The gratitude letter (DW#652)
Many people believe that today’s practice is perhaps the most powerful gratitude exercise there is. It is in two parts (we will talk about part two tomorrow inshallah).
The exercise involves writing a letter to someone who has exerted a positive influence in your life but whom you have not properly thanked. This can be a teacher or a mentor from your past, a grandparent, or anyone else who helped you in some way.
Here is how to write the letter:
· Address the person directly.
· Describe what this person has done that makes you grateful, and how they have impacted your life. Be as concrete and detailed as possible.
· Describe what you are doing in life now, and how frequently you remember their act of kindness or generosity.
· The letter does not have to be long as long as it contains some detail of what you appreciate about their actions.
· Here is an example:
To my grade 8 teacher
Dear Ms Shah
I realized that you may not realize how powerfully and positively you have impacted my life (and many others, I am sure).
In grade 8, when I was going through a particularly rough patch at school, you would often take a few moments at the end of class to ask how I was doing, how I was adjusting to transitions at home and that you were there if I needed a shoulder to cry on or someone to just listen.
I was much too self absorbed then to express how much those short (and often one way) conversations meant to me. They were my beacons of hope in what appeared to be a very dark world at the time.
Now that I am a teacher myself (inspired by your teaching to a great extent), I know how easy it is to get lost in the daily tasks and your kindness reminds me to look beyond how the students may be behaving at school and to take that extra moment to connect with them.
With love and duas
S
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