Full transcript here 👋 Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening. This is your life. This is your chance. Listen.

The word for today is letter. Gratitude letters are a common refrain in positive and pop psychology, and if you aren’t familiar, here’s how they’re supposed to work. You pick someone that has made a positive difference in your life, someone that you’ve never fully thanked for their impact. Write a short letter of just a couple paragraphs and then read it aloud to them. Yeah, that last part is somewhat intimidating, but it’s the element that makes the experience so memorable. Researchers have found that people who follow through with the reading report a boost in happiness, even weeks later. I wrote a gratitude letter to both of my parents during the summer of 2020, and I have no regrets. I admit that I was nervous to read the letter aloud, but I will always be happy that I did it.

Today’s concrete challenge is to write a gratitude letter to someone you’d like to thank for their influence on your life. Go ahead and sketch out what you would say to them, and don’t feel like you have to make it sound good. Keep it simple and genuine.

If you want to commit, say the following phrase: “I will stop for a couple of minutes and write down a grateful note.”

I’ll keep the music playing while you get it done, and don’t miss the soundtrack at the end of this episode.

Before you go, repeat the following soundtrack, “I am the kind of person who demonstrates my gratitude.”

Let me know if this made a difference in your day by leaving a comment in your podcast app or at concrete.win/today.

Check back tomorrow for a new challenge. Until then.

References:

Gratitude Letter | Practice | Greater Good in Action

Episode 2: PJ and Alex Love to Gripe — The Happiness Lab

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