Returning to her hometown in 2008, after nearly one year spent, unsuccessfully, trying to create a new career in a new town, Deborah Hawkins found herself fighting depression and struggling to maintain solvency. In her early fifties, looking for financial help from her family was especially hard. A car accident, caused by an uninsured driver, kept her off her feet for months. She felt cursed. She began blogging on gratitude in 2010 as a way to focus on positives and elevate her mood. Inspired by Eckhart Tolle's words, "Acknowledging the good that is already in your life is the foundation for all abundance," she developed a mindfulness orientation for her own gratitude practice. This practice led her to post weekly over the last decade; around 500 posts. Beyond traditional gratitude journals and lists, Deborah's approach focuses on understanding things that sparked gratitude in past experiences and using this understanding to identify similar qualities in new situations.

She attributes her gratitude practice with bringing a sense of empowerment and contentment to her life. She plans to make her process available as a teleseminar in the near future. Deborah has a BA from Knox College and lives in Chicago.