KOCHI: In a fast moving world that is defined by relentless digital distraction, Amarnath Sankar’s ‘Pause, Breathe, Grateful!’ offers a crucial counter-movement rooted in stillness and attention.
The book grew out of his #365daysofGratitude project, where he recorded one thing he was grateful for every day for a year, earning a spot in the India Book of Records.
From that long archive, Sankar has chosen 100 stories — short notes, actually — that masterfully demonstrate how small moments can shift the way we think and feel.
The range is wide and intentionally varied: one page might touch upon Carl Sagan’s cosmic perspective, and the next might celebrate something as simple as a comforting bowl of rasam.
These entries draw from people he met, small incidents, practices picked up during difficult periods, or references from history and books, appearing seamlessly alongside everyday things like food, travel, work, or childhood experiences. The book encourages the reader to see how gratitude can be expressed to anything, anywhere, anytime.
The writing stays simple and direct throughout, often just a page or two. Sankar is not aiming for heavy philosophy or elaborate prose. The tone is conversational, like someone noting down what they learned before going to bed.
This simplicity is the book’s strength, successfully lowering the barrier for readers who want to start a gratitude practice but don’t know where to begin. The book also includes self-reflection prompts, making it easy to use as a daily or weekly practice.
This straightforward tone, paired with the small scale of each entry, makes the book accessible even to readers who don’t usually gravitate toward self-help or mindfulness. It doesn’t claim to offer solutions; it simply gathers instances where Sankar found clarity, steadiness, or a shift in perspective.
At the heart of the book is a line that reflects its overall purpose: “Today, I am grateful for this beautiful, poetic, mystical idea of being in the flow.”
It is only as you move deeper into the book that certain reflections stand out in the way they reinterpret everyday ideas. One entry takes the idea of vanilla as plain or ordinary and flips it — showing how a flavour he has loved all his life represents steadiness, comfort, and the value of simple preferences.
Another one looks at the trillions of bacteria in the gut microbiome, recognising how these unseen systems maintain the body’s balance and even influence emotion and intuition.
Each one tries to make the reader pause for a moment and look at something familiar with a little more clarity.
‘Pause, Breathe, Grateful!’ works best if you read it slowly, and without expecting big revelations. It’s a reminder-driven book, gently nudging readers to pay attention to what they already have, whether it’s a cosmic idea or something as ordinary as a familiar meal.
The book is currently available on Amazon and Flipkart, priced at Rs 399.