The Letter Writing Project — Available 2014
The Letter Writing Project began as a tribute to my sister on the day that the world was remembering her and has morphed into an activity to say the things that you need to say before it is too late. Since its inception I wrote letters to friends, children, husbands, teachers, cousins, neighbors and anyone I could think of. Some I mailed and some are still sitting in my “to be tossed” pile.
The Letter Writing Project helped me to peel back the layers and figure out what is important in my life. I have found out through letter writing what I love and what I don’t love. Some letters I will never have any addresses for and yet I still wrote the letter. With most of my letters I eliminated the possibility that if tragedy should strike again in my life and I will never again be left with my thoughts festering inside of me. My sister died with me a bit out of touch with her. I can never take that back.
That helpless feeling of regret will always loom over me regarding my sister, but The Letter Writing Project has prevented that from ever happening again. The letters in this book are professions of love, apologies, retribution, anger, grief, remorse, joy, fulfillment, gratitude, spirituality and hatred. They have created a space for me to further clarify exactly who I am in this world. What an enormous gift.
The Letter Writing Movement
This is my wish for the you, the reader. Write your letters. Give yourself the gift of emotional freedom. When you craft a letter of love or admiration of someone else, imagine the joy they’ll receive when they open their mailbox and find your words. Use letter writing to figure out what makes you the person that you are today. Continue to peel back the layers until you have written everything down and are left with a pure sense of self. Mail only the letters that you are proud of and that will help to make the world a better place. Don’t be afraid to write the letters that have anger festering deep inside your belly. Get all of those thoughts out of your body and then rip the paper into tiny pieces, shredding the anger into bits. You may find out that your burden has lifted you feel lighter. You might see a few next steps to take towards healing what has been aching within your heart. It’s possible that you will create a new you just by developing a deeper level of personal honesty and that I find to be simply incredible.
My primary rule is to never mail something that will drag a person down. Always have their highest intention in your heart. As world renowned author, Mike Dooley states, “thoughts become things so choose the good ones”. If something still troubles you, maybe it’s time to get some professional help with solving what is causing you such enormous grief.