Happy Days
Inside edition host and New York mom Deborah Norville’s new book explores the role of
gratitude in our lives.

By Leah Black

Deborah Norville experienced a string of events that left her feeling that when she concentrated on the good things that happened to her, her quality of life in general seemed to improve. So, she decided to prove it with science. The result is “Thank You Power,” her new book in which she interviews psychologists, scientists and everyday people on the surprising benefits that come with thinking positively.

What made you decide to write this book?
I had this sense that life was better when I focused on what was working. But my job pays me to be cynical and skeptical, so I thought, well, let’s see if there’s any proof. I was, frankly, knocked out by some of the stuff that I discovered. A landmark study was done by Robert Emmons, a psychology professor at UC Davis. His study found that the person who writes her blessings down on a regular basis is healthier, reported more progress toward her personal goals and said she was happier.

Is that how you define Thank You Power?
I define thank you power as that positive energy and that sequence of positive events that takes place in one’s life, all beginning with a regular, written acknowledgment of the blessings in one’s life.

Is Thank You Power just for adults, or is it something parents can teach their kids?
Absolutely, you can teach your kids, and I do all the time. One of my kids at a certain point hated school. I would say, tell me three good things that happened to you today. The answer was a predictable, “Nothing.” So I started playing Junior Detective: Who’d you sit by at lunch today? What did you have for dessert? For a day that didn’t have anything good that happened at school, we came up with three good things and didn’t even have to try hard. That became a regular nightly ritual, and before too long I didn’t have to pry three good things out of him, he was volunteering them.

Did you notice a change in his response to school?
I knew that school would stop being such a dreadful place, but what I didn’t see coming was the improvement in grades. One of the things that happens when you employ Thank You Power is that it makes you happier—in shrink speak that’s called positive affect. Professor Alice Isen at Cornell University proved in her 30 years of research that when you are in positive affect—i.e., you feel good—you have activated the dopamine receptors in your brain, which are located in the same region of the brain as the place where reasoning, logic and cognitive thinking are headquartered. When my son was feeling good about school, he was also activating the part of his brain that makes him ready to learn.

What are other ways to make gratitude part of your family’s life?
I think a nighttime ritual that a lot of families have is to protect dinnertime and make it a time when everyone in the family talks about something good that happened that day.

I particularly liked the story in your book about an attorney who, after evaluating what gave him joy in life, ended up retiring his Blackberry, because it took away from time with his family. And guess what? His law practice hasn’t suffered at all.
One of the basic tenets of Thank You Power is that ultimately, the reason it works is it reinforces the connections we have as human beings with other individuals. We live in one of the most materialistic cities in the country, and yet when you look at what individuals say gave their day special meaning, a moment they don’t want to forget, it’s probably something like the sunset.

You can read more about Norville’s book – including stories that readers have sent in – on www.thankyoupower.net.

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