Imagine if you could :
- Create greater connection with someone important to you
- Increase the feeling of gratitude in that person
- Enhance your sense of meaning and happiness
All in less than one written page.
You can — and I can help.
Legacy Letters are simple yet powerful tools, that achieve all these things, and I’ll guide you through writing one today.
What is a Legacy Letter?
Legacy Letters express love and share intangible wealth.
While we often think of our wealth as our financial assets or physical possessions, we all have intangible wealth too. Intangible wealth includes your wisdom, history, traditions, values, stories and love.
I believe that your intangible wealth is more precious than the tangible wealth of money or possessions, and I am not alone in this belief. Karl Pillemer, the author of the wonderful book 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True advice from the Wisest Americans, interviewed more than a thousand people over 70. He concluded that “many of the elders see transmitting their values and core principles as their most important legacy.”
But you don’t have to wait until the end of life or when you are older to write one. Legacy Letters are for NOW.
In fact you should write one TODAY.
The Letter to Write Today – A Gratitude Letter About Caring
Writing a letter of gratitude for someone who has cared for you is powerful, both for you and the recipient. Science tells us that showing gratitude helps us lead a more meaningful life and that after writing AND sharing a gratitude letter we feel happier.
1. Visualization
Think about times you were cared for. Think about a person who is or was caring to you. Was it your grandmother, a teacher, a child, a co-worker?
Visualize the way in which they cared for you.
Open yourself up to feeling cared about.
Notice how your body feels and how you feel emotionally.
Feel the feelings so you can bring them forth when you write.
2. Write
Sit down with your computer or paper and pen. Think about how you want your recipient to feel.
Write a letter to the person who cared for you. Include these four things:
- Tell them why you are writing to them.
- Share how they cared for you, and give examples.
- Write how it made you feel when they cared you for.
- Share your thanks, gratitude and love.
3. Send the Letter
If you wrote your letter on a computer, consider leaving off the last paragraph (thanks, gratitude and love) and writing that by hand to give it a personal touch. Or you can just sign the letter in pen.
Mail the letter today—do not wait. You can also call the person you wrote to and read the letter to them, and then send it so they can read it again.
4. How do you feel?
How did it feel to write and send the letter?
How would you feel if you received your letter?
Want more help with writing letters? Check out my free e-Book, 5 Easy Steps to Writing a Great Thank You Note. You’ll learn a simple, satisfying process that you can use again and again to share gratitude for gifts and kind acts with the special people in your life.