Thank and Grow Rich by Pam Grout
A good friend of mine turned me on to this book during another book course of ours together. It’s not to be confused with the book, THINK and Grow Rich, however, which is an entirely different perspective on abundance.
In this book, the premise is that daily and constant gratitude are what bring about life’s most abundant blessings. For Grout, the “Rich” part is not about money, but about anything we’d like to “acquire”: wealth, yes, but also love, health, connection, opportunity etc.
There are plenty of books and experiments out there on gratitude, but this book takes a different angle in that it doesn’t just tell you to practice gratitude; it gives you a slew of “party games,” which challenge you to find gratitude in different ways. It was interesting to explore all the different ways we can bring thankfulness into our lives.
Like finding someone typically grumpy and making them laugh.
Hugging and having a conversation with a tree.
Saying thank you to any and every inanimate object you come across.
Dance for no reason wherever the mood hit you.
Find the blessing in something that bothered or saddened you.
And so many more…
But one of the harder ones for me was to do something completely outside of the “rules” for myself—referred to as wearing your freak flag. That prompted a very uncomfortable, yet liberating, posting of me dressed in a German costume and yodeling while dancing as part of a scene out of my Willy Wonka theater class, in which I was cast as Mrs. Gloop. I was utterly embarrassed, but also proud of the courage it took to own who I am and the light inside me. Plus, it made me realize how many dang supportive people I have in my life who were encouraging and kind. (Thank you!) <--- See, more gratitude!
I can’t say for sure that this book changed my life and that I am rich beyond all belief in any way—except maybe demonstrating how I am already rich with everything I have. But it did change the way I looked at a lot of things in my life, and brought a little fun into it with some games that only raised my level of vibration and pulled me out of a funk on more than one occasion.
So, there is something to be said for a fun little book on gratitude. If you are looking to bring more gratitude into your life, especially as the Thanksgiving holiday around the corner reminds us to count our blessings, it is a simple, thoughtful read and I’d highly recommend it!