According to research, writing letters of gratitude can improve your level of happiness and decrease feelings of depression that you may have.
Steve Toepfer, associate professor in Human Development and Family Studies at Kent State University at Salem, conducted a study and published the results, that showed that writing a series of letters expressing real gratitude improves levels of happiness and that improvement increases with each letter.
“We know people who receive letters of gratitude benefit, but what about the authors? Will you feel better by writing letters of gratitude? Are multiple letters better than a single composition? That’s what we examined here," he said.
According to information released by Kent State, Toepfer said, “What we come away from this study is that if you are looking to increase your well-being through intentional activities, take 15 minutes three times over three weeks and write letters of gratitude to someone. You’ll feel better on those three variables. There is a cumulative effect, too. If you write over time, you’ll feel happier, you’ll feel more satisfied, and if you’re suffering from depressive symptoms, your symptoms will decrease.”
Toepfer said people have a store of gratitude that they carry with them all the time, and by simply using it, they can improve their well-being in significant ways.
“We have this powerful resource we’re carrying with us, but we need to tap into it in order to let it work for us,” he said.
To read the complete information from Kent Sate, click here. To read the online article from the Journal of Happiness Studies, click on this link: Letters of Gratitude: Further Evidence for Author Benefits.
“We know people who receive letters of gratitude benefit, but what about the authors? Will you feel better by writing letters of gratitude? Are multiple letters better than a single composition? That’s what we examined here," he said.
According to information released by Kent State, Toepfer said, “What we come away from this study is that if you are looking to increase your well-being through intentional activities, take 15 minutes three times over three weeks and write letters of gratitude to someone. You’ll feel better on those three variables. There is a cumulative effect, too. If you write over time, you’ll feel happier, you’ll feel more satisfied, and if you’re suffering from depressive symptoms, your symptoms will decrease.”
Toepfer said people have a store of gratitude that they carry with them all the time, and by simply using it, they can improve their well-being in significant ways.
“We have this powerful resource we’re carrying with us, but we need to tap into it in order to let it work for us,” he said.
To read the complete information from Kent Sate, click here. To read the online article from the Journal of Happiness Studies, click on this link: Letters of Gratitude: Further Evidence for Author Benefits.
Letter-writing is so much fun. But with texts and emails just around the corner letter-writing has lost its touch.
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