365 THANK-YOUs (Part 2)

If you haven’t read Part 1, you may want to begin there first:
https://livinginnocently.com/blogs/living-innocently/365-thank-yous

In Part 1, we saw John Kralik, a lawyer and divorcee, standing at the edge of a difficult year—financially strained, emotionally worn down, and lost. Facing a crisis on all fronts, he remembered his grandfather who taught him decades ago that thankfulness multiplies goodness. And so, he made a counterintuitive decision: to write one thank-you note each day for a year.

Part 2 shows what happened to his life when he put the idea of 365 thank-yous into practice.

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THE FIRST THANK-YOU NOTE

Not knowing where to begin, as his life sucked all around him, John started with what was in front of him.

Among the Christmas gifts he had received—despite how bleak 2007 had been—one stood out: a single-cup coffee maker from his elder son. On January 3, 2008, he wrote his first thank-you note.

It felt awkward. He and his son had grown so distant that John didn’t even have his address. Calling to ask for it led to something unexpected: they decided to meet. Over lunch at an old burger restaurant they used to visit when the kids were young, his son unexpectedly handed him an envelope. Inside was four thousand dollars—money John had once loaned him and long forgotten.

John badly needed the money. The timing felt uncanny. But more than the money, something else had shifted. A relationship had quietly reopened.

Encouraged, he wrote thank-you notes for all the Christmas gifts he had received—something he had never done before—and began tracking them on a simple spreadsheet. Then the doubts crept in.

With 355 notes still to go, he wondered if this was foolish. His law practice was struggling. Money was scarce. Was gratitude just another comforting idea with no real impact?

Still, he kept going.

GRATITUDE IN THE MIDDLE OF STRUGGLE

By February, thank-you notes were going out in all directions—to clients, colleagues, court clerks, and even opposing lawyers. But the external reality hadn’t softened much. His days still ended with fear and frustration.

Yet something subtle began to change.

When people asked, “How are you?” he noticed he answered differently. Instead of leading with his problems, he spoke about what he was grateful for.

Writing the notes, he said, cooled him down. It required him to think about people—their lives, their presence in his own, and what was good. Each note became a small, tangible act of goodness released into the world.

That shift reached his office too. Facing eviction from his office premises, unable to pay bonuses, and struggling to raise a large security deposit, John wrote a heartfelt note to his paralegal, Larina, acknowledging her tireless work. Her reply was deeply moving—full of warmth, encouragement, and faith.

What surprised him most was what followed. Thank-you notes began circulating among the staff. Gratitude, once personal, had quietly become contagious.

THE SMALLEST NOTES MATTERED

As the year went on, John stretched the idea further—what he later called “extreme thank-yous.” One went to Scott, the cheerful Starbucks barista who remembered his name and order. Scott initially thought it was a complaint. Instead, it was a moment of genuine human connection.

That small exchange reminded John that gratitude didn’t have to be reserved for big gestures. It also offered an opportunity to see difficult relationships through a different lens.

After years of separation and unresolved bitterness, John attended his daughter’s birthday party hosted by his ex-wife. The party was thoughtful and joyful. He wrote her a simple note of thanks. He later reflected that while he couldn’t say how it affected her, it undeniably changed something within him. Soon after, they were able to resolve their long-standing mediation.

He also wrote to doctors who had saved his life years earlier—gratitude delayed, but no less sincere. By June, he had written 168 notes. Simply making lists of people to thank revealed something unexpected: how much there truly was to appreciate.

Responses came back in many forms—emails, hugs, handwritten notes. One small note from a woman at his laundry service stayed with him: “Thanks for always being such a wonderful customer.”

GRATITUDE TESTED

Then life pushed back.

The financial crisis of 2008 hit hard. One major client collapsed. The markets fell. His savings shrank. And then came heartbreak—his relationship with Grace, his girlfriend, ended suddenly. She had been the one who wrote him the most thank-you notes.

John later admitted that after the breakup, he stopped writing thank-you notes for two months.

And yet, the practice had already done its quiet work.

Just before Thanksgiving, he received a thank-you note from a pro bono client he had helped decades earlier—prayers and gratitude still alive after all that time. At an office gathering, John spoke honestly about his year and the people who had carried him through it.

By December 2008, he had written 300 notes. His life hadn’t undergone a dramatic turnaround—but his experience of it had transformed. Challenges still lingered, but they no longer unraveled him. And that made all the difference.

In the years that followed, he ran a marathon against all odds, became a judge, rebuilt his finances, moved to a new house, reconnected with old friends—and continued writing thank-you notes. When life overwhelmed him, he returned to his spreadsheet, a quiet record of what had been good.

And of course, this act of writing 365 thank-yous eventually led him to writing the book and invitations to appear on TV shows, where he shared his story of living a grateful life with the world.

INVITATION

Perhaps that’s the invitation here—not to wait for more blessings from life before saying thank you, but to begin anyway. One note. One person. One honest acknowledgment.

You never really know what might open when you start radiating thankfulness and gratitude all around.

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Thanks for reading. 

© 2025 Atul Mathur. All rights reserved. 

Like John Kralik, if you also wish to spread the ripples of gratitude, take a look at these beautiful Thank You & Gratitude cards.