REASON 01 OF 10

Kindness trumps sadness.

Thanking someone in person beat every other happiness exercise tested, and the glow lasted a month.

What the researchers did

In 2005, psychologist Martin Seligman and his colleagues invited 411 adults to try one short exercise for a week. Some wrote down three good things each day, some used a personal strength in a new way, and one group made a “gratitude visit”: they wrote a letter of thanks to someone they had never properly thanked, then delivered it and read it to them in person. A comparison group simply wrote about early memories.

What they found

The gratitude visit produced the biggest jump in happiness and the biggest drop in low mood of all the exercises. The effect was still clear a month later. By six months it had faded, while habits that people kept up, such as noting three good things each day, lasted longer.

What it means on G-Day

A face-to-face thank-you is one of the quickest lifts we know of, and like most good things, it works best when repeated. That is why 10×10 comes back every 10 October, and why we hope it becomes a habit. You don’t need a letter: a few honest words, said in person, carry the same spirit.