Gratitude is one of the big important words which Martin Seligman uses and he also finds it as one of the keywords which can make people happier.

By expressing gratitude to people we know, love, like or hold grudges towards, we can influence how we feel within ourselves. Not to underestimate the effect it has on the person we express the gratitude too.

It does not always need to be delivered to the person. Sometimes this is not possible as the person we are grateful too has since past on or does, due to illness not understand the spoken word any more.......

Give yourself and your children a ''gift'' this mother’s day .Help your little children learn how to write a letter of gratitude and invite your older once to surprise you with a letter today.

I wrote a letter to my mother you can see as an example below..... She cannot even speak English and still as far I am concerned I have just given my SELF a great gift!

Dear Mum

Another mother’s day has come around and this time rather than just saying'' Happy Mother’s day'' I have thought I will write you a letter in which I like to tell you how grateful I am to you for many things I have never said. Nor have I shared how I appreciate the things I learned through you being in my life.

Even though in my mind I often say thank you to who you are to me and what you have done, I realize I don’t say it often enough to YOU. I noticed it has been a long time I have written a letter to you saying so.

I am grateful for so many things. The most grateful I am that you have given me life! I never thought much about how hard it must have been for you to bring up us three kids in this tiny, tiny house of yours. How hard it must have been living with my grant parents and trying to be your own person.

 I am grateful and understand now what it must have been like for you to get up all those early mornings at 4am to heat the kitchen for us kids so it was warm when you woke us for breakfast at 5.30am. I never thought about the many winter mornings you would be out there with a torch to move the snow so we could walk from our house to the main road to school.

I remember when you were sitting some mornings in tears, asking me to pull up your tights because you could not put them on yourself because your back was so sore from all the physical work you did to make our life easier and more enjoyable.

You are amazing the way you raised us 3 children with very little emotional or physical support from your husband and even so, you always made him feel special when he came home.

There is so many many times I am grateful to you when I am now in my own family can turn out meals with ease and great skill, as it was you who did make me cook even though I gave you a hard time over it.

 When I listen to the birds at night I hear your wisdom as they sing. Because of you I can understand what they say.

 I hated when you made me wear things which were recycled and homemade and now I can see how much effort you put into all the things you did make. At all times you had our well being at heart, doing with what you had at hand. Mum you are an inspiration on many levels to me. I am grateful for what you gave to me over the years and the many sacrifices you made at times when I could not see them as such.........Even today you say.....''I did not sacrifice''........and I understand now what you mean by that......Indeed it is not sacrificing you did for us ....''YOU chose'' to be the mother you were and are to me. I love you for that and am grateful and humbled with gratitude to have you by my side. Always!

You always said, ‘‘some people walk with you a short while and some walk all the way.........''

Oh, how lucky am to have you walk along side me!

W.