In this guide about the importance of extending thanks and creating actions that inspire gratitude, the author tells the story of his late wife. After a fall broke her hip and left her disabled, the couple began to notice the eagerness and almost automatic way that many strangers wanted to lend a simple hand. At the same time, it made each instance where someone acted thoughtlessly and selfishly all the more apparent. Using that as inspiration, this book contains some personal experiences and some thought exercises to help the reader be more thankful for the help they receive and also foster the desire to help others whenever possible. With the aim of bringing people together and engendering a sense of cooperation and support, this book will give readers a reason to think more about these two simple words that we use all the time.

Introspective books like this tend to urge the reader to incorporate some major change in thinking or doing in their life, but this book stands out for wanting to increase mindfulness of something that people tend to do already and automatically. That small difference is likely to change the way readers approach the information here, perhaps making them more willing to make a subtle change than a drastic one. The book itself is brief, easy to read, and does a good job of balancing the author’s history and his own experiences as examples of the concepts he introduces. Approachable and quickly digested, this book contains the kind of information that stays with the reader long after reading it and will likely influence one’s behavior in a positive, non-intrusive way.

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