The Therapeutic Art of THANK YOU Letters...

[Tonic]

Hi Gang/Posse!

The FINE and Therapeutic art of Thank You Letters.

Great way to COUNT Your Blessings, and fun to write out your Gratitude for some Past Act that Made a Deep Impact on you... Some Small Kindness of some Friend or aquaintance (or Stranger, you Don't have to SEND THEM, its Sorting Out your Gratitude in your Mind). Great if you CAN send them!! 🙂

I used to write letters to Imaginary Friends when I HAD no Friend I LOVED from age 8 (didn't think I deserved NICE friends, I got the psych abusers and Toxic ones) to 19. Sometimes I would write their kind replies too, stuff I need to Hear, by Projection. I wrote to REAL childhood friends I had lost Contact with by age 8 (we Moved ALL the Time. Left Me Vulnerable, missing Friends terribly...)

Here's Good example of the sort of thing I mean!

Love

TONIC/D

--

To Paul R...

Tried to Track you down on The Net - have located Some old Friends like My Name was Earl, but can't Find you.

I wonder if you'd even Remember me (hope so! 🙂 ).

But you were my First BEST FRIEND! 🙂

I was Horrified on my First Day of School, that my Mum could LEAVE me in this grim place full of noisy Strangers... Roy Orbison's Pretty Papers was on the radio that morning, and it gives me the Whim Whams.

I was sitting by myself at recess time, Crying, and You came and sat beside me, and Put an ARM around me, and said it "Wasn't so bad when you got used to it."

And offered your Wonderful FRIENDSHIP.

I fell in LOVE with you Instantly for your Kindness, Empathy, compassion, PERCEPTION and Charity.

We went Everywhere together, Joined at the Hip. I had you for a year... then moved 10,000 Miles away, to the other side of the world.

I waited for the New YOU to show up and OFFER me Friendship, I was Way too SHY to ASK it of some boy or girl I ADMIRED...

Your Like came 2 more times, Debbie W at 6-7, Andre S at 7.

Lost them.

Then fell in love with a Predator, the First to offer me Friendship in another new town. A much Older boy.

They call it IMPRINTING in the Animal Kingdom...

Not Your Fault! 🙂

Bless you for your Kindness, and a Model of Wonderful, Kind Friendship. I lived off its Memory for Many Years, a COMFORT.

HAPPY thoughts of Happy Times.

Live Long and PROSPER!

Your Friend,

TONIC

[Croix]

Dear Tonic~

you seem to always be looking for solutions to problems such as sleep. It is good to see someone trying to take charge of thier lives.

I'd like to take your idea of thank you letters one stage further. Here on the Forum it can be very difficult to know if a response is helpful or not, and for the original poster to pop in a thank you makes the responder feel better and more confident.

Whenever I receive one I feel great, and it also raises the thanker in my esteem for being so thoughtful.

So thank you for your post Tonic 😊

Croix

[Guest_9972]

It's clear you cherish those memories of kindness and friendship.

Keep nurturing those thoughts and continue finding solace in your gratitude practice.

[Tonic]

Thank you, Croix & Lee (See, Craw, its Working Already! LoL 🙂 )

Its great to bring up Golden Memories as well as horrid ones.

Make some Friend or Aquaintance's DAY

...and tell them how AWESOME they once were, THERE for you! 🙂

Like Dredging up Old DARK Memories in Therapy, I find the More I write and Describe it, the MORE Detail pops up to be Heard/Dealt with also. Works with NICE memories too.

I can remember my first banana flavoured ice block on a Beach in Cornwall when I was 3.

FIRST memory Earlier!

I am standing at the foot of a cot in a big nursery. The walls are white, big French Door/windows all around, very bright and airy. I am watching my Mum walk AWAY from me, down the steps outside, feeling a bit fretful...

My Mum said the only time I was in such a place, I was 18 months old.

Then there's a GAP to late 2. 🙂

[BlueLily]

Hi Tonic,

So sorry to hear that you didn't have true friends at a certain age in your childhood. However it's great to hear that you found some friends and even though you had to go far away from them, you cherished them so much so that you expressed them how thankful you were.

It's amazing that you have discovered the solace in writing thank you letters! I initially thought this is a very new concept. But then I realise I write thank you notes in text messages to friends and family all the time if they've done a certain impact on me and have helped me in some way. Perhaps not as in a creative manner as you do but I find writing it out carry more weight and it's palpable than a 1 minute phone call. It gives you comfort that somebody care about you and you reminisce the love you felt. Next time I will be doing it more consciously remembering your post. 

Like Croix said, when you are in the receiving end of the thank you note for a post, it gives direction, so much confidence and you feel the love. Such an amazing exercise for both parties.