Week 3: Chapter 2 — "A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are"

1.Voskamp confesses she has lived much of her life in "the not yet" — always waiting for conditions to improve before she could be content. How does this future-leaning orientation actually rob us of the present? Can you name a specific way you do this?

2.She writes about the physical beauty of her farm — the way light falls across the fields, the smell of seasons — and suggests that learning to see beauty is a spiritual practice, not an aesthetic preference. What is the connection between attention to beauty and gratitude?

3.The chapter introduces the idea that thanksgiving is an act of the will before it is an emotion — that we choose to give thanks before we feel thankful. How does that sequence challenge or comfort you?