging read. Strongly recommended for libraries of all types.-Ray Arnett, Anderson, SC © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Prologue: Confession: No Thanks	p. xi
Part I Me: Emotion-Gifts and Thanks
1 Feeling Grateful	p. 3
2 Heart Matters	p. 23
Part II Me: Ethics-Awareness and Practice
3 Habits of Gratitude	p. 49
4 Intentional Practice	p. 71
Part III We: Emotion-Joy and Celebration
5 Grateful Together	p. 93
6 Thankful and Festive	p. 109
Part IV We: Ethics-Community and Politics
7 The Grateful Society	p. 135
8 Circles of Gratitude	p. 155
Epilogue: A Call to the Grateful Way	p. 181
Thank You	p. 195
A Thanksgiving Prayer	p. 199
Notes	p. 201
Index	p. 217

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Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents