Plan a Gratitude Visit

I met a hero named “Shig” at my dad’s church on Sunday. He was a small, maybe 5’2”, 92 year-old Japanese-American man. He shook my hand with a firm grip as my dad said, “This is Shig. He was part of the 442^nd.” Shig responded to my dad’s words with a modest smile and shook his head as if to say, it was no big deal. Shig turned to greet others and I quickly said “Thank you, for what you did for me, for us.”

I can’t imagine myself as Shig, in his early 20’s, making the choice to fight for a country that had imprisoned his family because of their race. President Roosevelt and America said even though you were born here, you are not American and can’t be trusted. Young men like Shig said, “I’ll prove to you that my race and ancestry does not stop me from being an American.”

The Japanese-American 442^nd infantry went on to be the most decorated military unit in the history of United States Armed Forces.

We, as a nation, honor our women and men veterans this Wednesday. It is a public way of showing our gratitude for those who give and gave their lives for our country and our freedom.

Last year I wrote about how regularly expressing gratitude improves one’s health. Today, I want to give you a specific public gratitude tool: the gratitude visit. Gratitude visits (page 416) have shown large increases in happiness and decreases in depression for up to one month. Here’s how you do it:

• Make a list of all the people you are grateful for, the more the better.
• Pick one person from you list and answer the following with as much details/examples as possible:

1) I am grateful to you because . . .

2) Specific things you did for me were . . .

3) Characteristics that make you special are . . .

4) Because of you, I (how they changed your life) . . .

5) The world is a better place because you . . .

• Write a letter sharing all the details/examples above to that person. And then rewrite it to make it even better.
• Set a time to visit your gratitude person. When you see them, tell them you want to read this gratitude letter to them because they changed your life. Read it aloud to them and then give it to them.

It’s challenging, in this stressful world, to take the time to write a gratitude letter, let alone visit someone and read it to them. But if you take the time and effort, you will find your positive mood will increase. And you will have made someone aware of how meaningful their life is.

 
Michael Takahara is a health educator at Student Health. Post your comments, suggestions, questions or your wellness tips here, e-mail Michael.takahara@sa.ucsb.edu, Facebook, or Tweet him.

P.S. While I’m deeply grateful to 442^nd and all our veterans for their service, I am equally grateful to the No-No boys for refusing to answer the loyal oath questionnaire during War War II. Heroes come in many forms.