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Dearest Friends, This morning, as I consider what to share with you as we begin a brand new year, I find myself thinking not about resolutions—those earnest promises we make and often abandon by February—but about practice. About the small, repeated acts that quietly reshape our lives and the lives of those around us. Something unexpected has been happening since I committed to this Love Letters movement. Writing appreciation has become a deeply joyful habit. I find myself jotting notes in my phone when I notice admirable behavior. A thoughtful gesture. An act of courage. A moment of grace. These brief observations accumulate like seeds, ready to bloom into letters that tell people: I see you. What you did mattered. You make a difference. The momentum building around this movement tells me I'm not alone in this hunger for meaningful connection. The stories coming back to me are nothing short of extraordinary. One woman shared that she's been writing love letters to her grown daughter—letters she cannot mail yet because their relationship is too tender, too fragile. But she writes them anyway, creating a record of love and appreciation that will one day find its way home. She is building a bridge, one letter at a time. Another told me she wrote a love letter to her husband and, gathering her courage, actually mailed it. His response? He wrote one back. After years of marriage, they had discovered a new language for their love. These are the stories that change everything. On Christmas morning, my granddaughter Faith handed me a gift wrapped in simple paper. Inside: a Claude Monet "Water Lilies" stationery set, complete with pen and seals. She understood, without my having to explain, that I would need beautiful tools for this transformational work. That the next generation is paying attention gives me tremendous hope. Which brings me to an invitation I've been holding close until now. I'm beginning work on a book titled Love Letters for the Soul—a collection of personal stories about writing or receiving deeply meaningful letters. This feels like coming full circle. Many of you know I was the first co-author with Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, gathering stories and creating the third book, which happened to be a cookbook that took place around the table. Now, decades later, I'm returning to that collaborative spirit, but this time gathering stories that feed the soul in a different way. I want to hear your stories. The letter that changed everything. The appreciation you finally expressed. The words someone wrote that you've carried with you for years. The note you're still gathering courage to send. Starting today, there's a submission button on www.loveletters.love. If you have a story about a love letter—one you wrote, one you received, or one you wish you'd sent—I invite you to share it. Not every story will make it into the book, but every story matters. Every act of noticing and appreciating contributes to the healing our world desperately needs. This is what I'm learning: we don't need grand gestures to change the world. We need consistent, heartfelt practice. We need to train ourselves to see what's worthy of praise and then—this is the crucial part—we need to speak it, write it, send it into the world. What if this year, instead of making resolutions we may not keep, we cultivated a practice we could love? What if we became people who notice beauty, express gratitude, and create lasting records of appreciation? What if you started today? I'm not asking for perfection. I'm asking for presence. For paying attention to the moments when someone's kindness moves you, when someone's courage inspires you, when someone's simple humanity reminds you what matters most. Write it down. Tell them. Send the letter. This is how movements are born—not from manifestos and grand declarations, but from ordinary people choosing to practice love in tangible ways. So here is my question for you as we begin this new year: Do you have a story about a love letter that changed something in you or in someone else? Will you share it with me at www.loveletters.love? And perhaps more importantly: who deserves your appreciation today? In gratitude for you, and for this beautiful practice we're building together,
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