Hand-Written Letters and Notes

Hand-written letters and notes are something that we might find only in museums in a few years. While the massive acceptance and use of email makes us more efficient in our communication, it robs both the author and recipient of a priceless artifact ... your signature. By signature I don't only mean your name signed at the bottom of the letter, I mean your handwriting, penmanship and feelings put into what you write as well. As I do the pre-interview work for each of my interviewees at LifeStories Alive http://www.lifestoriesalive.com/ , I ask them for a favorite letter from a parent, grandparent or spouse written to them many decades ago. As you can imagine, those letters, like the memories we have of those people, become priceless heirlooms after the authors have died.

Try the following experiment  yourself and see what happens: Go into that buried drawer or box in the closet or garage and pull out a letter that someone wrote to you or you wrote to them decades ago. As you read the letter (and be honest with yourself) what feelings and memories go through your heart?

By not writing a hand-written letter to someone you care about, you are robbing them of pulling out your letter many years from now and having those same feelings. And another point (perhaps more important than the previous one), isn't it great to receive and read a hand-written letter someone has written to you? There's benefits on both ends!

Today it felt good to practice what I preach. I wrote a hand-written thank you letter to all the attendees of my last StoryListeners Workshop. Please share the joy in writing. Besides, when it's all written and done, it's a fun thing to do!