365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life, (Hardcover)

I wasn't sure what to expect after I saw John Kralik on Good Morning America in December as he promoted his book. He appeared to be somewhat nervous during the interview. I threw caution to the wind and decided to order the book since I'm working on my own gratitude thing. After reading the book, I now more than understand his nervousness. Keep on reading... "...I discovered that I had been misspelling the word grateful - as greatful - for my entire life. Because I had used the word so infrequently, no one had ever pointed this out." All I can say now is boy am I grateful I purchased this little book!! It is not at all what I had envisioned. I had envisioned a book with 365 thank you notes with an anecdote to follow. What I received instead was John Kralik's personal story of how he was once an angry, 50-something curmudgeon who thought life was handing him one bad thing after another. Woe is me. Kralik finally stopped long enough to hear his inner voice and listen to his heart. As I read this book I would occasionally cringe as Mr. Kralik would note how he had not been grateful in the past, thereby reminding me of times in my past when I should have been more grateful and gone out of my way to thank that person in my life. Thank you for the reminder, John Kralik. I will certainly do better in the future. "Originally, I viewed this difficulty as arising out of the difficulties of my life. Anyone, I had thought, would have found the exercise a challenge if they had had my problems. Yet three hundred notes disproved this premise. The difficulty of the exercise had been caused not only by external problems but by my own ungrateful focus, my materialistic envy and resentment....With the help of my three hundred thank-you notes, I had examined the life I had viewed as perfectly awful and found that it was a lot better than I had been willing to acknowledge. Maybe I was not such as bad person after all." Kralik takes his readers on his personal journey as he finds gratitude and grace in his life. Maybe it was his mid-life crisis? Albeit, this was not your typical 'let me get a sports car and have some fun' kind of mid-life crisis, but a deep and personal crisis. As the story begins almost everything is lost to Kralik, his business is in the tank, he has alienated his two older children, and he has been twice divorced and is living in a temperamental, funky little apartment (you have to read the book) with his young daughter. "To me, it seemed that Scott and I had forged a tiny bit of human warmth in this eroding wasteland." During a nature hike on New Year's Day, Kralik finally takes the time to listen to his inner voice, and then begins the task of writing a thank-you note every day for the next 365 days. As he writes his notes to his children, old friends, doctors, ex-spouses, employees, service people, landlord, the Starbucks guy, etc. he begins to notice a change. He notices that he is suddenly being rewarded with the unexpected; Kralik is being rewarded with kindness, love, respect, and even repayment on outstanding loans. His note writing builds a bridge back to the man John Kralik always wanted to be, not the bitter middle-aged man who tended to place blame on everyone else for the course his life had taken. "This teacher looked at me differently after that. First of all, she remembered me. Whether she had ever looked at me with a skeptical or adverse judgement before that I am not sure, but I am nearly certain that she didn't after that note was written. By noticing how she truly cared about my daughter, I had convinced her that I, too, cared and now we had something special in common." Kralik discovers through his note writing that everything that was good in his life was already in place, he just needed to open his eyes and his heart to see them. Through his thank-you note writing campaign, he was able to rebuild stale relationships and open them up to be bigger and better before. This time Kralik is clear sighted enough to truly appreciate the friendships and other important relationships in his life. By opening himself up to those in his life he was rewarded with the warmth that comes with the deepening of any relationship. This was something new to Kralik, but something he decided he truly appreciated having his his life. "At fifty-three, I knew I as lucky to have such siblings, and I was lucky that all my siblings were alive. Theses were blessings I had seldom noticed until my thank-you note project..." The last thing the author gives to you as his reader is hope. Yes, HOPE! He proves to his readers that it is never too late to turn your life around, and to be grateful for what we do have. Also to respect others and to let others in our own small orbits know that we do see them and we do appreciate them. It appears that gratitude has a snowball effect, by showing someone gratitude they in turn show gratitude...and so on. This is where I will stop and YELL from the top of my lungs to tell you I LOVE the snowball effect! This is also a great story of redemption; we all need redemption at some point in our lives. "Through the process of writing thank-you notes, I had developed a notion of being blessed with grace that was meaningful to me. And I could see this grace and these blessings everywhere--in my sons, daughter, siblings, friends, and colleagues, for just a few of more than a hundred examples--where I had not seen it before." This book had the power to evoke so many emotions. It had me laughing, crying, and cringing! It gave me a sense of sadness, despair, anger, courage, pride and joy for the author. I could see parts of myself in John Kralik as I read the book, and I am grateful that I, too, have been able to find gratitude and grace in my life at this point in my life. This book only reinforces what I have learned over time and sometimes learned the hard way. It also challenges me to be a better me. I may start my own thank-you writing campaign. John Kralik shows great fortitude in writing this book. He lays out his character flaws, problems, and his personal issues to show with the world that there is a way back to yourself. I say kudos to John Kralik for his moxie and thank him for sharing his story so others may learn from his experience.