Sandra's Book Club: Blog Tour: 365 DAYS OF GRATITUDE JOURNAL by Mariëlle S. Smith

365 Days of Gratitude Journal

by Mariëlle S. Smith

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GENRE: Non-fiction; self-help

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BLURB:

*** Now available in black-and-white AND full colour! ***

‘The more grateful I am, the more beauty I see.’ Mary Davis

Gratitude is not just about ATTITUDE.

Gratitude is about PRACTICE.

But how do you create a gratitude practice that sticks?

After the success of her first 365 Days of Gratitude Journal, writing coach Mariëlle S. Smith brings you Volume 2. Same journal but with an entirely different look!

After years of barely surviving her own emotional minefield, Mariëlle discovered the transformative power of practising gratitude. But, like no one else, she knows that cultivating an attitude of gratitude is easier said than done.

365 Days of Gratitude, Vol. 2 is an undated, guided journal. Complete with inspiring quotes, daily prompts, and recurring check-ins, it was designed to help you create a sustainable gratitude practice too.

Commit to the life-changing power of gratitude today and order your copy now!

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Excerpt One:

I’m not here to sell you on gratitude. There are many articles and research papers I could be citing to convince you just how great practising gratitude is for you. I think you’re already aware of that, though. Perhaps you’ve read some of those articles and papers or maybe you just know it somewhere deep down—or not so deep down.

I’m not hooked on gratitude because it works wonders on my blood pressure and promises to help me sleep better. Although it probably does that, too.

I’m hooked on gratitude because it enables me to perceive everything in life as magical again. I’m hooked because I’m not the same person I was since I started practising it. And because I slip and return to being that anxious, burned out, overachieving workaholic as soon as I stray from the gratitude path—which happens far more often than I care to admit.

Gratitude is a commitment for life. I created this journal to help you commit and turn your gratitude practice into a sustainable one.

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GUEST POST:

The author quote that inspired me to create whatever I want to

I’ve always told stories, even before I was taught how to write. Back then, what others thought of my stories didn’t seem that relevant to me: I simply shared whatever my imagination conjured up.

Years later, when I became more serious about writing and began to entertain the thought that I might want to become a writer, what others thought felt more relevant. It had me wondering whether there was ever going to be an audience for what I was writing, whether anyone was waiting to hear what I had to say.

Obviously, such worries aren’t exactly conducive to creative flow. It limited me, as I’m sure they’ve limited others, and had me abandon projects before I’d properly started them just because I convinced myself no one would want to read them anyway.

It didn’t help that I tend towards writing what doesn’t exist yet. A lot of my inspiration comes from the gaps I sense in other work. Considering that Toni Morrison once said ‘If there’s a book you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it’, I’m sure I’m not the only writer whose inspiration springs from what could be.

However, when you’re writing the books that you feel are missing, you can’t look at what others are doing to verify that your work will be welcomed into the world. It takes a lot of trust and perseverance to write anything; just imagine how much more you’re going to need when you find yourself off the beaten path.

For the longest time, this was one of my main writing struggles. It kept me from committing to numerous ideas, even if they kept nagging me from the far corners of my brain I had banished them to.

And then I came across this quote by Paulo Coelho:

If it’s still in your mind, it is worth taking the risk.

Not only did it make my heart skip a few beats, it brought all those ideas that had been vying for my attention over the years to the forefront of my mind. With a vengeance. And now they knew I knew about Coelho’s words, they refused to go anywhere else.

These ideas had always known it was worth taking the risk. That’s why they stayed in my mind for so long. But now I knew it too.

And that’s when I surrendered. These days, if an idea keeps poking at me for long enough, I’ll give it a go. That’s right, I don’t just entertain any idea that pops up in my head. On the contrary, Paulo Coelho’s words allowed me to create a sort of litmus test to separate worthy ideas from mere distractions.

This is how that litmus test works in practice:

Part of one of the walls in my office is dedicated to ‘New ideas’. Whenever an intriguing idea comes to me, I write it down on a sticky note and put it up on that bit of wall. I then walk away from it and continue working on whatever I’d been occupied with before the idea decided to distract me.

If an idea keeps popping up in my head over the next couple of weeks or months, I’ll give it some serious thought. I’ll grab a notebook, make myself some tea, and give it my undivided attention for a while to see if it turns into something more concrete, something I actually feel like writing.

If not, if I check my wall with sticky notes and find ideas I haven’t given a single thought since putting them up there, I pull them down and throw them out. Most probably, they’d just shown up to distract me from my work. And if that’s not why they came to me, if I actually do need to pursue them, I trust they’ll pop up in my head again when the time is better.

Because of this test, I no longer ask myself what the world might want to hear from me. I simply focus on what’s still in my mind and trust that it’ll be worth the risk.

It might not work for everyone, but it definitely helped me get out of my own way and publish numerous books I wouldn’t have created otherwise.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Mariëlle S. Smith is a writer, writing coach, and editor. She lives in Cyprus, where she organises private writer's retreats, is inspired 24/7, and feeds more stray cats than she can count.

Contact Links

Website: https://mswordsmith.nl

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mswordsmith

Blog: https://mswordsmith.nl/blog

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18455235.Mari_lle_S_Smith

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariellessmith

Other(s): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtnYOpjmj83mvMM2L348F1w

Purchase Links

All purchase links can be found on https://mswordsmith.nl/365daysofgratitude

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DDZ88JF

Deluxe edition Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DDX9NNZ

Barnes & Noble: Black-and-white edition: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/365-days-of-gratitude-vol-2-marielle-s-smith/1141685091