"I feel like I have God in my pocket."
- C.G., Victoria, B.C.
In his book, On Gratitude, Todd Jensen recounts a delightful, nine-year-old-boy moment when his beloved teacher, Mrs. Bammel, attempted to teach the concept of negative numbers. Despite his "toe-tinglingly" love for Mrs. Bammel, Todd just had to protest, "Why in the world would we count negative numbers? That's counting what's not there!"
In his book, On Gratitude, Todd Jensen recounts a delightful, nine-year-old-boy moment when his beloved teacher, Mrs. Bammel, attempted to teach the concept of negative numbers. Despite his "toe-tinglingly" love for Mrs. Bammel, Todd just had to protest, "Why in the world would we count negative numbers? That's counting what's not there!"
Thirty years later Jensen had an epiphany. He realized that he and a multitude of the rest of us are "...masters of negative numbers. Counting what we don't have." We count the loss of a marriage, friendship, job, money, opportunities and our dreams. He says, "Life's riches were always there. But I wasn't." That is so gratOodle of him!
Jensen has now committed himself to walking the path of gratitude and he invites us to join him. I love how he says, "How beautiful the world would be if we counted all that we have and not what we have lost or never had."
As you might be able to tell, I love Jensen's book and I particularly enjoy his turn of phrase. Each chapter is comprised of an interview with a famous person, from Kurt Vonnegut and Annie Leibovitz to Steve Nash, Joyce Carol Oates and Deepak Chopra. There are 50 interviews and each one is prefaced with a pithy introduction by Jensen. He has an uncanny way of writing us into the heart of an individual. In a few short paragraphs I felt I was in touch with the humanity of each person.
In writing about Dave Grohl, Jensen says, "Sometimes tragedy is a straight jacket and sometimes it is a cape." Of Annie Leibovitz he writes, Leibovitz is the Joseph Campbell of click..." and he describes John Updike as, "...a portrait of grace, giving seventy-six years of gratitude its beautiful due." Such delicious word pictures. Don't they just fill you with images of personalitlies, temperments and talents?
I had the idea before I bought a copy of On Gratitude that it would be chapters filled with lists of things each famous person was grateful for. I wasn't sure how it would make for interesting reading. I was so wrong. Gratitude is,in fact, a subtle thread woven within eloquently written interviews that unveil the depth of character of the individual. It has substance.
On Gratitude is an easy read. Each chapter is inspiring, reminding the reader of the goodness in humanity. The chapters are short, to the point and filled with juicy details prefaced with paragraph titles such as, Dreaming in Metaphor, Bully Beatdown, Octogenarian is Not a Four Letter Word, Characters in Search of an Author and Romancing the Alphabet. As I said, I really get a kick out of how Jensen uses words.
This book left me with a warm feeling in my belly. It motivated me to think in positive numbers and it was another reminder to keep on clicking my gratOodle.
Jensen has intitiated his own form of counting in positive numbers. He invites us to visit his website at www.thegratitudelist.org and to list 10 things we are grateful for.
I think Mrs. Bammel would be proud of Todd Jensen.In his book, On Gratitude, Todd Jensen recounts a delightful, nine-year-old-boy moment when his beloved teacher, Mrs. Bammel, attempted to teach the concept of negative numbers. Despite his "toe-tinglingly" love for Mrs. Bammel, Todd just had to protest, "Why in the world would we count negative numbers? That's counting what's not there!"
Thirty years later Jensen had an epiphany. He realized that he and a multitude of the rest of us are "...masters of negative numbers. Counting what we don't have." We count the loss of a marriage, friendship, job, money, opportunities and our dreams. He says, "Life's riches were always there. But I wasn't." That is so gratOodle of him!
Jensen has now committed himself to walking the path of gratitude and he invites us to join him. I love how he says, "How beautiful the world would be if we counted all that we have and not what we have lost or never had."
As you might be able to tell, I love Jensen's book and I particularly enjoy his turn of phrase. Each chapter is comprised of an interview with a famous person, from Kurt Vonnegut and Annie Leibovitz to Steve Nash, Joyce Carol Oates and Deepak Chopra. There are 50 interviews and each one is prefaced with a pithy introduction by Jensen. He has an uncanny way of writing us into the heart of an individual. In a few short paragraphs I felt I was in touch with the humanity of each person.
In writing about Dave Grohl, Jensen says, "Sometimes tragedy is a straight jacket and sometimes it is a cape." Of Annie Leibovitz he writes, Leibovitz is the Joseph Campbell of click..." and he describes John Updike as, "...a portrait of grace, giving seventy-six years of gratitude its beautiful due." Such delicious word pictures. Don't they just fill you with images of personalitlies, temperments and talents?
I had the idea before I bought a copy of On Gratitude that it would be chapters filled with lists of things each famous person was grateful for. I wasn't sure how it would make for interesting reading. I was so wrong. Gratitude is,in fact, a subtle thread woven within eloquently written interviews that unveil the depth of character of the individual. It has substance.On Gratitude is an easy read. Each chapter is inspiring, reminding the reader of the goodness in humanity. The chapters are short, to the point and filled with juicy details prefaced with paragraph titles such as, Dreaming in Metaphor, Bully Beatdown, Octogenarian is Not a Four Letter Word, Characters in Search of an Author and Romancing the Alphabet. As I said, I really get a kick out of how Jensen uses words.
This book left me with a warm feeling in my belly. It motivated me to think in positive numbers and it served as another reminder to keep on clicking my gratOodle.
Jensen has intitiated his own form of counting in positive numbers. He invites us to visit his website at www.thegratitudelist.org and to list 10 things we are grateful for.
I think Mrs. Bammel would be proud of Todd Jensen.
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