Color Your Life Happy

In a recent post onthe blog Dumb Little Man , Ali Hale, a grad student in London, suggests that we make someone’s day for less than $1 by simply sending a handwritten letter.

In case you’ve forgotten how to accomplish this simple task, Ali gives tips to get you started. If letters sound too overwhelming, she suggests notecards or even postcards.

Isn’t it interesting that even people who don’t like to send letters, admit that they love receiving them? Handwritten personal letters build relationships in a way no other communication can.

When my children were young they grumbled as I insisted that they send handwritten thank you notes for every Christmas and birthday gift they received. From the way they moaned and whined, you’d think they’d grow up hating to send thank you notes. On the contrary, they even send thank you’s to each member of the interview committee following job interviews.

In addition to handwritten letters, I also like to send “real” greeting cards for holidays when people least expect them. Last year, one friend commented that she didn’t even know they made Happy Thanksgiving cards.

You can buy a set of 6 or 8 of these holiday cards for almost every holiday for less than $5. It only takes a few minutes to address them and most mailmen will pick up outgoing mail when they deliver your incoming mail.

Every Christmas I tell the highlights of our family’s year in poetic form, print it on holiday paper and include it along with a picture in my Christmas greetings. Not only does this delight my friends and family, but it has given me quite a collection of memory details over the years that I would have forgotten otherwise.

I also enjoy sending postcards when I travel. To make this task easy I print off address labels of friends and relatives before I leave town. On the first day of my trip I look for affordable sets of postcards. Then when I have a long ride or down time, I can jot a brief greeting on each card. If I don’t find a post office handy I ask the hotel guest services associate to get the stamps and mail them for me.

Showing gratitude is one of the habits happy people share. The great thing about sending personal handwritten letters is not only do you make someone’s day, but you also make your own.

There are so many small things we do throughout the day in our interactions with others that we hardly remember them.

But some of the things we do or say are very meaningful to the recipient.

Take Maria, for example.

She was a pretty 20-something redhead when in my class, but was now thirtyish when we passed in the entry to the Student Services Building.

She was back on campus to order transcripts. She stopped me to thank me for encouraging her when she was newly divorced and raising two children alone while trying to finish her degree.

I didn’t remember what I had said to her, but she had.

“You’re having a tough time right now, but don’t give up. Stick to your goals and you will succeed.”

My words were not magical, and I can’t take credit for her success. What’s important is that when she needed encouragement, my words helped her find it within herself.

Opportunities to be an encouragement, to lend a helping hand, or be kind are all around us. We often don’t know until later, if ever, the impact our words or actions made on another,

In a recent post on her popular blog, Dooce, Heather shared a must-read story by Kent Nerburn, titled The Cab Ride I’ll Never Forget.  Kent begins

Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. One time I arrived in the middle of the night for a pick up at a building that was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, then drive away. But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself.

Finish reading Ken’s story here and think about how a smile, opening a door, or going the long way could make a huge difference in someone’s life. There is an added bonus.  When you help others you also make a positive difference in your own life.

After you read Ken’s story, come back and share your feelings and thoughts.

The biggest secret to success is that there is no secret. But there are some common traits and behaviors that successful people seem to share.

Richard St. John shares what he has learned about success from hundreds of interviews with successful people. Watch this 3 minute video where he’ll share what he discovered.

When Clint Eastwood said “Make my day” through gritted teeth, he was itching for a reason to end the guy’s day.

David Wagner, founder of the Daymaker Movement, has the opposite intent in mind. The Daymaker Movement encourages us to make someone’s day by doing random and planned acts of kindness in our immediate world.

The short video below will give you a glimpse at the incident that started David on this journey. Visit David’s website to see how you can help make the day of those around you.

If someone has made a difference in your life, tell them.

Watch this video to see how one teacher did this.