365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

John Kralik (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 2010

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; he was 40 pounds overweight; his girlfriend had just broken up with him; and overall, his dearest life dreams—including hopes of upholding idealistic legal principles and of becoming a judge—seemed to have slipped beyond his reach.

Then, during a desperate walk in the hills on New Year’s Day, John was struck by the belief that his life might become at least tolerable if, instead of focusing on what he didn’t have, he could find some way to be grateful for what he had.

Inspired by a beautiful, simple note his ex-girlfriend had sent to thank him for his Christmas gift, John imagined that he might find a way to feel grateful by writing thank-you notes. To keep himself going, he set himself a goal—come what may—of writing 365 thank-you notes in the coming year.

One by one, day after day, he began to handwrite thank yous—for gifts or kindnesses he’d received from loved ones and coworkers, from past business associates and current foes, from college friends and doctors and store clerks and handymen and neighbors, and anyone, really, absolutely anyone, who’d done him a good turn, however large or small. Immediately after he’d sent his very first notes, significant and surprising benefits began to come John’s way—from financial gain to true friendship, from weight loss to inner peace. While John wrote his notes, the economy collapsed, the bank across the street from his office failed, but thank-you note by thank-you note, John’s whole life turned around.

365 Thank Yous is a rare memoir: its touching, immediately accessible message—and benefits—come to readers from the plainspoken storytelling of an ordinary man. Kralik sets a believable, doable example of how to live a miraculously good life. To read 365 Thank Yous is to be changed.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Kralik was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and attended the University of Michigan for college and law school. He practiced law for thirty years, and was a partner in the law firms of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, Miller Tokuyama Kralik & Sur, and Kralik & Jacobs. In 2009, he was appointed a judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court. He lives in the Los Angeles area.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (December 28, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401324053
• ISBN-13: 978-1401324056
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 107 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One man's year of living thankfully, November 24, 2010

By 

N. B. Kennedy (Hopewell, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

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 life.

Armed with that knowledge, and a huge stack of stationery, he begins to write thank-you notes. He writes personal messages of gratitude to almost anyone you could imagine: from his sons, colleagues and old friends, to his ex-wife, the building superintendent and the guy who serves him at Starbucks.

Mr. Kralik finds that the act of expressing thanks changes not only him, but his circumstances as well. He doesn't exactly call it karma, but the goodwill he engenders seems to reverse the trajectory of his life. He even finds himself literally at the door of a church (after a bad fall while running) and he decides to go in, regularly. I suspect that had something to do with his turnaround as well.

I guess once Scott Turow picked up a pen, we all realized attorneys can write more than legal briefs. Mr. Kralik writes lovely sentences and abounds in the small observations that make a story ring true. He explores how the act of writing thank-yous is to him what meditation or yoga might be to another person. His relationships blossom and he delights in the company of others, especially his young daughter.

In the end, Mr. Kralik realizes: "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." And that's a great lesson for all of us to learn -- Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspired me to write thank you notes myself!, December 14, 2010

By 

Jill Florio "Reuse, reduce, recycle!" (Verde Valley, Arizona) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life (Hardcover)

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I enjoyed the premise of this memoir - that no matter how down and out your circumstances, you can still find ways to be grateful. When John Kralik decides to look for the good, he resolves to pen a thank you note each day to someone who has touched him.

I chuckled at the 'extreme thank yous' where John reaches out to thank Starbucks employees, hairdressers and doormen. After all, 365 is a lot of notes to write, and once you get past thanking people for the obvious big things, then even the little moments become thank you fodder. And not surprisingly, the people who received these notes were very moved by them. It just takes one person to notice a kindness and make someone's day special.

Shortly after the author started sending his notes, good things started to ripple into his life. This is like another version of The Secret (which Kralik does reference), whereby what you focus on, you draw to you. Not every problem in his life fades away; this isn't a fairy tale. But enough positive events occur to make one want to emulate the author.

I appreciated that John was able to take the pressure off himself to do a note a day, and simply plods on to reach his 365 note mark. He realized the importance was in the writing itself, and not in an arbitrary timeline.

Unfortunately the story ends - as too many memoirs do - abruptly. John's story just stops in the middle of his narrative. I gather ending a memoir is probably the hardest part of writing your own story...after all, there is still life to be lived. But still, a lackluster resolution leaves a funny taste in the reader's mouth.

Despite the subdued, sudden ending, I was inspired to start my own "year" of writing thank you notes. I bought a calendar to mark each day and to whom I thanked. I realize it will be a hard task, but I think it is a worthwhile one (I am up to 33 thank yous!).

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-written "tale" of a simple step to heal your life. Thank YOU, Mr. Krulik!, November 26, 2010

By 

Miss Darcy (New England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life (Hardcover)

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This is a fantastic book and perfect to inspire some New Year's resolutions. The premise is simple: the author, down on his luck despite the outward appearance of success (i.e., he heads his own law firm), decides to spend the new year writing one sincere thank you note a day.

Some days it's harder to be grateful than others, and he ends up thanking the young man who remembers his name at Starbucks, the doctor who told him to stop drinking, his sons (for a gift and for repaying a loan), his employees (who begin to send each other thank-you notes), and so forth. And while this occurs, even through the tough days (which don't evaporate, of course), he finds that his outlook completely changes. His relationships with others deepen. Old wounds begin to heal. He finds that he does have much to offer the world. He realizes that things he's been stewing over as misfortunes really were blessings in disguise.

Here's an example. Ten years earlier, he went through corrective surgery that left him feeling traumatized. Yet as he focuses on gratitude, he is suddenly able to view the experience in a whole new way: "Here was yet another example of how I always viewed my life's troubles as a series of tragedies, which I survived only due to my Job-like patience and my Jesus-like goodness. I should have been waking up every day of the past ten years with gratitude" (because the pain that kept him up nights is gone). He sends the surgeon a thank-you note and (as often happens) receives a grateful reply for the acknoweldegment.

The book contains just a few of the actual notes, interwoven with the author's narration. The balance is just right. As readers watch him reconnect with old friends and family, they will surely be inspired to grab a pen and notebook---or a Facebook message---and send out a few (or many!) overdue thank-yous of their own.

Bottom line: It's a fantastic story, told in an unsentimental, highly accessible, down-to-earth fashion that's easy to read. This is truly a book to keep on the bedside table and to hand copies out to friends. Thank you, Mr. Krulik, very much.