Writing Letters for the Holiday
Thursday, December 7, is Letter Writing Day, a precursor to the upcoming holidays. This is a good excuse to sit down and write a letter to someone you’ve been out of touch with. If you’re limited for time, you might consider including a short handwritten note inside your holiday cards.
Studies have shown that people dig deeper into their psyches when they use the handwritten word, as opposed to using email as a form of communication. Writing stimulates and engages your brain to a greater extent, and some say that the most authentic writing is done with a pen or pencil. Writing a handwritten note can also encourage you to slow down and take some deep, relaxing breaths.
Neuroscience has proven that when you write something down, it requires deep thought, building more than 10,000 new neural pathways in your brain in one sitting; whereas when writing on a computer, you’re only building 600 new neural pathways. Also, for baby boomers, using longhand can strengthen cognitive skills.
The practice of letter writing goes back thousands of years and served as a way for people to communicate with one another, at least until the invention of the telegraph in the 19th century. At the home of Thomas Jefferson in Williamsburg, Virginia, visitors learn about Jefferson’s inherent passion for letter writing. In fact, he used a device called a polygraph (patented by John Isaac Hawkins) to make copies of all his written letters. Jefferson called it “the finest invention of the present age.”
The letter can be a great outlet for expressing your feelings. For the most part, the ultimate purpose of writing a letter is to inform, instruct, entertain, amuse, explore psychological problems, keep in touch, or offer love. The truth is, before the telephone was invented, people wrote letters to one another as a way to keep in touch. The widespread use of email brought back certain aspects of this age-old art and practice.
Many people use letter writing to release pent-up emotions — for example, when they write letters of complaint to companies about certain products or services, or when they pen letters to the editor of a publication about a pressing current event. Typically, when confronting someone on an issue, it’s easier (and healthier) to blow up on the page rather than directly toward the…
