Choosing Gratitude: Learning to Love the Life You Have

In his latest book, Choosing Gratitude: Learning to Love the Life You Have, renowned author James A. Autry reminds us that gratitude is a choice, a spiritual-not social-process. Made evident as behavior, gratitude is not the behavior itself. We may automatically respond, "Thank you" or "Appreciate it" in the daily course of our lives. These are polite, conditioned responses, but they are not gratitude. Instead, gratitude is a way of living, a belief system, that means cultivating a spirit of thankfulness even through the negatives of life. It is remembering there will always be more reasons for gratitude than for despair.

In a society consumed by fears of not having "enough"-money, possessions, security, etc.-Autry suggests that if we cultivate gratitude as a way of being, we may not change the world and its ills, but we can change our response to the world. If we fill our lives with moments of gratitude, we will indeed love the life we have.