When the author was a camp counselor, she reports that stress levels were high and exhaustion was epidemic–until she tried this exercise with a group. She noticed an almost immediate shift away from stress and irritation toward more relaxed ways of being, not only in her group but throughout the camp.
The key? Writing anonymous, loving, sincere letters that expressed appreciation for someone else in the camp. Evidently, everyone can use a few real, genuine warm fuzzies. And the author notes that the people who enjoyed it the most were the ones who wrote the letters!
If you would like to practice more random acts of kindness, try this with your co-workers or other group (or you can go it alone). It only takes a minute and the results are well worth it. Here’s how to make the world a warmer place, one letter at a time:
Here is the formal “game” approach:
1. Play this “game” with three or more people.
2. Take a few minutes for everybody to concentrate on the others in the group. Try to pick up some characteristics about each person, the way he carries himself, the way he speaks, anything.
3. Write one paragraph to each person in the group. Without judgment, write something kind and sincere about the person that has to do with who that person is. It is not at all necessary to know the person you are writing about.
4. Put the name of the person you are writing about on the paper, but do not include your name.
5. One person collects the papers and distributes to the others the warm fuzzies that were written about them.
6. Each person reads some or all of his aloud.
7. No comments are allowed.
Here is the individual approach:
Simply write a sincere anonymous letter to someone you know, focusing on some quality of theirs that you like or admire.