‘A Simple Act of Gratitude’ has a fascinating premise that catches me by the horns. John Kralik was down on his luck - no matter how you look at it - and he thought he had nothing to lose by starting a 365-day project in which he wrote a thank-you note to someone every day. If you are now thinking of ‘The Happiness Project’ by Gretchen Rubin, you are not alone.
The happiness-boosting benefits of writing gratitude notes for others have been greatly touted, but this was the first time I saw the cause-effect relationship so clearly explained. When John wrote a thank-you note to someone, he naturally focused his attention on something positive in his life - instead of dwelling on all the bad stuff. It seemed to me a feasible way to apply reframing and find the little things to be grateful for. In other instances, he even got more business cases. Apparently, when he wrote thank-you notes to his paying clients, the latter sent him more business because his name was salient at the top of their minds. After all, if you are the only person to write me a thank-you note for paying my bill, I am bound to feel honoured and want to work more closely with you, right?
This is not to say that we should write others thank-you notes with the ‘ulterior motive’ of getting self-gains. But I thought it was very compelling how the process of reaping personal dividends from writing gratitude notes laid out systematically.
So did this book inspire any action on my part? It actually did, for I wrote two thank-you notes to two colleagues this Monday. The funny thing is, I have always been getting my students to write thank-you notes to others but I have seldom done so myself. Now that I see how John’s notes were so short and sweet (averaging four lines), I should make it a point to pen some of these myself, right?
Last but not least, I also picked up some funky words from this book: nadir, variegated & internecine. My English is improving!
#bookstagram #asimpleactofgratitude
