Directions: Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows:

1. I decided to dedicate the month of February to acknowledge my neighbours who had been kind to me. I decided, and I thought of a dozen names right away. I remembered when the owners of our local bookstore let me and my five-year-old son, Henry, in before the store opened and offered to play his favourite soundtrack (Mary Poppins). I recalled when our 14-year-old babysitter dropped off a bag of old board games for our kids to play.

2. By the time I got to July, I had become fairly adept at retrieving memories and identifying people to thank. Among that month's recipients was a chef, Julie, who had cooked at my favourite but now defunct restaurant. I was delighted to receive a note back from her. Julie replied, "I don't think I've ever received such a touching letter before. Out of the blue and incredibly thoughtful. And so needed at a time when I'm struggling professionally. It was one of many responses throughout the year that said something along the lines of, "I'm going through a tough time right now, and this helped."

3. What was I doing when I scrolled through Instagram? More often than not, I was admiring other people's lives-their beach vacations, their chubby babies, and their organized kitchens. Writing thank-you notes on the other hand was an act of noticing and honouring my own life.

4. Part of the magic of what I am calling my "Thank-You Year' was reconnecting with people. I was reminded to acknowledge people at the moment, to smile or say hello, or thanks, or "Here, let me help you with that."

5. Writing the notes wasn't all that time-consuming: Each was two or three sentences long, taking just a few minutes to compose. I focused on the person I was writing to and what I wanted to say, and the words came fairly easily.