Last year Abdullah Shihipar wrote an article in the Atlantic Monthly about the surprising impact of thank-you notes.
He pointed to one study, “conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago, subjects instructed to send ‘gratitude letters’ worried that their recipients would feel awkward or that their writing would be scrutinized.
But actually, the people receiving the notes—which took most subjects less than five minutes to write—were genuinely touched. Many reported feeling ‘ecstatic.’ And they found the notes to be warmer and more competently written than the senders had predicted they would.”
On a day when we pause to consider for whom and what we are grateful, perhaps a piece of paper and a pencil might be a new way to express how we feel along with the homemade apple pie we brought to pass to loved ones and friends.
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