A Simple Act of Gratitude: How Learning to Say Thank You Changed My Life Paperback – Bargain Price, December 27, 2011

365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My LifeI 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 nervous and somewhat uncomfortable during the interview. I threw caution to the wind and decided to order the book since I'm working on my own gratitude thing."...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 that 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, crappy 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."After a nature hike on New Year's Day after he listens to his inner voice, Kralik takes on 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 and so on. 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."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.

This was such a great book! I was so engrossed in it I actually was shocked when I read the last line that it was already over. Thank you, John, for writing and sharing your gratitude journey with us. I appreciate you.

I’m kind of surprised I am giving this 5 stars, but this book and it’s contents are so valuable and it is so simply written that I finished it in two days. There was a lot to relate to even though I am significantly younger than John. There is a lot to look up to and there is a lot that I took with a grain of salt (or rather scoffed at and saw some contradictions). But, I also see the human behind the words and can accept any flaws I see and chalk it up to another human trying to find good in a dark place. Very inspiring and I so appreciate the portrayal of good acts bringing good into the world (outside of oneself as well as to oneself). Thank you for this book and thank you for the lessons it holds. Now it’s my turn to write thank yous and be more grateful.

The author, John Kralik, practiced law in L.A. for 30 years before being appointed to Judge of the LA Superior Court. This is a non-fiction story. It was New Year's Day 2007. Kralik was 52 years old, was lost and falling. His small law practice was "losing money, losing cases and losing its lease." A major client refused to pay and another was suing him. He lived in a small stuffy apartment with "ancient" air conditioning and slept on an air mattress on the floor. His savings were gone. He was paying mortgages or rent for three households and couldn't afford one. He was divorced once and involved in a protracted 2nd divorce. He had a young daughter and 2 sons from his first marriage. He had grown distant from his two sons. His girlfriend Grace, just left him a few days earlier unexpectedly - tiring of coming second to his children and his yet-to-be unraveled 2nd marriage. He was overweight and asthmatic."It was New Year's Day. There was new growth all around. It was time to make new resolutions. It was time for change. I had felt this way before, of course; at fifty-two, I had a lot of unfulfilled New Year's resolutions. But this year not only was I a loser at what I was doing, I also didn't want to do it anymore. I wanted to do something more meaningful with my life. I wanted to be more than just another lawyer slinging hatred for a living."During this time of despair and darkness, he saw some light (I won't spoil it)...and he was inspired to take on a project to write 365 thank yous during 2007. And the story takes you through the next 15 months.Kralik didn't leave his law practice and find utopia. It wasn't a straight path out to light. The process of sending the Thank You notes led him to redemption, reconciliation and eventually peace. He ground it out finding all of his blessings in his family, in his work, in his friends and in the every day little things that we are often not grateful for. This was an inspiring story which does "encourage, inspire and reaffirm the value and healing power of gratitude."While I found the book to be inspiring and I would recommend it, I did find it a bit clinical in its delivery. When Kralik describes his relationship with his daughter, it comes alive. When he speaks about a friend struggling with cancer, you can feel the pain. Yet, he is more guarded in bringing detail and color to other matters more personal to him. For example, he asks himself, "What was the common denominator in all of the failed relationships? Me." Yet, no additional color is added. There were a number of other instances where I felt that he could have drawn me closer to his life and story.That being said, this is Kralik's first book. His work, his writing and his story are exceptional. And be sure to read through the Appendices where Kralik explains that the process of writing thank you notes was not a self-help system or a "new psychological method to delude himself into believing that his life is better than it really is. He goes on to say that "writing thank you notes is a good thing to do and makes the world a better place. It also made me a better man. More than success or material achievement." He's accomplished his mission.

Though it might sound perverse to say a book written about a point in his life that the author discribeds as as having hit rock bottom, Kralik does not wallow in self-pity but use humour and honesty to describe growth. It’s pleasing to read a book that doesn’t prescribe a fix, deadlines or panacea but remains awe-inspiring to the point of action.Definitely recommend reading this book to those who want more gratitude in their lives.

Take the time to absorb and understand where the author is coming from. Try and do 10% of what he did. MANY things will turn around for you. I would give it "7 stars" if I could.

Although at certain points the book seemed like a drag, it turned out to be life changing by the time I was done reading it. I love it for the impact that it had on me as it certainly brought about a positive change in my life ♥️

Everyone should read this book, it enlightens u to the importance of gratitude and the profound impact it has on others. Gratitude is becoming a lost art and this was a special read which has changed my day to day dealings.

読みやすいです。シンプルです。よく The Secret 等の本で言われている、感謝を持って毎日を生きる、ということを具体的に日常でどう落としこみたいか、知りたい場合は、この本をお勧めします。私は頭の中では、例えば、毎日感謝する事５つ書く、とかわかっていても、実践しても、全然モチベーションが上がりません。ただ、この本を読んだ後は、本当の意味でわかりました。そういう、本です。