{"id":8022,"date":"2017-08-22T11:18:47","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T18:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lifeandhealth.wordifysites.com\/?p=7604"},"modified":"2021-09-29T13:04:48","modified_gmt":"2021-09-29T20:04:48","slug":"two-words-that-can-change-your-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/lifestyle\/two-words-that-can-change-your-life\/118022.html","title":{"rendered":"Two Words That Can Change Your Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

When his life hit rock bottom, John Kralik took on an unlikely and unintuitive project: writing thank-you notes day after day. Carol Hefernan shares the miraculous results of John\u2019s year-long mission \u2013 and how this simple act of gratitude could change your life too.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

A few years ago, 53-year-old John Kralik was feeling hopeless, frustrated, and unsatisfied with his life. His second marriage had failed, his law firm was going under, and his relationships with his two grown sons were strained at best. It was, as Kralik describes it, an \u201cextreme low place.\u201d<\/p>\n

But on January 1, 2008, something happened that propelled his priorities, his outlook \u2013 his life \u2013 in a new direction.<\/p>\n

While on a hike in the mountains outside Los Angeles, Kralik sensed a voice saying:
\nUntil you learn to be grateful for the things you have, you will not receive the things you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kralik couldn\u2019t make sense of the voice, but he couldn\u2019t dismiss it either.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt I wanted and needed a lot of things, and at the time I didn\u2019t think I had a lot to be grateful for,\u201d he says. \u201cI didn\u2019t think I had the worst life on the planet, but I had a life that was very unsatisfactory to me, and I couldn\u2019t understand why it was all turning out that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then Kralik had an idea. Maybe he could become more grateful by writing more thank-you notes \u2013 a practice his grandfather had taught him as a child. Maybe this simple act could jump start the change in perspective he so desperately needed.<\/p>\n

So he did what many of us do at the new year: he made a resolution. But his resolution was not a common one. Every day for the next 365 days, he would send a brief handwritten note to express appreciation to the people in his life.<\/p>\n

Kralik started with a note to thank his oldest son for a Christmas gift, and that\u2019s when things began to get interesting.<\/p>\n

A phone call to ask his son for his mailing address prompted a long overdue visit. Encouraged by this renewed relationship, Karlik went on to send thank-you notes to friends, colleagues, clients \u2013 even the server at his favorite coffee shop.<\/p>\n

Before long, Kralik sensed an internal shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, I noticed that I started answering the question of \u2018How are you?\u2019 differently,\u201d says Kralik. \u201cI had been answering with kind of a hangdog look or by saying, \u2018I\u2019m hanging in there\u2019 or \u201cNot very well,\u2019 then I\u2019d launch into my latest problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that point, my life hadn\u2019t really turned around in any major way. But one day I noticed that I was answering the question saying, \u2018Well I made payroll last week,\u2019 or \u2018My 7-year-old daughter got all As on her report card.\u2019 I was pointing to something good that had happened. Then I began to think, Wow, my outlook has changed.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

That was only the beginning. As Kralik more wrote thank-you notes, outstanding loans were repaid, relationships with old friends were rekindled, and day-to-day stresses didn\u2019t seem quite so overwhelming.<\/p>\n

In hopes of inspiring others to recognize the good in their own lives, Kralik, now a judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court, wrote a book about his experience titled 365 Thank You Notes: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Gratitude: A Way of Life<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When it comes to reaping the benefits of practicing gratitude, Kralik is not alone.<\/p>\n

Researchers have found that people who consistently give thanks experience better physical and psychological health. They also tend to be more productive, sociable, and energetic, and less susceptible to depression, anxiety, and anger.<\/p>\n

In short, to become happier and healthier, cultivate the virtue of gratitude by focusing more on what you have going for you than what you lack.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sending thank-you notes, offering sincere words of thanks, giving little gifts, surprising a loved one with a kind gesture \u2013 extending gratitude to others \u2013 will only serve to strengthen an attitude of appreciation.<\/p>\n

Psychologists Robert Emmons of UC Davis and Michael McCullough of the University of Miami discovered that practicing gratitude can increase happiness by around 25 percent. What\u2019s more, those who keep weekly gratitude journals \u2013 writing about positive things in everyday life \u2013 had fewer aches and pains, exercised more, had a better outlook on life, and were more likely to reach their goals.<\/p>\n

Why Not Say Thanks?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

So, with all the benefits, what prevents us from being more grateful?<\/p>\n

According to Kralik, part of the problem is that we are bombarded by entertainment, information, worries, and pressures. \u201cIn our society, we\u2019re always encouraged to want more and more without taking the time to treasure what we already have. \u201c<\/p>\n

We also need to be aware of obstacles to our gratitude. Obstacles like stress, paying too much attention to negative news around us, and postponing our thanksgiving until circumstances stabilize or improve (let\u2019s face it, life doesn\u2019t always happen according to plan, so you can\u2019t wait for perfect conditions).<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever been stuck in a rut of negativity, blame, or comparison, you know it can be difficult and even irritating to look on the bright side. Yet surprisingly, research shows adversity can actually boost feelings of gratitude, since hard times can alter perspective.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is this: Life is full of choices, and while it may seem easier to fall into negativity, cultivating a sense of gratitude leads to a happier, more fulfilling life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAssess the good that you have and really notice and treasure it,\u201d Kralik says. \u201cIf you do, those parts of your life become richer because you\u2019re appreciating them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Reprinted with permission from Vibrant Life Magazine.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Carol Heffernan is a wife and mother who was inspired to write a few thank-you notes of her own after interviewing John Kralik. She writes from Oshkosh, Wisconsin.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read “10 Tips For Writing the Perfect Thank-you Note<\/a>“.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo by\u00a0Annie Spratt<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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When his life hit rock bottom, John Kralik took on an unlikely and unintuitive project: writing thank-you notes day after day. Carol Hefernan shares the miraculous results of John\u2019s year-long mission \u2013 and how this simple act of gratitude could change your life too.\u00a0 A few years ago, 53-year-old John Kralik was feeling hopeless, frustrated,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":8078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,2,5],"tags":[200,182,441],"thb-sponsors":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-8022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-emotional-health","category-lifestyle","category-relationships-community","tag-emotional-health-2","tag-mind-body-spirit","tag-thankful","post_format-post-format-image"],"acf":[],"views":407,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8022"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8079,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8022\/revisions\/8079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8022"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thb-sponsors?post=8022"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=8022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}