10 Books To Inspire Gratitude and Thankfulness

One spring morning, Kathryn Schulz went to lunch with a stranger and fell in love. But as the two of them began building a life together, Schulz’s beloved father went into the hospital with a minor heart condition and never came out. Schulz was left contending simultaneously with wild joy and terrible grief. Those twin experiences form the heart of Lost & Found, a profound meditation on the families that make us and the families we make. The resulting book is part memoir, part guidebook to sustaining wonder and gratitude even in the face of loss and grief.

Written in the months before his death, Oliver Sacks looks back to meditate on his life. The result is a touching tribute to what it means to live a good life. It will fill the reader with an overwhelming sense of gratitude and inspire us all to live life to the fullest.

Anna Quindlen doesn’t want us just to survive, but to thrive. In this beautiful book, she shows readers how important it is to not take our lives for granted, but to live each day like it were our last. Quindlen believes that we should strive to accomplish great things in our lives, but even more importantly, to appreciate the small ones.

Zen Buddhist monk Haemin Sunim wants us all to practice self-care and self-compassion, and to love ourselves because of, not in spite of, our flaws. He argues that only then will we be able to love and care for those around us.

Is there a better guide to a life well-lived than Brené Brown? Brown teaches that living authentically and with gratitude can be an act of resistance. This 10th anniversary edition provides readers with the ten guideposts to wholehearted living. Each guidepost offers readers daily practices that will change your outlook on life.

R. Eric Thomas is the light we need when the world seems a little too dark. His hilarious and heartfelt memoir-in-essays is really about finding joy in everyday places. Sometimes we feel like the outsider, we may stumble and fall, but Thomas argues it is always worth it to pick ourselves back up and move forward with joy and confidence.

In today’s world of constant connection to our phones and the internet, Gina Hamadey realized that instead of bringing her closer to those around her, scrolling through social media was actually making her feel less connected and emotionally depleted. So she made the decision to put down her phone and write a thank-you note to someone every day for a year. She saw how creating a lasting gratitude practice can shift your experience and make you a happier, more connected person.

This 365-day guided journal from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, aims to teach you how to build a lasting gratitude practice into your daily life. Each page contains inspirational quotes that help prompt you to share your joy!

Mary Oliver has put together a collection of her best poems spanning the more than five decades of her literary career. Lovingly curated, you can open any page of this wonderful collection and find inspiration. Her love for the world around her radiates throughout and is infectious. You’ll want to take a walk through nature the second you’ve stopped reading.