Jennifer Moss - Unlocking Happiness at Work: How a Data-driven Happiness Strategy Fuels Purpose, Passion and Performance

Silent gratitude isnt very much use to anyone. gertrude stein

When gratitude is a key theme for your book, its no wonder that the acknowledgements would be the most important and even the hardest words to write. I wasnt challenged by the lack of people to thank or an inability to find the right language of thanks; the challenge I faced was ensuring that all of those people whod aided me on this journey would fully understand how grateful I was for their help.

I am also terrified of leaving someone out. I dont think I am alone on this one. It just has to be a universal fear amongst all authors. Hopefully, the acknowledgements are right and worthy and express the deep level of gratitude I have for all of you. Because I really mean it when I say Thank you.

Thank you Jim. You could have kept this wonderful little gratitude secret all to yourself, but instead you shared it with me. I learned from you. I fought it hard. Sometimes we fight against the unknown. I eventually let go and here we are. I want you to know that your mission to give so many lives a new perspective has changed my line of sight in a profound and positive way. I am forever grateful for you and your ability to persevere, your sacrifice and your love.

Thank you Wyatt, Liv and Lyla. Thank you for those bucket filled moments of dance and love of art and for being children and expressing passion. Thank you for teaching me resilience and fortitude and silliness and being funny and true to myself. Thank you for your adulation it helped me in so many ways particularly in my too busy moments and my lack of extra time. You would look at me like I was a gift, and suddenly I was buoyed with confidence. I needed you so entirely through this process. I can say with authority that if you hadnt been so filled with unshakeable confidence in me, I wouldnt have made it to the end of this process. Thank you. I love you. I am in love with you. You are all magic.

Thank you family. Mom and dad, thank you for taking care of all of us. Not just our children but all of us. We often say that it takes a village to raise a Moss, and if I didnt know this before, I absolutely know it now. Thank you for being there in the small but big moments like driving the girls to dance while I sat in a coffee shop to write. Thank you for preparing hot meals so we could all enjoy time together without racing. Thank you for telling me every day of my life that you believe I would grow up to change the world. Although I may not ever change the world, I thank you for making that a part of my personal narrative. There are way too many children who grow up believing they will amount to nothing. And yet you believed (and still do) that I can achieve anything. That is the most amazing gift you can give a child, a woman, an adult. Thank you for that gift.

Thank you, Janice, my sister and most loving friend. Thank you for moving in and taking care of our family by simply being there, physically, emotionally and unselfishly. Thank you for letting me crawl up onto the foot of your bed when I was five. You calmed my fears then. You still calm them now. Thank you for giving me your children to love.

Thank you, Michael and Nikki. Moving home has opened up more opportunities to grow and develop my relationship with both of you, I am grateful for getting this time with you again. Thank you Michael, for being my show-and-tell, my intellectual conversationalist and my funny bone. You are a kind, loving man and I cant wait to see whats in store for you. Thank you, Nikki, for being my girl and for trusting me, sharing your heart with me and for filling me with pride. You have taken every single challenge in your life, and turned it into an opportunity. Your thoughtfulness is superseded only by your fierce loyalty and devotion to those you love. Thank you for your help with the book and your unconditional approach to helping because thats what family does for each other. Thank you, Kyle, for loving Nicole and for loving us.

Thank you, Allen, my brother and forever ally, who still fights my battles in front and behind the scenes. Thank you for teaching me how to be analytical and giving me access to the grown up table by influencing deep and provocative debate at such an early age. And thank you for choosing Melissa, who never, ever stops cheering for me. Thank you, Melissa, for your extra strong hugs, your infectious laugh, your optimism, your loyalty and your love. Thank you, Madison, for reminding me of how much pain we can tolerate and still come back stronger, braver, with beauty, kindness and empathy. Children often teach us many great truths, but you are special my little girl, you taught me what bravery looks like, thank you.

Thank you, Patti, for being my sounding board and my tough love and my validation. Ive needed you and you were there with Steve and the boys, Ian Cam and Eoin, to remind us of the value of resolve, resiliency and perseverance. Thank you to my other parents, those amazing people I married into.

Thank you, Connie and Ron, for allowing me to arrive on your doorstep and fall comfortably into a place of nurturing and quiet, where I can sleep, recuperate and be myself. I cherish our blissed out summer days and have looked forward to them every year for 16 years. Thank you for giving me this new happy place that I can also call home

And thank you, Jackson. Your soft and most-fluffiest grey-haired face left me during the writing of this book. Your passing ended up proving my theory that happiness is not the absence of negative emotions. I miss you so completely and Ive found it hard to focus lately. But, through this process, Ive looked to you for inspiration a reason to motivate. Youre helping. Anytime I feel low I think about how, for the last 15 years, you would greet me at the door to say hello. And, even in your last days, the most undeniably painful of days, you would muster up the energy to unlock those sick legs and get that tail wagging so I wouldnt worry, or feel hurt, and you could be, once again, responsible for my happiness. I miss you, but thank you for giving me the gift of you.

Thank you friends. Thank you Lydia. Thank you for being my person. There is no other like you. I see inside your brain and you see into mine. I love that we cant get our words out fast enough and that it can get so loud and unruly that others stop and stare. I just think its the language of twin souls. We will grow old together, lose our minds, and then become new friends. Thank you, Lindsay and Sarah. Thank you both for 35 years of friendship and for offering me the kind of psychological safety that allows me to be my most authentic and most connected to my creative and brave self.

Thank you, BDA Family, for stepping up and being Wyatts team and my team too. Thank you, Margo, I am grateful for your radiating enthusiasm and support. Thank you, Jared, for being a Double Diamond Winning friend. Thank you, Alyssa, Nikki, and Melanie for getting my kid and igniting his potential. Thank you, Carol, Kristen, Georgi, Tony, Liz, Penny, Stan, Marissa, Lolita, Cheryl, Brian, Gisselle, Kevin, Karen, Rolf, Lindsay, Kori and Matthew. This whole process has been hard and my BDA family has been there, like an incredible collective of cheerleaders, thank you. Becky and Drew, thank you for giving me back a few more nights with my family to enjoy dinner and to slow down, I needed it more than ever this year. And, thank you Sandy. I am grateful for our friendship. Over the years youve made me laugh, particularly on those lump in my throat days where I was straddling between laughing and crying. You would often swing me towards the less heavy of the two. But, you were ok to let me dump that emotional bucket as well. Thank you.