8000 Handwritten Letters Later: 10 Things I Have Learned
This message is for those who are hurting right now, who feel as if Life is making too great a demand upon them. If you find yourself trapped by current circumstances, which are beyond your personal control and are seeking a way to handle the pressure, please continue reading. I am hoping the words collected here provide you some comfort and relief. Why? Because, I like to imagine, I know how you feel.
As I write these words, it is 2:30 am. Before me is a beat up letter dated September 11, 2018. Elegant handwriting in green ink decorates this well-worn yellow sheet of legal paper. It is one of over 8,500 such letters. I am using this copy as a guide, writing out new ones in the wee hours of the morning, when the meditation the exercise inspires is uninterrupted by the demands of the day.
Over four years ago, life was not working for me.
Perhaps, it is not working for you right now.
Like many fellow Americans, who find themselves at such a crossroads in life, the material inspiring the content of this letter arose from that pain.
Late in the Spring of 2016, I awoke from a night of dreamless anxiety, to ask myself what I would like to receive as medicine. What would soothe me in that moment?
And the answer came. What entered my mind was the experience of receiving a handwritten letter, written to affirm the Truth of who and what I am: a valuable human being.
I found the idea that someone thought enough of me - in spite of how I felt about me - to spend their time handwriting out a letter, yes, such an act, felt like a warm psychological blanket - a salve to the confusion and anxiety I felt.
So, inside of a small Anchorage, Alaska apartment in the low income neighborhood, I decided to put pen to paper and write out a one-page letter.
This is what I wrote:
“Dear Beloved,
Thank you for choosing to receive this handwritten expression of Love. I believe more life-affirming letters like these need to circulate throughout America, elevating our collective consciousness. This spiritual practice promotes healing from the inside out.
Please choose to remind yourself:
I am the Love vibration.
I am peace personified.
I am joy radiating outward.
I am growth fully supported.
These four affirmations are Truth activated inside your consciousness. As you choose to identify with these affirmations you will see them manifest in your life and the lives of others.
It is called healing. I choose to be a part of my own healing. I invite you to be a part of your own healing. Let’s choose to heal together.”
Inspired by seeing the letter in the flesh, I copied it: 300 times. I bought legal pads at the Fairview neighborhood Carrs grocery store, like I have most of my life, and the BIC four color pens I like. I put the letters in plain white envelopes and shared them with no plan at all other than to place the letters where they carried meaning.
300 letters turned into 1,200 letters over four months. Then, the project grew to over 3,000 letters in two years. At the 5,000 letter mark the concept went viral, thanks to a NOW THIS video on the social media giant: Facebook.
As I (now) approach 9,000 handwritten letters, I would like to share with you what I have learned. Perhaps, a spark exists here and you will (potentially) conceive of more medicine.
Top Ten Lessons from the Love Letter Campaign
10. Handwriting is a lost artform.
Since 2009, many people are now used to printing and type, thanks to the internet, reading handwriting is difficult for them. They state the penmanship possesses too much flourish and ask for the words in print/type so they can actually read the words.
9. Americans have an interesting relationship to receiving.
Legendary community organizer, Saul Alinsky, taught his students people can only receive gifts, or ideas, through the lens of their lived experience. If they do not have a healthy relationship to the gift you are presenting, they are unable to receive it in the same spirit it is given. Words of affirmation, in most American psyches, appear to land as an element of gaslighting. I get a better response listening to the community, rather than directly handing the letter to someone.
8. Many people are hurting in ways they do not feel they can express.
The national conversation stresses rugged individualism. This cultural value is not working for the majority, resulting in maladaptive coping skills, such as excessive drug usage and binge-activities. We are taught by society to cope with our feelings alone.
7. No one sees your social media posts.
Well, not the way we like to think people have the potential to see social media posts. It takes work to get someone’s attention online. It takes just as much energy to get someone’s attention using Facebook, Twitter or Instagram as it does getting their attention in real life. Social media is not a more efficient way to access your neighbors. It is just another way to communicate with your neighbors.
6. Positive messages are LIFE!
Despite the valid criticism young Americans have with organized religion, the social bonds generated by Faith communities are necessary for good mental/emotional health. As the new generations come into their own, a way to make meaning, devoid of the Abrahamic religious baggage, needs to be crafted. While we do not have an agreed upon vocabulary to talk about the Creative we know exists, the Creative does exist. We need to talk about It.
5. The Truth possesses its own organizing principle.
This insight cannot be explained intellectually. Experience is the only teacher. And, when the lesson lands in the human being, normally the experience inspires awe and reverence in the mind of the beholder. You and I do not cure ourselves of depression, anxiety or trauma patterns. We grow out of those states. How we grow remains one of the mysteries of being human.
4. “I” Matter.
Like beauty and patience, the “I” referenced here lies beyond the physical description I can give. It is the Creative “I” making this all possible.
In fact, the next three lessons I have learned exist in being and cannot be expressed by doing, or written words. Poetry and the arts must be employed.
3. You are an extension of the “I.”
2. Choice is the heart of humanity.
- We possess no limitations, other than the demand to make meaning out of our experiences.
Because just over 8,000 of these letters exist, and 330 million Americans are alive right now, the chances that you have received a letter from me are small. You and I can change that. If you are inspired to receive, I am inspired to give.
Contact me via email. You and I, we do not have to suffer. We can create the circumstances, in this world, which serve us.
We deserve to enjoy this Life.
And, we can, dear Beloved.
