Ep 17 Take 10 minutes to change your day - and someone else's

Do you want another cool tool that will increase your happiness right now?

In addition to a gratitude journal, expressing heartfelt gratitude to another person also increases our happiness (and theirs).

Write a letter to someone that has done something kind for you recently.  Describe in detail what he or she did for you and exactly how it affected your life; mention how you often remember her efforts. You can send it in the mail or call and read it to them. But research shows delivering it in person is more impactful for both of you. 

Martin Seligman, the founder of Positive Psychology, and his colleagues tested the benefits of expressing gratitude in an exercise that was completed over the course of just one week.  In one condition, participants were given one week to write and hand deliver a letter of gratitude to someone who had been especially kind and caring to them but whom they had never properly thanked.  In other conditions, participants were offered alternative self-guided happiness exercises.  Those participants who delivered their letter showed the largest boosts in happiness in the entire study. they were much happier and much less depressed – and those boosts were maintained up to one month after.  These findings reveal just how powerful it is to express your gratitude directly to an important person in your life. 

Again- I can give you lots of exercises that work. But they only work if you actually do them.  So don't wait.  Write a letter of gratitude and deliver it. 

See you in a minute,