Books like Thank & Grow Rich: A 30-Day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed Joy

As the disclaimer states in the description above, this book is not for everyone, but it was awesome in my opinion. I am going to admit that I am incredibly biased. I absolutely adored Pam's other books on New Age thought and had some unbelievable experiences with the experiments in them: E-Squared: Nine Do-It-Yourself Energy Experiments That Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and E-Cubed: Nine More Energy Experiments That Prove Manifesting Magic and Miracles Is Your Full-Time Gig. But, I couldn't convince the library to buy them because, I was told, they are "too fringe". Perhaps this book, which focuses on adopting an attitude of gratitude to improve your life, will be mainstream enough to make the cut.Pam addresses the pink elephant of her title in the first part of the book: "No offense to Napoleon Hill, the author of the self help classic on which my title riffs, but the real power is in not thinking. If you want to override your brain's unfortunate habit of leafing through your past and creating a present hologram to match, forget thinking. And start thanking." Loc 108, ebook. I read Think and Grow Rich last year and I could see where other people have beef with the book. He focuses on money, making connections, and doing the internal work to shoot yourself into the stratosphere of work success. There's very little in there about feeling your way to the same place.Pam takes a different approach: "I should get this out on the table right now. This book won't do a thing for your 401(k) or help you secure the McMansion you pasted onto your vision board. It's not about getting rich in the traditional sense. ... There's nothing wrong with financial capital, but let me be very clear. It's incapable of bringing any measure of real happiness." Locs 324-337 ebook. She gets to the heart of why we chase anything: because we believe that it will bring happiness. Pam suggests getting happy and then the success will come.And, how does she say that we should "get happy"? By being thankful for what we already have. "Be astonished by useless things. It's easy to be thankful for the obvious- healthy kids, public libraries, strong marriages. But in this game we're going to take it a step further. We're going to build our gratitude muscle by also appreciating the insignificant and impractical..." Loc 856 ebook. I just had to include that passage for the library mention. Yay libraries!Pam backs up her claims with scientific studies such as: "According to Richard Wiseman, psychology professor at the University of Hertfordshire in England and creator of Luck School, people who think they're lucky actually are. After eight years of studying hundreds of self-identified exceptionally lucky and exceptionally unlucky people, he concluded that getting good breaks has nothing to do with karma or kismet and everything to do with how we see ourselves." Loc 991 ebook. I would like to state for the record that I am one of the luckiest people that I know. :)She also includes a bunch of information from happiness researchers: "When it comes to success, research shows that while IQ, education, and training play cameo roles, the starring role, the headliner on the success stage, is "Do you have a vision? Do you believe it's possible?" Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work... claims that predicting success using any other factor (say, your IQ or number of degrees) is about as effective as flipping a coin. What is effective, Achor and Frederickson and other happiness researchers have proven, is creating a happy brain that anticipates accomplishment, that knows success is just a matter of time." Loc 1876 ebook.I know that I have a pretty open mind when it comes to these types of books, but my thought is, what's the harm in it? If it works for you, great! You've just discovered a new tool to use in the living the very best times of your life. If it doesn't work, no harm done. Now, you know.I'd recommend this book for readers of the Abraham Hicks materials because there are quite a few similarities in the philosophies contained within. Some read-alikes: The Power of the Heart: Finding Your True Purpose in Life, Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill, or Dr. Quantum Presents: Meet the Real Creator--You!.The opinions contained within this review are entirely my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Hay House for a free advance reader's copy of this book for review purposes!