When you visit an attraction, be it an aquarium, park, museum or somewhere between, you often exit through a stroll through the gift shop.

Award winning author and journalist Peter Lovenheim is connecting items from the shop to the practice of gratitude with his new book, “Gift Shop of Gratitude: A Journal to Explore the Journey of Your Life.”

“What I realized after being required to exit through gift shops in almost every tourist attraction I visited in recent years is that a gift shop can be a metaphor,” said Lovenheim. “The specific items that are sold in gift shops all over the world can symbolize particular things that we’re grateful for in our lives.”

Lovenheim’s book also functions as a journal that is filled with prompts. These prompts encourage readers to remember and write down the specific things they are grateful for in their lives.

“My hope is that when people fill out the journal part of the book, they will create a family keepsake for children and grandchildren and everyone that they love, which will say in effect, ‘this is who I am’,” said Lovenheim.

For more information about the book, visit Peter’s website by clicking here.