One Little Letter

I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that I think about gratitude more than most people do, and know more about the concept of gratitude than the vast majority. In fact, I would say I am something of an “expert“ on gratitude.

It’s not as if I am a PhD, a clinical psychologist, a behavioral therapist, or a psychotherapist, far from it.  What I am is someone who has learned gratitude, brick by brick and letter by letter, since this journey began in the autumn of 2013. 

This journey started unceremoniously. I just sat down and wrote a letter of gratitude to a friend who had been a very important person in my life for the previous 15 years. However, I was taken aback at how writing the letter and mailing it off to him made me feel. I’m quite certain he was surprised and delighted to receive this unexpected communication, but what kept me on this path for all these years is the fact that writing 5e letter and expressing my positive feelings made ME feel so good!

So I wrote, and I wrote, and I wrote. Old friends, new friends, family members, business associates, colleagues, people who have treated me with kindness, those who had done me a favor, ancient friends I thought were lost to the Sands of Time reappearing, the list of recipients seems endless. It’s now been nearly 10 years, and more than 215 letters written and sent.

One little letter. Written and sent, appropriately enough, sometime near Thanksgiving of 2013. Now it’s practically a movement: a book titled very simply. “Grateful.“
A unique podcast called “Mostly Grateful,” now, commencing its second season. And now, this unique website, and burgeoning speaking career. 

I think it’s safe to say that the embracing of gratitude has taken me to places I never thought possible. And It can do the same for anyone else!