Joel Zuckerman has written nearly 300 letters over the last decade expressing his gratitude to the mentors, business associates and friends who have helped him along on his life journey.
His first book on gratitude published in 2021 was “Grateful.” It’s a collection of 180 thank you letters that Zuckerman wrote beginning in 2013. After writing that first letter, he said it led to a feeling of such satisfaction that he kept with it.
“As I sat down to write it, it never occurred to me I would write a second letter,” Zuckerman said. “But when I put that letter in the mail to my friend, I was taken aback by the warmth and the feeling of accomplishment and just that intense personal connection that I had outlined in the letter thanking him for the help that he had provided me in my long golf writing career. So, a week later, I wrote another, then I wrote another, and after a year, it was 20.”
As a result of the health and wellness benefits he has personally experienced by expressing his appreciation to people he’s met over the years, Zuckerman decided to write, “Gratitude Tiger.”
The book is based on his “Seven Pillars of Expressive Gratitude” – a keynote speech he shares with groups around the world. He says the main reason to write letters of gratitude is to make yourself feel better.
“And the person who receives it, needless to say, will be delighted and thrilled and taken aback to receive a letter saying, ‘I'm grateful for your presence in my life,’ but the reason to do it is to make yourself feel good,” he said.
The book is filled with exercises that he said will “unscrew your gratitude spigot.”
“Many of us in this town and mountain towns everywhere, that spigot is pretty loose, and it flows freely. Other people, their gratitude spigot is shut tight. It's rusted tight. They can't feel gratitude easily," Zuckerman said. "So, there's a series of exercises in the book to help you lubricate your spigot and allow you to show gratitude. If you don't show any gratitude, to show you a little, if you show a little, to show more, if you show quite a bit, to show even more than that.”
Joel Zuckerman’s new book, “Gratitude Tiger” is available online and at local booksellers.
