An excerpt from now-defunct “The English Update”:
Thank You Notes to Hashem
I have a friend who has gone through a whole lot of challenges, many painful surgeries, a child who is not well, plus an endless list of difficulties too numerous to mention. She has found a way to deal with her situation that is simply stunning. One day she made a conscious decision to count her blessings, focus on what she has, and not complain about what she lacks.She began keeping a Thank You Journal to Hashem and filling it with at least a hundred thank you notes a day. She thanks Hashem for just about everything good in her own life and in the life of her family and friends. She thanks Hashem for everything good He ever gave her. She thanks Hashem for every individual item she buys for Shabbos.Every day she asks me what the highlight of my day was and when I share it with her, she writes it down and thanks Hashem for it. She writes anywhere from 100 to 500 to 1000 or more thank you notes, depending on that particular day. She numbers them and counts them and cherishes them as she is uplifted by them and as she connects to Hashem in love and in gratitude.In the last four years, this beloved friend has written over 420,000 thank you notes. They have shaped her and turned her into a woman of greatness. A woman who thanks Hashem for her successes, as well as her failures. A woman who focuses on what is right in her life rather than on what seems to be wrong. Every day I tell her that she is a bas yechida to Hashem and that her thank you notes are a wonder stored in Hashem’s treasure chest.