[This is one of a series of 30-Day Experiments to do this year instead of New Year’s resolutions.]
A few weeks ago, I got a letter in the mail (yes, a real letter!) from a former client. In it, she shared the enormous difference our work together had made in her life, opening up an area that had until then been closed off (specifically, her spirituality).
It was a fairly simple thing to do – write a letter with some thoughts and pop it into the mail – but it had an immense impact on me.
Thinking about that this morning, it dawned on me what a fabulous 30-Day Experiment that would be. Imagine getting a letter out of the blue from someone in your life – past or present – telling you why you have been important to them. How would that feel? Now multiply that feeling by the number of letters you can send doing exactly that. What kind of difference could that make?
Your 30-Day Experiment: Write letters to as many people as you can think of telling them what they mean to you.
Why a hand-written letter? Why not just fire off an e-mail? Well, back to my experience, had I gotten an e-mail, it would have felt good, but getting an actual physical letter added to the effect it had on me. Partially because I got to pick up the letter and interact with it, reading it over and over, and partially because, since she wrote it by hand, there was more of a personal connection there.
Start by making a list of all the people you can think of who have had a positive impact on you, or whose presence in your life feels meaningful. That might include, for example:
- Friends
- Family
- Teachers
- Bosses
- Co-workers
- Colleagues
- Mentors
- Coaches
- Therapists
- Spiritual leaders/teachers
Once you finish the list, put it somewhere you can see it frequently, maybe taped to the wall. Keep adding to it if more people come to mind. Keep writing letters and sending them out until you have worked through the entire list.
The 30-Day aspect of this one is that it gives you a time frame within which to write a letter to each person on your list. You may need to do a little detective work to figure out how to reach them if you have lost contact (hello, Facebook?), so that could be part of the experiment’s logistics.
If you decide to take this 30-Day Experiment on, keep us posted here on how it goes!
–
Join the Ripple Revolution TM
- Subscribe to this RSS feed.
- Sign up for the Ripple Revolution e-mail newsletter.
Brought to you by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst TM
Time for a career change? Start with The Occupational Adventure Guide