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365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life
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One recent December, at age 53, John Kralik found his life at a terrible, frightening low: his small law firm was failing; he was struggling through a painful second divorce; he had grown distant from his two older children and was afraid he might lose contact with his young daughter; he was living in a tiny apartment where he froze in the winter and baked in the summer; h
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Hardcover, 240 pages
Published
December 28th 2010
by Hachette Books
(first published 2010)
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Start your review of 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life

I have a strange personal connection with this book. Living in LA and having worked in law for over 25 years, I just so happened to know one of the author's friends who passed away. So it was quite weird to read this book, having somewhat randomly bought it for my kindle, and then to read about Paul, an attorney I worked for who had such grace and courage in the face of cancer. I was working for him when he was first diagnosed and we had a few long and deep talks while he took the journey so man
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what a goofy little book. i put this on hold at my local library after reading a favorable review in "book page," so i had not actually seen the book in person before i picked it up. i was surprised to find that it is very tiny. i mean, it's an average length of pages for a hardcover book (about 250), but the dimensions of the book are wee, which made me feel like i was reading one of those embarrassing gift books you get from, like, your uncle, who picked it up from the remainder bin at the air
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Ah, Goodreads, I don't understand you. The cover picture above matches the cover of the book I hold in my hands (or, rather, have sitting by my laptop) but the edition listed says you are an ebook. Sigh. (And I did try to change editions, but it was a cyber fail. Sigh, again.) But, on to the review. . . .
I bought this book at the airport terminal because a) I forgot to bring something to read on the plane and b) it was the smallest, and therefore, the lightest, book on the rack (not an inconsequ ...more
I bought this book at the airport terminal because a) I forgot to bring something to read on the plane and b) it was the smallest, and therefore, the lightest, book on the rack (not an inconsequ ...more

I stumbled across this book at the library. I am a writer of thank you notes but my practice is not consistent. I thought this book would be interesting. What I found, was a very uplifting book that I couldn't put down. I read it in a single day even while making mental notes of thank-yous I should write and the many blessings in my life that often go unnoticed.
Kralik's project was a simple one, write 365 thank-you notes over the course of a year. He conceived this project at a particularly low ...more
Kralik's project was a simple one, write 365 thank-you notes over the course of a year. He conceived this project at a particularly low ...more

A great read! Pay-it-forward takes on a whole new meaning here. One man's quest to turn a series of misfortunes around starts with a little inspiration from a voice in his head. The power of saying, "thank you," has lost it's value in today's society. The author, John Kralik, finds new meaning in life and to life as well as contentment he'd not experienced prior to embarking on this task he'd set for himself.
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Life ever kick you in the head? Wonder why the neighbor’s seemingly have it better than you? Down on your luck and just can’t find the right focus? Welcome to John Kralik’s life and times and enjoy the simple solutions and viewpoint he came to adopt to change his life around. I loved this book, I like the time of year it is released( release date is 12/28/2010), and I totally grooved on his newfound perspective. Check out the synopsis:
“One recent December, at age 53, John Kralik found his life a ...more
“One recent December, at age 53, John Kralik found his life a ...more

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. John Kralik’s easy-going writing style grabs the reader’s attention from page one and holds it as he describes his Thank You Note Project in an extremely honest and engaging way. John doesn’t write thank you notes to people without finding real heartfelt reasons to be grateful, and yet he manages to almost keep a pace of one thank you note per day. The very act of taking time to hand-write the thank you notes, along with the gratitude that fi
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The idea is great- writing thank you notes to express gratitude. I became pretty sick of the book by about page 80 or so because it felt like the message was: "write note= great things happened in my life, therefore everyone else should do this and good things will happen in their life too." Thankfully a little later in the book it did say that bad things still happened in his life but by being grateful for what he had in his life and the people who loved and supported him, he was able to handle
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365 Thank Yous has one major thing going for it: it makes you want to be nicer to the people you love. Gratitude is, of course, always good and so are thank you notes. I appreciated John Kralik’s effort to turn his life around, and his effort to spread kindness is honorable.
Unfortunately one aspect of 365 left me wanting. Truthfully, it is the same problem that I have with most books of this kind. How do you write a self-help memoir without making yourself sound pompous and like a know-it-all?? ...more
Unfortunately one aspect of 365 left me wanting. Truthfully, it is the same problem that I have with most books of this kind. How do you write a self-help memoir without making yourself sound pompous and like a know-it-all?? ...more

John Kralik decides to write 365 thank you notes after having one of the worst years of his life, and he learns how to turn his life around. No, his life doesn't magically get better, but because he starts thanking people for even the simplest of things (the Starbucks barista for remembering his name, his daughter for bringing joy to his life, etc.), his outlook on life changes, too. I had recently been considering a gratitude journal of some type, but I think that after reading this book, I may
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a lovely thought provoking book. So many people have seen me read this on the bus and stopped to ask about it. my world is richer because I read it. Thanks Mom for passing this on.

This is a charming book and a perfect read for the week of Thanksgiving. In his mid-50s, John Kralik is feeling low. His legal firm is failing, he's broke, twice divorced, living in a grungy apartment, estranged from his sons, overweight, plagued by annoying health problems, and his girlfriend has dumped him.
But one day he receives a thank-you note. It's an epiphany for Mr. Kralik. He realizes how few times in his life he's ever thanked anyone and how little a role gratitude has played in his li ...more
But one day he receives a thank-you note. It's an epiphany for Mr. Kralik. He realizes how few times in his life he's ever thanked anyone and how little a role gratitude has played in his li ...more

You can tell that author John Kralik honed his writing skills by completing his 365 thank yous project. His writing is as delightful, as sincere, and as brief as a good thank you note should be. He does not delve deeply into the human psyche, he does not preach a gospel of gratitude as a means to self help - he simply tells the story of how being more mindful of the things he should be grateful for, and the act of writing thank you notes for every day kindnesses that would otherwise have gone un
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This book was very simple. A man going through a mid-life crisis decides to write thank you notes and in the process finds that he has a lot to be thankful for. He finds that he has never written a thank you note for Christmas presents, bday gifts, etc. How amazing! I didn't feel connected at all because I was taught to always write a thank you note in appreciation for the thought in the gift picking process and for the gift itself. It's nice to see he gained an appreciation for life through a s
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Every once in awhile, a little book comes along that has the potential to be a life-changing book. This is such a book. It should be required reading for everyone, especially lawyers. The art of the handwritten thank you note is a lost one. Cursive is not really even emphasized in most schools anymore. More important than the note itself, is the feeling that accompanied the note writing and how that changed John's perspective and circumstances. This is a gem of a book that I will remember for a
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I believe that every human being is a child of God. I believe He loves us and knows us individually. I believe He has things He'd like to tell us--each one of us--to help us and our families through the challenges of this life. I believe that when we make an effort to show Him we are listening, to calm our thoughts, to seek Him and/or a good direction, He will not leave us hanging. At those moments we feel Him near us...because He IS near us. He always has been, only now we're listening and we c
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Mar 27, 2012
loretta
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone
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I just finished 'A Simple Act of Gratitude'. What a treasure this little 236 page book is! For the past 2 years I have focused with greater intent on living a life of thankfulness and gratitude, so this book joins a few other of my favorites on this topic.
John Kralik was not in a thankful state of mind when, while on a walk in the woods a voice spoke to him and said, "until you learn to be grateful for the thinks you have, you will not receive the things you want." In his own words,his life was ...more
John Kralik was not in a thankful state of mind when, while on a walk in the woods a voice spoke to him and said, "until you learn to be grateful for the thinks you have, you will not receive the things you want." In his own words,his life was ...more

I liked it (hey, Mikey...!) I heard NPR's interview with John Kralik, was intrigued, and purchased the book for my kindle. There were several take-aways and I will attempt to share them below.
1. Isn't it wonderful where life takes us when we are open? In the back of his mind, he always wanted to write a book. Judging from where he was in his life, I think it is safe to say he never would have set out to write a book about gratitude or the power that lies within. But, he did and his live is diffe ...more
1. Isn't it wonderful where life takes us when we are open? In the back of his mind, he always wanted to write a book. Judging from where he was in his life, I think it is safe to say he never would have set out to write a book about gratitude or the power that lies within. But, he did and his live is diffe ...more

I read this book in one day. That is extremely rare for me since I am a relatively slow reader. I was pulled in from the first page and and enjoyed it to the end.
In the late 80's I went through a similar though less dramatic transformation when I learned to thank God in all circumstances.
1 Thessalonians 5:17-19
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench the Spirit
I had filled my head and ...more
In the late 80's I went through a similar though less dramatic transformation when I learned to thank God in all circumstances.
1 Thessalonians 5:17-19
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench the Spirit
I had filled my head and ...more

A thoughtful book from an ungrateful man who learned gratitude through the act of writing Thank You notes.
This is not a mushy, gushy read that will have you wiping your eyes pretending there is something caught in them. It is a straight forward story of a man who was at the end of this rope, feeling like a failure, not sure if life was worth continuing who decided to try one thing only because it couldn't hurt.
Kralik was a lawyer who is now a Supreme Court Judge. He is not prone to mushiness; qu ...more
This is not a mushy, gushy read that will have you wiping your eyes pretending there is something caught in them. It is a straight forward story of a man who was at the end of this rope, feeling like a failure, not sure if life was worth continuing who decided to try one thing only because it couldn't hurt.
Kralik was a lawyer who is now a Supreme Court Judge. He is not prone to mushiness; qu ...more

John Kralik hit an all time low. His law practice is not doing well, his second marriage has failed, and he lives in a crappy apartment. He has a lovely girlfriend Grace, who has just ended their relationship right around Christmas. John asked her if he could give her the gift he bought her and she agreed. On New Year's Day, while hiking, it is almost as though a voice is telling him to write some thank you's. He receives a lovely thank you note from Grace which fits in perfectly with his new re
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I was disappointed in this book. I guess I just had too high of hopes for it. Yes, I will try to write more thank you notes but not entirely from reading this book. My hope was that I would see more letters and a little less story telling. There were times in the book I found myself skimming past some parts to get to somthing more interesting.
Not a book I would recommend based on the fact that I had trouble staying interested. It was however a fast read and might really hit another person. It s ...more
Not a book I would recommend based on the fact that I had trouble staying interested. It was however a fast read and might really hit another person. It s ...more

What a wonderful journey of discovery! Seeing how John's life changed during the course of the year was amazing. I have always believed in the power of writing a thank you note and I do it often. It has inspired me to look deeper at what I write thank yous for. There are things I miss. Using something to keep track is a good idea. I could see keeping a thank you journal rather than a spreadsheet like John did. But it definitely would be personal preference. I found the book by chance walking thr
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I loved this memoir. A needed reminder that we will be happier if we are grateful for the all the people, things, opportunities etc in our lives. Taking a few minutes daily to reflect on whom we can thank and then writing them a thank you note will bring peace to our hearts and uplift someone else as well. As I read this book, I realized that I could probably (and need to) write many many thank you notes of my own.

Really a charming little book, quite inspirational. I'm committed to making the same effort as the author, to write 365 thank-you notes. He didn't get them all done in a year--took him 15 months--and I might not get them done in a year, either, but that's what I'm shooting for.
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“Then I heard a voice: "Until you learn to be grateful for the things you have," it said, "you will not receive the things you want.”
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“If the voice I'd heard in the mountains had implied that I would get all that I wanted, it seemed, at least at this juncture, that it was a promise unfulfilled. Yet, by being thankful for what I had, I realized that I had everything I needed.”
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