Review: A Re - Newed Reason for the Season
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 6, 2012
I am the first to confess that as I settled down into reading the book I was disappointed in the depth in which it approached the subject.  There is nothing to show the reader in "how-to" move from a lesser state of being into the state of being grateful.  Being well versed in the subject matter and having written short articles in it, I subconsciously challenged the book to give me a new thought by which I could soar into the depths of the subject of Gratitude instead of the same old, mundane, surface, platitudes that were once spoken and then written, taking on a life of their own with unattached and disjointed meaning from one platitude to the next.But then I had to stop and rethink the purpose of reading the pages of the book.  I was unfairly reading it through my expectations of what, in my perception, it should produce for me rather than the scope of the work in which it was written by the author.I decided to reread the book and give it a fair chance to be read within the boundaries in which it was written.  I tapped on the "Go To" in my Kindle reader and proceeded to analyze the cover of the book in order to neutralize any expectations.  I discovered in studying the cover that when I peel back the veneer of my expectations then there are new truths - secrets to be uncovered.  I began rereading the contents and found that the same old, same old, mundane,  platitudes now took on magical expressions with new worth.  That indeed there were nuggets of truth to be discovered in each.  I took out paper and pencil and rated each individual magical expression on a scale of 1 - 10 in how it related to my own present experience in gratitude.It is the Holiday Season.  I asked how this rating now translated into my attitude towards the Reason for the Season.  Am I taking on a "Scrooge Hum Bug" attitude or do I project the Season as being the happiest time of my year, as a child would approach it?  Am I more concerned in getting than giving and disappointed when my expectations of getting aren't met?  Have I balanced the aspects of giving and receiving?  Am I now more concerned in giving something valuable to my circle of influence.  Something like giving of myself and the sincere gift of gratitude that has welled up in my heart in respect to analyzing the Reason of the Season.Again, I am the first to confess that the new reading of the book gave to me a renewed perspective in my attitude towards gratitude.  What is left to say is: Thank you D. L. Hart for this renewed experience.  Now I am ready for the Holiday Season!