Letter writing has been described as an art form of the past. A personal touch that future generations will never know. Can we change that?
Letters are therapy. They are a way to communicate your feelings along with the ability to edit yourself in the process. Letters offer the opportunity to pour our feelings, needs and desires onto a page. And then go back to read and reread our words to make sure they are the best representation of how we feel. Magic! No heat of the moment harsh words that we can’t take back, no dramatic decisions in a moment of passion. True, scrubbed clean, feeling. Voice to text just doesn’t compare…
People have written their hopes and dreams to friends and loved ones for centuries. From Abraham Lincoln to Gandhi and Hemingway to Martin Luther King, Jr. Letters from soldiers at war to their mothers, children and wives at home. Some of which turned out to be the last words they ever spoke to that special person. Powerful things can happen in pages scribed from the heart.
Plotting out your plans for your end of life care should be no different. Using the therapeutic process of writing your wishes to a loved one (or loved ones) is a beautiful place to start this crucial conversation. Not only will it give you the perspective and clarity to understand what you really want; your words, in your voice, will certainly be cherished by their recipients. Especially after you’ve left this earth.
The Conversation Project posted this blog in March. It is a powerful look into a really simple way to bring up things that are, well… not so simple.
https://theconversationproject.org/tcp-blog/isnt-it-time-to-write-that-letter-to-your-loved-one/