Wake up Grateful by Kirsten Nelson is a work that seeks to expand on the idea of gratefulness into a lifestyle. Sometimes a little highbrow and metaphorical, the author tries to prevent this with practical application based on principles that run throughout the book.
This is a book to read slowly with a journal by your side in order to get the full effect. That was the mistake that I made; I read this book to finish it, rather than reading to let the message sink in. While the life-guiding ideas outlined are easy to understand, you still need to slow down and savor each sentence. In fact, I would recommend reading a chapter and then stopping. Over the course of the following week, take the time to go back over the applications at the end of the chapter. Find the ones that are the most relevant to you and implement them.
While the book tends to be susceptible to overly mystical statements about gratefulness, especially in the personal testimonies, the personal story of the author’s battle with cancer, and the way that the author incorporated personal reflections, ground the book. In this way, the book tries to appeal to those who are coming to it from a more pragmatic and self-help perspective and also to those who approach from a spiritual and mystical perspective. However, because it is trying to appeal to both, if you find yourself more on the pragmatic side, you might find yourself skimming certain sections.
Personally, gratefulness has been such an important part of my own well-being and spirituality that I found a lot of value in this book and would recommend it to those who want to live and breathe gratefulness more. However, I found myself bored when the ruminations about gratefulness were attempting to place me into a mindset of all-consuming reverence towards the topic.
Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars.
Wake Up Grateful comes out on November 24, 2020. You can pre-order the book here.
I received this book courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.