*Simone WeilI love that quote. It says so much so simply. It speaks deeply to a critical need in our time of isolation and loneliness. It is a remedy for us and others.
When I'm doing my crisis counseling work, I will use that quote to help me connect. To let them know and understand that I hear them. Not just the words they are sharing but them. I hear them with a generous heart.
That Weil quote was from a psych article titled "Handwritten letters seem like a remnant of pre-online life, but they connect us to ourselves and each other like nothing else" by Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein.
Lichtenstein presents the case for handwritten letters. Her primary point is how letter writing with paper and pen helped her pay closer attention to details about a travel location she was writing from. How that exercise helped her to feel less lonely. It opened an entire world of spiritual practice. She relates a comment from a workshop she held for letter writing. Lichtenstein asked the participants what they liked most about letter writing? A recent high school graduate said "Text messages just weren't cutting it."
One of the points made that struck me was how letter writing demands an elevated level of presence and patience starting with composing it, sending it, and waiting for it to arrive. It delays gratification. Not looking at the three dots on a text message. Pen to paper is the deliberate act of writing she says "the ritual is the remedy." It puts us square into the present tense. The here and now. The goal for life.
There is so much in this article about letter writing and it can foster connection that accelerates our humanity and personal growth. Here is the link.
Attention Generosity Connection
There are a couple of ways I Venn with this piece. The first is my volunteer crisis counseling. It is text-based. Connecting with a human struggling at perhaps the lowest point in their life demands attention. It begs for listening directly and between the lines. It pleads for compassion. Similar to writing a letter, I have to be present for them. I need patience to allow them to feel safe to share. To tell me what they may have told no one before. I have to be here and now. Over my six years of doing this, I've discovered calm and reflective. For them and recently for myself. I've discovered me in my texting. Which is letter writing making the contents of our minds visible to each other.
I'm all into sending birthday cards and postcards when I travel. On birthdays, I will send notes with stickers and rubber stamps. I want to connect in a small way that is not digital but from the heart. Postcards from the road are the same. A simple hello from here or there.
Then there are Christmas or Hanukah cards. You've seen that cards are a thing of the past. They still arrive mostly with staged photos and generic greetings. Or there are the cards with a lengthy note inside detailing the year. The year in all its we did this, that, and the other thing. I am happy to get each and every one. Even the ones from my banker. I may be invisible for 364 days a year, but for 1 day, ta da.
My Christmas and Hanukah cards are blank postcards. I have a shit load of holiday rubber stamps that are smashed hard with a handwritten note. These cards are not Rainer Maria Rilke’s "Letters to a Young Poet". Still, it comes from the heart. From what Lichtenstein calls the chance to sit with that person. To take a moment.
I could do more letter writing. It mostly comes down to my deep-seated self-doubt. My cursive is poor at best. Spelling is lost on me. If it weren’t for spell check and AI proofreading, I'd never pen a word. Finally, there is questionable purpose to all of this. Am I doing it from the heart? To connect and have a presence? Or is it just me wanting to be seen and not forgotten? Can you say needy?
My doubts and questioning about letter writing and all it brings to us should not deter you. There is a great unfolding of meaning and purpose in this activity. It can lift and guide us. It can bring joy to others. It is touching grass and hearts.
I’ll be right back got a letter to write.