Five Tips for Using E-mail in a Gratitude Practice
JourneywithSpirit.com, a do-it-yourself spirituality Web site, offers tips for using e-mail to practice an attitude of gratitude. You’ve got mail is a code word for you are important.
Portland, OR (PRWEB) February 26, 2004-—E-mail has become the easiest way to
practice an attitude of gratitude. With everyone celebrating National Write a
Letter of Appreciation Month in March, now’s the time to send a heartfelt e-mail
to people who have touched your life.
Appreciation is a form of
gratitude, a key ingredient in a simple practice of acknowledging the kindness
of others, according to JourneywithSpirit.com, a do-it-yourself spirituality Web
site.
“Gratitude makes you aware of everyday abundances—friends, family
and the gift of their time,” says spiritual author Vicky Thompson, creator of
JourneywithSpirit.com. “Technology simplifies the process of recognizing others
who have made a difference in your life. You’ve got mail is a code word for you
are important.”
Following the lead of famous letter writers, Thompson
offers five tips for crafting inspiring e-mails:
•Be specific. Express
gratitude for each act of kindness. In a 1913 letter from playwright George
Bernard Shaw to actress Beatrice Campbell, he acknowledges her graces, telling
her that he wants her in his life: I want the lighter of my seven lamps of
beauty, honor, laughter, music, love, life and immortality.
•Be sincere.
Write from the heart, sharing how the person has changed your life. Poet
Elizabeth Barrett Browning bared her soul in a letter to her husband, poet
Robert Browning, in the mid-1800s: You have touched me more profoundly than I
thought even you could have touched me—my heart was full when you came here
today. Henceforward I am yours for everything.
•Use humor. Let others
know that you care by making them laugh, like Jane Austen did in a 1798 letter
to her sister Cassandra: You deserve a longer letter than this; but it is my
unhappy fate seldom to treat people so well as they deserve.
•Use
motivation. Show appreciation for the good works of others by inspiring them
with supportive words. In a 1990 letter, Mother Teresa encouraged her followers
to continue their humanitarian efforts: This brings you my prayer and blessing
for each one of you—my love and gratitude to each one of you for all you have
been and have done all these 40 years to share the joy of loving each other and
the poorest of the poor.
•Take their breath away. You know that your
words have pierced like Cupid’s arrow when you leave the recipient speechless.
In her reply to her husband, poet William Wordsworth, Mary Wordsworth wrote in
1810: It is not in my power to tell thee how I have been affected by this
dearest of all letters—it was so unexpected—so new a thing to see the breathing
of thy inmost heart upon paper that I was quite
overpowered.
JourneywithSpirit.com offers tools for creating simple
spiritual practices, including affirmations, meditations and inspirational web
movies.
Contact: Vicky Thompson
JourneywithSpirit.com
503-697-8916
http://www.journeywithspirit.com
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/2/prweb106844.htm