A Letter - A Piece of The Soul

Yesterday I received a treasure from a very good friend.  It was a picture of all the letters I had written and this person had kept every one of them.  My response was that I had kept all the letters I had received as well and the truth is I keep all letters.  The reason?  Because handwritten letters are a piece of the soul and they should never be discarded.  
​
One of the lost arts of this age is letter writing.  The ability to tell a story, to describe events so that the reader is pulled into the story is the beauty of a letter.  My grandmother and I used to write letters to each other and I looked forward to receiving them.  She was a wonderful storyteller both in writing and in conversation but in her generation that was an important and well developed skill.  They didn't always have telephones and family may be spread over a few states.  They wrote letters full of the stories of the day and the events that impacted their lives.  I have spent many hours going through old letters and finding bits of history, events and a story of life.

Today we have tweets, texts and emoticons.  None of these things convey a story or tell of history, they only give a "sound bite" of the current moment.  

There is something very inspiring about picking up a pen and paper and writing.  It causes the creative side of the brain to activate and color and imagination to thrive.  Sadly it is a lost art which is going the way of cursive writing.  I wonder if this is not the reason we are so depressed, lonely and lost.  We have lost the art of communication, of connecting and of creating a timeless legacy for others to read.

If we are to continue to partner with the universe in creating, in beauty, in communication and in human connection perhaps we should return to pen and paper and share a piece of ourselves with someone else.

Thank You, Chilli,  for treasuring my soul.

---