Give the Ultimate Gift — Write a Gratitude Letter
Gratitude is a hot topic and for good reason. Practicing gratitude can improve productivity, confidence and add to a general feeling of enhanced well-being. Building a daily gratitude practice is one way access these extraordinary benefits.
This article covers the exercise, The Gratitude Letter from the book Gratitude Works, by Robert A Emmons.
Join us for the The 21-Day Gratitude Journal Challenge and follow along as we explore and learn ways to grow our gratitude muscle.
The Gratitude Letter has been called the Ultimate Gift. It’s been around for a very long time. A Gratitude Letter is like a Thank You note yet is more powerful and involves sharing the impact an action or gift had on your life.
The gratitude Letter exercise is a process of wrapping the gift of appreciation and giving it to someone. It’s the process of saying Thank You in a letter to someone who has been kind to you, or done something very meaningful in your life.
People receiving a Gratitude Letter have expressed feeling great Joy after reading one. The power in the Gratitude Letter is in the expression of appreciation. Handwritten Gratitude letters have more impact; however, you can email or type them.
The important part is to write the letter, THEN send it.
Let’s look at what you need to do to write a Gratitude Letter.
Step by Step: The Gratitude Letter
- Remember someone who has done something special for you — someone you’ve wanted to Thank but haven’t yet.
This could be a parent, a teacher, a mentor, a dear friend, a relative or a sibling.
- Write a short letter telling this person what they did that was special.
Think about what they did (or gave you) and how that made a difference in your life. What makes this Gratitude Letter different from a Thank You note is that you focus on what you are grateful for and you include what they did, what it meant to you, and how you felt. How did their gift or action change your life?
- Write for about 10-15 minutes
- Length: about 250 words (it doesn’t need to be a long letter)
- Best: hand written (second best: email or typed)
- Send the Gratitude Letter to the recipient.
That’s it! Now you know how to write a Gratitude Letter.
When you do this exercise keep in mind that Step 3 is important. Forgetting Step 3 and not sending the Gratitude Letter is like wrapping a gift for someone then not giving it to them.
This exercise of writing a Gratitude Letter is a simple yet powerful practice. Sharing your appreciation and thanking another is a powerful way to access improved well-being for yourself and a way to give a truly a priceless gift.
Try writing a Gratitude Letter.
When you do this practice, you may notice that it’s hard not to feel good when feeling grateful and thankful. You forget to notice what is bothering you or what you are dissatisfied about.
Got Gratitude? Get More
Gratitude has an amazing effect on those that decide to practice or implement the virtue. Gratitude requires us to stop and notice the beauty around us and then make the effort to slow down and put it on paper. That action gives it shape and form for our brain to gather feel good chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin.
When our body delivers serotonin, it alerts the brain that this is something we want to continue. Gratitude can only be good for us. You can have more than you need. You can be greedy for more and it would be a good thing.
Committing the Way of Gratitude
People who practice gratitude experience greater stress resilience, they are more confident, they accomplish their goals, and they have richer relationships. There are more benefits that are worth the effort. Think of taking on the practice of improving your gratitude muscle like making a New Year’s Resolution.
You start out strong and then things happen and maybe you don’t get to it or you do it rarely. Before long you might be disappointed in yourself for not continuing as you began.
Please consider interrupting this pattern by committing to the practice with a large dose of kindness for yourself. Start your gratitude with a prayer or intention.
You might declare the following, “May I look to see gratitude in each day, each person, and show kindness and compassion to others and myself .”
Remember that everyone struggles with doing what they know to be good for them. Be kind to yourself and start out by doing your best. Allow yourself to enjoy the moment. Let it soak in and enjoy. Life is short, make it a joyous one.
Enrich Your Life Through Gratitude
Join us for The 21-Day Gratitude Journal Challenge we explore Gratitude Works, by Robert A Emmons. Together we learn simple yet powerful exercises that show us how to enrich our lives through gratitude.
Check out these other posts from our Gratitude journey:
Find out how just 10 minutes a day can shift your perspective from stressed to blessed!
Are you as Happy as you Want to Be? Find out 3 Keys to being more grateful and How to practice the To Whom and For What Journaling Exercise.
Keep an eye out for more gratitude exercises that show you simple tips and tools that can help uplift your day for a happier healthier life.
The gift of gratitude keeps giving to the person you write the letter but you the writer receives a gift for the action step. When we do this exercise there are layers of blessings the giver and recipient both enjoy.
In this article You learned a step by step process of how to write a gratitude letter. Life is short.
