Alphatudes by Michele Wahlder Book Tour

About the Book:

Alphatudes reveals the unexpected and simple secret of living a joyful life - gratitude. In a world obsessed with negativity, we must deliberately choose to focus on the positive. The good news is that the homework is already done!

Alphatudes utilizes our earliest grade school victory—the ABCs— to achieve an even greater victory: a sustainable shift in your thinking that leads to contentment, optimism and peace of mind. An alphatude is defined as: a person, place or thing for which one alphabetically expresses gratitude.

Filled with vibrant illustrations, Alphatudes takes you on an inspiring 26-step journey where you’ll discover how to: heighten your awareness of life’s daily gifts; attract opportunities with a positive mind-set; find blessings in difficult situations; and free yourself from worry, negativity and resentment.

Legendary recording artist Olivia Newton-John has graciously provided a free download of her beautiful song, “Grace and Gratitude”, with purchase of this extraordinary book.

Alphatudes utilizes our earliest grade school victory—the ABCs— to achieve an even greater victory: a sustainable shift in your thinking that leads to contentment, optimism and peace of mind. An alphatude is defined as: a person, place or thing for which one alphabetically expresses gratitude.

Filled with vibrant illustrations, Alphatudes takes you on an inspiring 26-step journey where you’ll discover how to: heighten your awareness of life’s daily gifts; attract opportunities with a positive mind-set; find blessings in difficult situations; and free yourself from worry, negativity and resentment.

Legendary recording artist Olivia Newton-John has graciously provided a free download of her beautiful song, “Grace and Gratitude”, with purchase of this extraordinary book. (http://www.alphatudes.com/).

About the Author:

Michele Wahlder, MS, LPC, PCC, is an internationally recognized life coach, career counselor, speaker and gratitude enthusiast. She is the founder of Life Possibilities, LLC, a company that champions people to become the highest vision they hold for themselves in their lives, careers and relationships through the vehicles of coaching, seminars and books.

Wahlder delights in helping her clients discover their strengths, passions and purpose so that their outer lives authentically reflect their hearts’ desires. She has worked with numerous organizations, including Match.com, Fitness magazine, Lucent Technologies and Girls, Inc., to improve individual performance and organizational effectiveness.

Wahlder is a popular guest on television and radio, including WFAA-TV’s Good Morning Texas, KDAF-TV’s The 33 News and CBS and CNN Radio. Wahlder received a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Tulane University, holds a master’s degree in Counseling Education from Texas Woman’s University, is licensed by the state of Texas as a Licensed Professional Counselor and is certified through the International Coach Federation as a Professional Certified Coach. She has been honored as the Global Career Spokesperson for Bayer’s Global MS Awareness Campaign.

Wahlder understands firsthand the challenges associated with surviving a life-threatening illness and has allowed the experience to make her a stronger, more compassionate and grateful person. She continues to volunteer for several nonprofit organizations that offer adults and children opportunities to enhance their lives and pursue their dreams. A native of Alexandria, Louisiana, Michele Wahlder lives in Dallas, TX, with her fiancé Michael, “bonus daughter” Zoe, and Portuguese water dog Moses.

You can visit Michele online at http://www.lifepossibilities.com/
http://www.alphatudes.com/

EXCERPT:

“As we choose to practice gratitude over a period of time, we are able to significantly increase our personal range of happiness.”

Becoming truly appreciative of our lives requires us to replace our negative, limiting thoughts with positive, affirming words that strengthen our feeling of optimism. Language is one of the primary ways we perceive and understand our world and one of the key tools we rely on to connect to others. Each word we use has an emotional charge that either nurtures our well-being or creates a sense of discord within our essence.

Alphatudes: The Alphabet of Gratitude helps us become aware of how our vocabulary forms the language through which we experience our lives. When we consciously choose to use words of gratitude to describe our human journey and the world we live in, we assume responsibility for our own happiness.

We often exert our energy—physically, emotionally and intellectually—to obtain more of what we think we want and need to make us happy. Our society bombards us with messages that reinforce the notion that we are deficient in some way and desperately need to upgrade ourselves and our lifestyles. Eventually, many of us succumb to the seductive “new and improved” marketing strategies that are so pervasive in our culture, resulting in the mistaken belief that if we could only have a particular thing, circumstance or relationship, we would then be happy and fulfilled.

This belief that our happiness is contingent upon something outside of ourselves keeps us in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction.

By relying on the equation If only _____, then I would be happy, we actually strengthen the inaccurate perception that we are not enough: If only I lost weight, had fewer wrinkles, made more money, had more confidence . . . then I would be happy. We keep postponing our happiness, waiting for “one day” when we will have achieved all that we falsely believe makes us worthy of fully enjoying our lives. The problem is that “one day” rarely comes; and if it does, the pleasure derived from our accomplishment is usually fleeting as we quickly set our sights on our next “happiness goal.”

Through the conscious practice of gratitude, we are able to find within ourselves a deep well of joyful appreciation for what we already have. The Hebrew term for the word “gratitude” is hakarat ha’tov, literally translated as “recognizing the good.” When we recognize and focus on the good in our lives, we are making the choice to embrace the sweetness of life and live fully aware of our divine abundance. When we take time to be grateful for our daily bounty, we begin to feel a warm, enveloping sense of appreciation. This is the essence of gratitude.

My Review:

The subtitle says "The Alphabet of Gratitude" which really made me interested in the book. It shares 26 spiritual lessons that are focused on how we can use gratitude to understand the lesson using the alphabet. For example, "F" is for "Forgiveness," and Michele shows how we can be gratelful for Forgiveness. Michele's use of prayer, affirmation statements, and the way she eloquently discusses each alphatude shows how to practice gratitude, rather than just pointing out that you should be grateful.

This book would make a great gift for someone, as well as a treat for you. I find it very uplifting and very spiritual. Alphatudes is one of those books you will want to sit and reflect upon again and again. It offers an important reminder to be thankful for all that comes our way.

* I was sent this book from Pump Up Your Book Promotions to give an honest review and was not paid for my review *