Give thanks, here’s why

This is the season of gratitude.  Or in other words, don’t be a Turkey!  Here’s why you should regularly write letters giving thanks to friends both old and new, business colleagues, family members, loved ones and those who have done a particular kindness or service.  I came across this information from an excellent article by Joel Zuckerman in Toastmasters.  

There are four main reasons this hobby is so gratifying and why it has such a positive effect:

Receiving a letter of gratitude makes the recipient feel good. Much of the mail we receive on a daily basis consists of either bills, catalogs or solicitations. To receive an out-of-the-blue, completely unexpected letter singing your praises and expressing gratitude for your relationship is a tremendous day-brightener. (Letters can be handwritten or done on your computer.  The advantage of using Word is that you can reuse parts of the letters in others.)

Writing a letter of gratitude makes the writer feel good. Call it the good deed of the day—but it’s actually a more significant and permanent gesture, far beyond holding the elevator or helping an elderly person cross the street. There is a real sense of satisfaction in writing and mailing letters like this. It provides a glow that’s hard to replicate.

Receiving a letter of gratitude makes the recipient feel good—about you! All people want others to like them; it’s just human nature. When an unsuspecting recipient opens and reads a letter expressing gratitude for their friendship, and reasons why they’re important to you, they can’t help but be moved or flattered by the gesture. Put it this way: The recipient’s opinion of the letter writer might go up, or perhaps stay the same—but it would never go down!

The pay-it-forward effect. There’s a chance the recipient, having been moved and impacted by the letter received by you, is compelled to write a letter to someone he or she feels grateful to. Perhaps they’ll write another or several more, and perhaps their recipients will do the same. The “ripple effect” will have people expressing their feelings to those in their orbit, who in turn might feel compelled to do the same thing.

Have a wonderful holiday week with the ones you love and let others know how you feel.  It will come full circle faster and in more ways than you can probably imagine.