The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life by Janice Kaplan

The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life Reviews

• 
  Ken Montville

  I really tried to like this book but I just couldn't. No matter how much "gratitude" I tried to practice for learning about the author's exploration into the various parts of her life, I just could not relate.
  
  Why?
  
  It is obviously a book written by someone who lives in the highly privileged and rarefied atmosphere of the extremely wealthy. Everything from chatting with Matt Damon about raising grateful kids to interviews with high level academics and bestselling authors is no challenge. It seems a mere phone call or e-mail gets her an immediate audience.
  
  Hopping on a plane to London overnight to meet with some gratitude guru? No problem.
  
  Maybe I'm just a tad bit envious of someone who obviously has plenty of everything preaching to me through the pages of this book about how gratitude can cure what ails me?
  
  Money? No prob. Just be grateful for what you have and life will be so much better.
  Health? Same deal. Whether you have some chronic or acute illness just be grateful you're alive.
  Weight and Body Image? Just take a trip to your local gratitude gym and light a candle and take a deep breath of gratitude before you start to sweat.
  
  There are so many other areas of life that can be enhanced and renewed through the lens of gratitude. Whether you're going through a divorce or just lost your job.
  
  Ironically, the author has all kinds of Debbie Downer friends (who have all married well) that she turns around through her new brighter outlook on like.
  Janice Kaplan is not one to get caught up in the negativity of her friends or co-workers. Au contraire , she is the one to turn them around.
  
  It was just all a bit too saccharine sweet for my taste. I'm sure the rich and famous have their trials and tribulations. I'm sure we could all benefit from having a little more gratitude in our lives. However, if you're looking for a book that can help you instill a little gratitude in your life with some practical tips and ideas, this is definitely not the one.
  
  No, this is the story of a woman who decided, in December, that she was going to flip the switch on her attitude and get some gratitude on January 1st and then segment the year into various life parts (marriage, health, money, job, etc.) and write a nice book about it.
  
  If you're in the upper 5%, this book may be a tad enlightening. If you're a regular schmoe, take a pass. You'll be grateful you did.
• 
  Victoria

  On the off chance that you’re not going to live forever, why not take a shot at being happy now. Charlie from The Newsroom
  
  I consider myself a pretty happy sort and I’m deeply grateful for the life I lead, the gifts I possess, the love of family and friends. But some days I do need a little bit of a push to get to that happy place so I pick up self-help books throughout the year to keep my brain engine in racing form and so it was that I came across this book on audio.
  
  This is a format we’ve all now become familiar with--someone embarking on a year-long journey/habit/project--and in this case, the author vows to practice being more grateful and having a more positive outlook on life. She shares anecdotes in a conversational manner and also peppers the account with scientific evidence to support her claims. This latter isn’t always to my liking, my eyes glaze over when too many studies or statistics are thrown at me, but fortunately, she didn’t always do a deep dive and (mostly) kept me engaged.
  
  Toward the end the message becomes repetitive and I found myself skipping ahead (my spouse calls me the Impatient Buddhist), but I did find her examples and advice enlightening. And I’ve found that what she espouses is true--gratitude and a positive attitude beget more of the same and I do feel happier when I practice what she preaches. I’m not blithely walking around like an idiot, but I am deep down happier and for that, I’ll round up a 3.5 experience to a 4.
  
  One final note. I read a few of the negative reviews about this book and the general theme was ‘she has something to be grateful for because she’s well off, has a family, friends, etc.’ and I was amused by this because they missed the point of the book. Happiness is not dependent on your circumstances, it’s dependent on how you view your circumstances.
  
• 
  Beckyt

  This book looked promising, but I gave up after the first 2 chapters. I guess I am spoiled by reading good writing.
  
  I appreciate the many books on this topic that are crafted better, don't rely on name-dropping, and have been edited appropriately. One of my favorites is The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.
  
  I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to read and appreciate excellent writing in so many other books.
  
  I'm thankful to return this book to the library.
  
  
• 
  Rebecca

  Kaplan undertakes a year-long experiment to see if gratitude can improve every aspect of her life. She draws her information from interviews with researchers and celebrities, quotes from philosophers, and anecdotes from her own and friends’ lives. It’s easy, pleasant reading I’d recommend to fans of Gretchen Rubin. We could all do with a little encouragement to appreciate what we already have. In so many areas of life – finances, career, relationship, even the weather – we’re all too often hoping for more or better than what we are currently experiencing.
• 
  Ashley Sargent

  I love the message this book is presenting and plan on taking some of the ideas and putting them towards my life, but I feel like it was a bit long. There were times where I felt the author was using the book to catalog and almost brag about experiences and people she knows. I see where she was wanting this book to go, but I guess I thought it was going to be a different story. I really enjoy the idea of a gratitude diaries, but I feel as though this may have been better suited for an article or essay.
• 
  Beth Lind

  I’m thankful that I read this book. It prompted me to start my own gratitude journal and the timing could not have been better as we were unknowingly about to experience some challenging health scares. Throughout, finding gratitude was healing and calming.
• 
  Heidi

  I'm almost entirely certain I've never hated a book as much as The Gratitude Diaries. Like many other readers here, I detested the constant name-dropping of celebrities, fancy stores and restaurants, and brands that probably paid for their placement in the book. Janice Kaplan is an affluent Lean-In feminist who writes like she's never met anyone who makes less than a six-figure salary, with a tone of condescension even the most toxic self-help books don't usually seem to manage.
  
  It's not that I think wealth and privilege should automatically discredit an author attempting to write about gratitude. I could probably even handle the way Kaplan flaunts her wealth and connections if the rest of the book had any substance at all—but it doesn't. Between the unrelatable and often cringe-inducing anecdotes in which she spends money, lectures friends and family, and marvels at the greatness of her celebrity acquaintances (at one point, literally even comparing Bill Gates to God), she blends the findings of scientists and researchers with her own musings on human nature, coming to some eyebrow-raising conclusions.
  
  In Chapter 6, she equates the fight or flight response in humans with seeing something cool on a store's shelves and wanting to buy it. How this makes sense is beyond me, but what's clear is that she wants us to believe that our behavior as consumers can be traced back to our development as a species. This type of reasoning is typically employed by evolutionary psychologists, and is very much frowned upon in the science world.
  
  What really bothers me about this is that there are developments in recent history that can perfectly explain how we came to be the anxious consumers we are today. One needs only to look at advertising in the early twentieth century to understand that our motivation to buy things had to be manufactured. To this day, it's the reason why billions are spent on advertising—consumers must be driven to act irrationally. We spend our hard-earned money on increasingly cheap and disposable goods because we're told it'll help with our poor self-esteem, or that it will make our peers like us more. It's not some kind of innate behavior.
  
  In Chapter 7, she appeals to "human nature" again to remind us that anyone, given billions of dollars, would behave as selfishly as billionaires do. This is the point where I decided I was literally just reading propaganda. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn a neoliberal think tank paid her to write this book. We can all benefit from gratitude, but I draw the line at identifying with, excusing, and even worshipping the greed of a class that holds the majority of the world's wealth hostage.
• 
  Sandy Reilly

  Very interesting exploration of gratitude and its role in our lives. Yes, the author shares her own ideas and her year-long experiment with finding gratitude on a daily basis, but she also has done quite a bit of investigating the research being done with gratitude and how it affects our love life, family life, and even personal health. I'm not sure I ca. completely change my outlook as the author has, however I have been inspired to keep a daily gratitude journal, which has definitely helped me to appreciate what I have much more and with eyes wider open.
• 
  Diane

  I'm setting this down for now and will try again later. I got a few chapters in, but couldn't finish. This seems very similar to Gretchen Rubin's "The Happiness Project," except the Rubin book was better written.
  
  Maybe the next time I pick up the Kaplan book I will be more grateful.
• 
  Mary Lou

  In the spirit of the book, I'm grateful to Kaplan's book for reinforcing the importance of appreciating each moment and looking on the bright side.
  
  In the interest of an honest review, this book annoyed the heck out of me. Let's try to keep it pithy and use bullet points:
  
  ~ Kaplan comes across as a nag. Like a former smoker, she can't help but preach rather than just setting a quiet example.
  
  ~Would someone (anyone!) please tell Jill Schwartzman (whom Kaplan names as editor) to sneak over to Kaplan's office (which, I'm sure, surrounds her with trinkets that remind her to be grateful) and remove the 9 and 0 keys (that also contain the parentheses) from her keyboard? If someone had warned me of Kaplan's excessive use of extraneous parenthetical comments, I would have made a drinking game of it. Might have helped me enjoy the book more.
  
  ~ It's really hard to listen to lectures about gratitude from someone with a successful, wealthy husband, two healthy children, a 2nd house in the country, vacations in Europe, etc. Mentioning the guy who whistles while he cleans toilets isn't quite the same -- maybe HE should have written the book.
  
  ~ Let's see.... Matt Damon, Hugh Jackman, Jerry Seinfeld, Barack Obama (swoon!) .... so much name-dropping. Even the Fabulous People whose names I didn't recognize are written about in such a way as to let the reader know that they're successful and wealthy (designer frames on those glasses!) but still somehow manage show gratitude for their success by doing good things for the little people.
  
  ~ Near the end of her "year of gratitude" Kaplan laments that she hadn't made a bigger impact. Her husband points out all the wonderful things Kaplan's gratitude led to. It was exactly like that scene at the end of Schindler's List when he broke down because he couldn't have saved more Jews from the Nazis... except he saved lives. She just stopped griping. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but let's keep things in perspective.
  
  I could go on and on, but that would be negative. So I'll end on a positive note and show appreciation for the fact that Kaplan acknowledged, kind of, the fact that publicly expressing your gratitude and how you "pay it forward" is the worst kind of self-centeredness. "Look at me! I'm humble!"
• 
  Isabel

  An interesting project certainly, but a few peeves. First, stylistically this book left much to be desired from my point of view, especially considering she was previously a magazine editor. Specifically, she writes parenthetically, generally 3 pairs per page and on one page I counted 6 (!!) instances. Bad habit in my opinion. Additionally, she speaks, or writes with what feels to me odd exclamations!!, which were nearly as prevalent, and commonly in tandem with her affliction with the parentheses. Secondly, she drops names far too much, which probably is a direct result of being editor at Parade magazine. Really, is what Clint Eastwood or Matt Damon have to say about gratitude more important or relevant that what Joe Smith car mechanic or Suzanne Davis, physician have to say? And not just celebrity names, but scientists and doctors that seem to give her easy access based on her reputation and her pet project. Lots of other people have written about their "year of.....whatever" in a much more interesting and sincere way than this one felt to me. So even if the research and thoughts were good, she lost me in the delivery.
• 
  Cayla

  Before deciding to read this book, I read a bad review that had said something along the lines of - "Of course the author is grateful. I too would be grateful if I owned three homes." I think that review entirely missed the point. This book was as much about discussing why, when we have so much, we aren't grateful, as it is about showing how the author learned to become grateful. Her wealth at times was annoying, (as were her examples of salaries when she wanted to make the point that more salary doesn't equal more happiness), but generally, I found her wealth and picture perfect life situation made the message more powerful. This is a woman who has a great marriage, a good career, two good children, at least two houses, and what appears to be a lot of money. Yet, she was not happy and was not grateful. That really highlighted her comments on why people are not grateful. We as people grow accustomed to our lives. Having more will not make you grateful, as you will quickly grow accustomed to the "more."
  
  My favorite part of the book was the author's comparison of spending money on experiences v. objects. When we buy objects, we get excited for them, but then once we have them, we stop caring. When we have experiences, they get better and better over time as we remember them and tell stories about them. I couldn't agree with her more. It seems like experiences that are long over continue to last as we enjoy the stories and memories.
  
  I think the overall take-away is to be grateful for what we have. Say something everyday or write it down that you are grateful for. This changes our mindset and the way we see the world.
  
  Overall, I would definitely recommend this book!
  
  
• 
  Jaymie

  I started this book after it was recommended to me by several of our library patrons. It is also a Community Summer Read in our South Central Pennsylvania community.
  
  I read about half the book and finally gave up. Like several of the other reviewers I couldn't take her constant stories of privilege and celebrity. "Grateful to have received a thank-you myself from Clint Eastwood." Is that amazing and cool? Yes, but it's story after story like this in Kaplan's book.
  
  Tales of her son's dorm at Yale, her friends that should be thankful for having driver's that pick them up for work, and her cashmere dresses and leather boots that keep her warm.
  
  While I think the concept is a worthy one I think I'm going to check out "The Happiness Project" instead.
• 
  Dawn Critchfield

  I loved this book so much! It is life changing.
• 
  Jessi

  This was a well-written book that I was able to zoom through. It seems well-researched and might might work well as a book club book where members try out keeping journals and being grateful, tracking how it works for them.
  
  However
  
  ----------------------------Do not read if you enjoyed the book ----------------------------------------------
  
  One of the main complaints I read about "TheHappiness Project" was that the author was a rich, white woman writing about her problems. I had the same problem with this book and it just started out by grating on my nerves when the author tells of a series of events that should have frustrated her but then explains how she was able to turn it around and be grateful for every single one. Every… single… one. This sort of forced gratitude doesn’t seem like a pleasant sensation to me. It seems wrong, like she was putting up a false front. And the name dropping! But I kept reading. That, and the fact that, objectively, I could tell this was a well-written book was why it ended up with three stars. It's nothing new under the sun but readers new to the idea of gratitude should really enjoy this book.
• 
  Karen Ball

  Interesting memoir of a year focused on being more grateful - and research into how this affects physical, mental, emotional and social parts of your life. The physical effects of actively being grateful were what surprised me the most!
• 
  Emily

  I thought this book would be interesting but didn’t think it would hold my attention or make me crave reading, so I decided to try reading one chapter a week, usually on Sunday afternoons as I started looking to the week ahead.
  
  The writing style felt a little cheesy at times, but it was very accessible and easy to follow all the research. I tried to think about the chapter theme each week and I think it did help me have a more grateful perspective. I’m grateful this book exists and to discover there’s so much research backing gratitude as a way to feel better.
• 
  Sarah Hartfield

  When I first started this, I thought it would be a lot like Gretchen Rubin's books, which I don't really love that much. I'm glad I kept reading; this was a fun read and very thought-provoking! I particularly liked the chapters on health and finances. I am definitely inspired to make gratitude more intentional. And now I want to read other nonfiction books by Kaplan (not her fiction--they look rather risqué for my taste!)
• 
  pegah

  The book is not so practical but it gives some ideas about having more grateful attitude toward life in different ways. Some studying results were really good and shocking for me and made me think a lot.
• 
  Yochi

  I trudged on longer than I probably should have with this book. Another selection from my 'cure my negative mindset with binge reading books on positivity' grab from my library's OverDrive. Janice is very privileged, and that is okay, I have nothing against privileged people writing books on positivity, healing, gratitude, self help in general. I even commented on my stance on that when I reviewed Quit Like a Woman. My problem lies with the *insistent* humble bragging. So many unnecessary drops. I can't anymore. It's not even from a place of jealousy, more like an aversion to an unpleasant personality trait. Her writing and tone was also too cutesy and pandering for my liking. We just didn't mesh. I think I got the gist...start a gratitude journal and it should help rewire your thinking by force of habit.
• 
  Margot

  This was probably the best book on gratitude or happiness that I've read so far. I loved Kaplan's journalist approach to the study of gratitude. Each month she turned her gracious attention to a different aspect of her life: her marriage, her career, her health, etc. These different foci then became the chapters for the book. She supplemented each with anecdotal stories of other friends' or acquaintances' experiences with gratitude in that particular area. Plus scientific data garnered from interviews with various experts.
• 
  Alyssa Bernal

  I really enjoyed this book. It was very humbling to realize how we typically react to our situations and the world around us and extremely encouraging to know that we have control over our outlook of everything and how life-changing that can be. Easy, inspirational read, great to start the new year with.
• 
  Audrey Mickelson

  Instant ways to make your life better and strengthen your relationships with others. Gratitude is an art and something that is constantly in need of practice, but life-changing. Great read! Well written and inspirational.
• 
  Meg

  This book really resonated with me. Maybe at a different time of my life I wouldn't have liked it as much, but right now it is something I needed. I loved the research throughout the book and it's applicableness.
• 
  Suzanne Keetch

  I really loved this book. Janice Kaplan is a great writer and her realistic, witty voice makes you feel like you’ve known her for ages. I was inspired by her insight into gratitude in many different areas of life. In fact, I just bought my gratitude journal. Here we go!
• 
  Dani McGowan

  This is the book you read every year to build a mindset for the days to come. This book truly has changed my life-my perspective and I think it would do the same to anyone who gave it a shot. Please read it. A day filled with gratitude will always be a day worth living.
• 
  Elizabeth

  Everyone should read this book!