‘The more they wrote, the better they felt’

By CARL E. FEATHER - Lifestyle Editor - cfeather@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

November 26, 2008 07:00 pm

— Can’t get into the spirit of Thanksgiving?
Try this little exercise.
Write a letter to someone who has had a positive impact on your life. Express your gratitude to them, not just “thanks for that cool sweater you bought me for Christmas last year.”
Address the letter and mail it. Do the same thing for at least two more people. It shouldn’t take more than 45 minutes or so.
Then re-evaluate your attitude.
If the research Steven Toepfer, an assistant professor of family and consumer studies at Kent State University’s Salem campus holds true, you’re going to experience an increase in happiness and life satisfaction. You’re likely to discover a seldom-tapped well that needs only a little priming to bring forth a steady stream of gratitude.
“Forty-five minutes of work can provide real significant results in terms of how you feel, think about your life and appreciate others,” Toepfer says.
He bases his observation on expressive writing research he conducted with 85 students in seven classes on three KSU campuses: Kent Main, Stark and Salem. Toepfer says he has had a long-standing interest in expressive writing and wanted to see whether it could somehow be tapped to increase happiness. Other studies have shown that expressive writing has been associated with fewer health problems, improved mood, an improved immune system and improved grades.
“Everyone is pursuing the American dream. We are wealthier than previous generations, consuming more and experiencing more, but yet so many of us are so unhappy,” Toepfer says. “The question of ‘Is there something simple we can do to be happier?’ is one that I have been thinking about for many years and one that has interested people for much longer.”
Toepfer set up a research project that looked at the effects of letter writing, having three variables. Students were enlisted from six courses within the Human Development and Families Studies Program. They were asked to write three letters, two weeks apart, to people who had had a positive impact on their lives. The ground rules were simple: The letter had to express gratitude in a positive way, require insight and reflection, be nontrivial and contain a high level of appreciation or gratitude. The writer could not tell the recipient the letter was for college research project.
Toepfer, who glanced over the letters, said most of them went to parents, teachers or significant others. He says there were many themes.
After writing the letters, students completed a survey to gauge their moods, satisfaction with life, and feelings of gratitude and happiness.
“I saw their happiness increase after each letter, meaning the more they wrote, the better they felt,” says Toepfer.
He also witnessed improvement in the participant’s life satisfaction and gratitude, factors that are less fleeting than happiness.
“The broader piece is about well-being,” Toepfer says.
There was an unexpected benefit from the exercise. Toepfer says students reported positive responses from recipients and an overall improvement in their relationships. The benefits of writing letters of gratitude were so great, 75 percent of the students said they planned to continue the practice after the course ended.
Toepfer would like to continue the research with a larger study group and, eventually, have his findings published in a journal. In the meantime, the lesson can be applied this Thanksgiving or any other day of the year: If you’re not feeling grateful, perhaps you need to prime the pump with a letter or two.
“We are all walking around with an amazing resource: gratitude,” says Toepfer. “It helps us express and enjoy, appreciate, be thankful and satisfied with little effort. We all have it, and we need to use it to improve our quality of life.”