Who Have You Never Thought to Thank?

A gratitude journal asks for a response to the prompt: What are you grateful for?

At 7:47, we ask people, “Who have you never thought to thank?”

At one of our dinners, the founder of the company Care/of, which makes custom vitamin packages for individual consumers based on their health needs and goals, gave thanks to his sister.

As a lesbian who grew up in the Midwest, his sister dealt with homophobia and adversity throughout her life. How she managed it all and persevered deeply inspired him.

When we talked about the values that he stands for in his company, I kindly pointed out that they were the same values that he admires in his sister.

He took a big pause, then said:

“I had never put the values that my sister stands for in the same sentence as the values that my company stands for. You just changed the entire perspective for me on everything we’ve built.”

When we process our gratitude with others, we make space for new, potentially transformative insights about our lives. This is the major difference between practicing gratitude alone and expressing it with others.

I’m not saying that you should throw away your gratitude journal if you have one, but it’s important to recognize that a journal is an isolated practice that removes the pro-social aspect of gratitude.

The real master class in gratitude begins with others. Sometimes, it begins at the dinner table.