Introducing Spirit of Gratitude: Crises are Opportunities

Until now, books about mindset and gratitude have focused on Millennials and Generation X, early adopters of the emotional wellness movement. 

In this blog post, I’m going to tell you about my new book, one that bucks this trend, focusing on baby-boomers who have retired or are about to retire – a stage of life often overlooked when it comes to personal development.

Spirit of Gratitude: Crises are Opportunities is a must-read for those who have retired, or are approaching retirement, and are disillusioned, disappointed, and depressed about their lives post-work. Those who want to have a second chance at living a life of passion, purpose, and potential. 

My book provides a mind map on how to cope effectively in this new world of apparent disorder. In it I show how external and internal crises are in fact doorways into new opportunities; opportunities that would not have been available to us without a crisis.

Reading an excerpt from his book Spirit Of Gratitude at the book launch

The beginnings of my book

So how did the book come about? Spirit of Gratitude: Crises are Opportunities is the tenth book I’ve written and has taken me just under three years to complete. I started it in earnest back in January 2016, after a 30-day silent retreat in north Wales: in fact, many of the stories in the book came out from that experience.

Initially, I had no intention of actually writing a book. When I went on the silent retreat, I took prolific notes of what I did, what I thought, what I felt, and what I learned from it. Once I had completed the retreat and returned home a changed person, I realised that I had to share my journey with others. 

The first draft of my book was rejected a number of times, and so I left it. About a year later, I went on a week-long self-development course in Canada held by success coach Bob Proctor and I learned how to change my mindset.

To engage with my prospective clients, I decided to write a book on how to do so. But without sharing my failures, my successes, my vulnerable self, I would not succeed in connecting.

A personal story

Spirit of Gratitude: Crises are Opportunities is a very personal book because I reveal a dozen stories of my vulnerable self. It was difficult to write, not because it brought back unhappy memories, which it did, but because I was exposing my vulnerabilities to the world at large, which is a dangerous thing to do. After all, once released you cannot put the genie back in the bottle.

But bringing up unhappy memories helped me to put them to rest, and above all to discover that these experiences, or crises, opened me up to new opportunities, which would not have arisen otherwise.

When I think of the perfect storm that hit my life in 2007 – moving homes, death of my father-in-law, and being diagnosed with bone tumour and given six months to live – this was truly a time of despair. But somehow we survived and today I am so happy and grateful for this time, because it was a wake-up call to look at life as a gift. I now live on bonus time.

Spirit of Gratitude: Crises are Opportunities offers my readers an opportunity to join me on the journey I went on, and in doing so learn and understand how to change their mindset. It also gives them the chance to audit their lives for crises and opportunities and to be grateful for them.

What is the appeal of my book to the baby-boomer generation?

It’s in the fact that retirement is now recognised as a precarious place to be, not simply financially, but also in terms of having a purpose in life, being socially engaged, impact on overall health, and much more. Last but not least, this appeal comes to them from an un-retired baby-boomer.

You might be wondering what those who have already read my book have said about it. Here are a few things that have been said about it:

“Spirit of Gratitude is a profound book clearly written from the heart.”

“George Jerjian speaks with authority, because he speaks from experience..”

“Spirit of Gratitude is an absolute must read!”

“Using his gifts as an entertaining storyteller, George…invites us to seek the silver linings in our life challenges.”

I think it’s time It’s time for baby-boomers to embrace a new mindset – at a stage of life when it’s most needed. And my book, Spirit of Gratitude: Crises are Opportunities can set you on that path, showing how to navigate this new world by focusing only on what you want and desire – and letting go of all other distractions.

If you’d like to buy a copy of my book, you can visit the books section of my website: it is available as an e-book and audio book on Amazon sites worldwide. Why wait? Spirit of Gratitude: Crises are Opportunities could help you to survive, revive, and thrive in a world full of change, chance, and choice.

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Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If you’d like to learn more about my retirement coaching and consultant programs, visit my site at georgejerjian.com or contact me at [email protected].

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