I love a good book on theme–and this book for November is no exception!

Ask anyone what word comes to mind when they think of the month of November–and it is probably one of the following words: thankful, appreciation, blessings… or the all encompassing gratitude.

This month’s book celebrates this wonderful word, and it offers us the chance to practice gratitude all month long!

Introducing This Month’s Book:

This month’s book is…. The Magic by Rhonda Byrne!

This book is a full-on practice in gratitude…literally. It offers us the chance to add in gratitude practices every day for a full month. Building upon each one, you may just find yourself maintaining some or all of the gratitude practices once you finish the month because of the magic that unfolds in your life.

I’ve done this book’s gratitude practice about twice now, and I’m about to start it once again. I really try to commit to doing the gratitude exercises from this book every November because that’s just how powerful of a change occurs for me after I finish!

With gratitude being such a theme for the month for November, I love how this book just celebrates and honors it. And-as a bonus- it really makes you see the world a little differently and better.

This quote from the book just sums the power of gratitude up so well:

“When you’re grateful for the things you have, no matter how small they may be, you will see those things instantly increase.” -Rhonda Byrne, The Magic

I hope you enjoy discovering the power of gratitude with this book!

Questions to Ask Yourself:

While you are reading The Magic, consider some of these questions if it feels fun!

I’m personally not a someone who uses guided reading questions—feels a little too school-y for when you are reading for enjoyment for me. I kept that in mind when developing these questions with the intention and hope they are useful and fun to think about!

A Final Note on Joy:

If you’ve been here for a while, then you know that my number one and biggest tool in my toolbox when it comes to joy is meditation.

The next would be a gratitude practice.

It sounds so simple…just list out things that you are grateful for and give thanks for each thing. But, I cannot overstate just how powerful this is.

The song, “Gratitude” by Jason Mraz has a lyric that sums up (I believe!) why this is, “And I’m grateful to gratitude itself/ It helps me look for the good”

Our brains are hardwired to look for the bad–evolutionary speaking, it served as a protection mechanism back in the day. However, we no longer need to by hyper aware of wild animals attacking us while we are sleeping like our ancestors did, but our beautiful brains are still trying to adjust to this.

By giving thanks/practicing appreciation, we are literally rewiring our brains to look for what is going right in life. And this leads us to see/view the world with a more positive light. It’s a rolling effect because then we will start seeing and experiencing more things to be grateful for!

Gratitude… simple yet truly beautiful and powerful.

May you find all the reasons to be grateful this month–and every month!

Have you ever had a moment of pure appreciation for life? What was happening when you felt it?