Choosing Gratitude

Brief Description

In 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 life, 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, and so on—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.

About the Author

James A. Autry, a former Fortune 500 executive, is an author, poet, and consultant whose work has had significant influence on leadership thinking. He is the author of ten books, and his writings have appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines. Featured in Bill Moyers’ PBS series The Power of the Word and in Moyers’ book The Language of Life, Autry has also been noted on National Public Radio via Garrison’s Keillor’s “Writer’s Corner.” He serves on the national advisory board of Poets & Writers, Inc. Autry resides in Des Moines, Iowa, with his wife, Sally Pederson, who recently retired as Lieutenant Governor of Iowa, and their twenty-seven-year-old son. He has two grown sons by a previous marriage and is a proud grandfather of two.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Section One: For One Thing and Another
The Gratitude Walk
The Trouble with Aging
Thanks for the Memory
A Visit to the White House
In Praise of Dog Parks
Teenage Magic
The Kindness of Strangers
Moments of Gratitude
Perhaps an Angel
Thinking of Biscuits
Poems
“Summer”
“Patience”

Section Two: For Family
Does Love Ever Die?
I’ll Read this Again on Mother’s Day
A Brother’s Testimony
Something Like a Resurrection
Moment of Gratitude
Happy Boy
Poems
“Optimism”
“A Sentimental Poem”

Section Three: For Friends
Tribute to Old Friends
Friendship and the Blessing of Butterflies
Moment of Gratitude
Thank You Every Day
Poem
“Fellow Travelers”

Section Four: For Matters of the Spirit
Unexpected Gifts
An Invocation
The Unending Quest for Understanding
Moment of Gratitude
Old Hymns
Poems
“New Birth”
“Every Day a Blessing”

Section Five: For Those Who Serve
For Those Who Deserve Our Gratitude
To Serve and Protect
Gratitude for (Gasp!) Politicians
Moments of Gratitude
Unsung Hero
Bread upon the Waters
Poem
“Debts and Payments”

Section Six: For the Pain of Life
Gratitude and Grief
Facing Death with Gratitude
Living with Regret
Moment of Gratitude
Last Breath
Poems
“Disconnected”
“Ronald’s Dance”

Section Seven: The Gratitude Inventory
My Gratitude Inventory
Your Inventory
One Final Question