These kind sympathy messages keep things brief, but give you the chance to elaborate a bit more than the standard ones. Thank you for touching my life. You'll never know the extent to which you ...

Sending an authentic thank you note – either by email, text or a physical, handwritten note via the mail – boosts both your mood and the recipient's mood and might even help your health.

It is peculiar to think that a mass stamped expression -- “Sympathy,” or in the case of letters of thanks, “Thank you” -- is better than the personal, handwritten word.