Ep. 66: The Joys Of Habitual Gratitude | with John Israel

John Israel, AKA Mr. Thank You, is on a mission to elevate the level of gratitude on the planet, inspiring 74 million thank-you cards written all over the world.

This all started one morning back in October of 2016, when John woke up to realize that he was, in his own words, “a gratitude salesman who wasn’t very grateful.” John decided to do everything within his power to live a more authentic life, and explore his capacity to experience and express gratitude.

So John writing 5 thank-you cards a day, every day, for a year. The mission transformed his life, family, community, and businesses. His story has been featured on ABC News, Fox News, Popsugar, MarthaStewart.com, and Good Morning America.

Professionally, John is a corporate gifting consultant, where he helps companies and businesses retain clients and appreciate referral partners through high-quality gifts.

John now speaks at business and organizational conferences where he shares his story and inspires people to make gratitude a habit in their lives.

Most recently, John launched his book, The Mr. Thank You Project: A Journey To Elevate The Level Of Gratitude On The Planet, One Card At A Time.

“When do I not want to be grateful, and how can I bring gratitude to that experience?”

In today’s episode, John will expand upon the following thoughts:

• Do all you can to work on your ability to be present in the moment; this makes it possible to notice the gifts right in front of you.
• Gratitude can help you learn to deal with and process your emotions more quickly and effectively, so you can move into a state where you can be your best self.
• If you can say thank you to someone, do it right away. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed; tell them today.

The Biggest Helping: Today’s Most Important Takeaway

“About a month after beginning the Mr. Thank You project, I got a call from my best friend. We had known each other for years, and his parents were practically like my parents. Unfortunately, my friend was calling to tell me that his father had passed away. Not good news, right? No one likes to hear that. What made it worse, though, was that on my desk, sitting in front of me while my friend had called me was a thank-you card that I had written to his dad but had failed to send  because i had gotten “too busy.” It was such a powerful experience, and while I’m not happy that it happened, I’m grateful to have had the experience early on in the Thank You project because what I saw was an urgency to let people know what they mean to me. An urgency to tell people how much they matter. An urgency to forgive people, to ask for forgiveness, to heal relationships, because at the end of someone’s life, one of the most common things that is expressed as a regret is what wasn’t said, conversations they wish they’d had, someone they wish they had forgiven, or what they wish they had expressed.

“By making something like this project a habit, making gratitude a habit, sharing with people what  you love about them, you don’t have to have that regret at the end of your life, because you’ve said everything that you need to say.

“And people ask, ‘what’s the biggest takeaway for this experience for you?’ And my answer is: ‘I said it. I’ve said what I need to say to people. I have no regrets in any of my relationships because I got to complete them. And that is immeasurably valuable.’

If you can say thank you to someone, you should do it. Not tomorrow, but today.”

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Thank you for joining us on The Daily Helping with Dr. Shuster. Subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play to download more food for the brain, knowledge from the experts, and tools to win at life.

Resources:

• Connect with John online at  http://www.MrThankYou.com
• Read his new book, The Mr. Thank You Project
• Hear more about John’s story at his blog:  http://www.JohnIzzy.com
• Twitter: @themrthankyou
• Experience John’s Ted Talk

The Daily Helping is produced by Podcast Masters