How to write a gratitude letter that will make you and the recipient feel good
If you are looking to make someone – even yourself – feel meliorate during the pandemic, consider writing a gratitude alphabetic character.
You tin think of information technology every bit a slightly longer and more than meaningful thank-you lot annotation, only instead of offering thanks for a physical souvenir, y'all are offering thanks for something that was done or said.
At that place are two excellent reasons for writing a gratitude letter: It volition make you feel really good, and it volition make the recipient experience great.
Amid the research showing the benefits of letter of the alphabet writing is a report led by Indiana Academy and published in 2022 in the periodical Psychotherapy Inquiry and led by Indiana Academy, which tested whether gratitude writing helps people seeking psychotherapy.
READ: Schedule a 'worry appointment' – this and other ways to worry mindfully
Scientists randomly assigned the 293 participants to three groups: Those receiving psychotherapy, those receiving psychotherapy and participating in expressive writing, or those receiving psychotherapy and participating in gratitude-letter of the alphabet writing.
Even in the small study, participants in the gratitude group reported significantly better mental health than the other two groups, even iii months after the trial ended.
On the receiving end, opening a gratitude letter feels even better than you might imagine. Amit Kumar, a social scientist at the University of Texas at Austin, studies the reactions of gratitude-letter recipients.
"It'due south not similar information technology makes some people feel keen and some people feel just okay and some people feel kind of weird," he said of his research findings. "Almost everybody is proverb that they feel really, really keen."
The main barrier to expressing gratitude in a sentimental letter, he said, is the perceived awkwardness.
"Office of the reason we did this inquiry – the hope, at least – is that we will encourage people to do this more ofttimes," Kumar said.
"If you know from empirical research that it'due south not actually as awkward every bit you lot think and that it will mean a great deal to the person, perhaps that tin can help you get over that hurdle."
So if you were waiting for the right moment to get-go fully expressing your beloved and gratitude, perhaps that time is now. Hither'south how to offset.
DETERMINE THE RECIPIENT
The first step is to decide whom to write to – perhaps a career mentor, a supportive family member or a dear friend.
READ: Take a moment to breathe – and other means to beat stress and be kind to yourself
When Chris Schembra, author of the book Gratitude And Pasta: The Undercover Sauce For Man Connectedness, runs virtual gratitude workshops for executives through his company, seven:47, he begins with this question: "If you could give credit or thank you to one person in your life that y'all don't give enough credit or thanks to, who would that be?"
The answers vary, he said; executives have mentioned a erstwhile boss, a fifth-grade teacher and a stranger who saved a life.
Nancy Davis Kho, who in 2022 published The Thank-You lot Project, a book well-nigh her year writing 50 gratitude letters, offers this exercise: "Speedily, think of the 5 people you lot desire to hug kickoff after quarantine."
Then, write their names down, she said, considering "fifty-fifty carrying around that list is a reminder that y'all are non by yourself".
Get together YOUR SUPPLIES
Decide your alphabetic character-writing method and become your supplies, such equally stationery or notecards.
Handwritten letters are the gold standard considering your handwriting is an extension of y'all. Information technology's personal and tactile. And don't let messy penmanship exist a deterrent: No ane is expecting calligraphy.
But in that location's aught wrong with typed letters; Davis Kho prefers to type and then print hers. Either manner, the betoken is to create a concrete artifact that the person first enjoys as a surprise in the mailbox and then can go on as a memento.
Call up Nearly YOUR RECIPIENT
Once you have decided to whom to write, think about that person and his or her function in your life. You don't need to spend a lot of time, but articulate away whatever distractions and focus on some of your near cherished memories of this person.
Think nigh how y'all met, what the recipient has done for you lot at what cost, what the person said that you have never forgotten or ways yous have applied his or her advice in your life.
Jot downwards a few bullet points or even a brusk outline if yous would like, simply do not overthink or go caught up on planning.
A gratitude letter demand not encapsulate your entire human relationship or encompass everything this person means to you. You can say cheers for merely i thing.
SIT Downwards AND WRITE
If it makes you more comfortable, yous can start the letter by detailing a reason for reaching out. Davis Kho started her letters by explaining that it was a milestone birthday year for her and that she was writing to people who had fabricated a divergence in her life.
You could say you were inspired by this article. Or you lot can go on your letter-writing reasons to yourself and just start with "thank you".
READ: To build resilience in isolation, attempt to master the fine art of time travel
Recall back to your brainstorm, and, using evocative details, tell the person why you are grateful.
That could exist the exact words you remember this person saying and where you were when they were said. Add how it made you feel – then and now.
The recipient might recollect the effect or favour you are referring to, but the person most likely does not know how information technology made you experience (Thankful, probably, only also, perhaps, joyful? Condom? Relieved? Inspired?).
Don't hold back. It takes a little bravery, but writing sincerely and from the heart turns a polite note into a meaningful memento.
WRITE IN YOUR Style
Don't worry about crafting each sentence just and so. You're trying to get to the meaning backside the words.
If you lot tin can, attempt to write the fashion you speak. Imagine the person is on the phone: What would you say?
You might get caught up in selecting exactly what to say. But Kumar suggested you retrieve that your recipient will not be scrutinising your choice of words.
"They are simply reading what you accept to say and thinking, 'This is really nice,'" he said. "They aren't thinking, 'Well, how could it have been nicer?'"
Instead of writing a traditional letter, feel free to write a more coincidental bulleted list.
To a career mentor, you might say something like, "I've been looking dorsum on the stages of my career and thinking of people who made an touch. You are high upwards on the list. Here are v times your advice made a difference".
Cease STRONG
Cease with gratitude and a compliment. What does this favour or upshot say almost the person? Is information technology indicative of her or his generosity or kindness? Say that explicitly.
With the concluding "thank you", y'all could perhaps add together a wish for the future – to meet at that museum you lot both love or to return to the town where y'all met.
Go on COPIES
But as your recipient might keep the alphabetic character, and then can y'all. Snap a picture or scan the alphabetic character earlier sending.
Davis Kho has printed out all of her typewritten letters and bound them into a volume.
"When I'one thousand feeling depression, the book reminds me that I've done a good job selecting people," she said, "and that at that place are people hidden in apparently sight who make our lives amend."
Past Gina Hamadey © The New York Times
This commodity originally appeared in The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/27/calm/how-to-write-a-gratitude-letter.html
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/wellness/how-to-write-a-gratitude-letter-237891
Post a Comment for "How to write a gratitude letter that will make you and the recipient feel good"