Creativity

EXPRESS YOURSELF

Letter writing is an art form, and a practice that can also act as a therapeutic tool.

Very often I hear people say (and I include myself in this) that they can express themselves so much better in a letter than face to face. If there’s a deep conversation to be had, a letter is often a good place to start so that the truth is expressed. But why is this?

Letter writing, much like journaling, can be seen as a meditation practice. It is a quiet, confidential, nonjudgmental way to express and channel our truth from within on to the page. With no interruptions, our defenses are lowered and our reactions soothed. We are given free rein to express our thoughts and inner guidance.

In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron offers readers an exercise that involves writing letters from your younger self and from your older self, to you now. I remember the first time I did this exercise, in a taco bar in southern Baja California, Mexico. I was on a soulsearching trip, and the fact that I can still taste the sweet lemonade and feel the hot plastic chair beneath me, and the comfort and companionship of the company I was keeping, suggests the power the exercise had for me.

Try the following exercises, inspired by those in The Artist’s Way. Spread these exercises out throughout the month or do them in one session, whatever feels right for you.

1A. WRITE A LETTER FROM YOUR YOUNGER SELF

Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Bring your younger self to mind and feel into their playful, innocent, curious heart. Pick up your pen and start writing a letter to you, now. Imagine what the younger you would say as guidance, whether generally or for a specific question, challenge or decision facing you at the moment.

1B. WRITE A LETTER TO YOUR YOUNGER SELF

Either directly after exercise 1A or at some other point this month, find time to sit down and write a letter to your younger self. Perhaps offer reassurance, guidance or loving encouragement. Write down all the things your younger self longed to hear or know.

2A. WRITE A LETTER FROM YOUR OLDER SELF

Close your eyes and centre yourself. Start to imagine an older version of you. Imagine what age you are, where you are, how you look, how your presence feels. Pick up a pen and write a letter from that older, wiser, more knowing version of you to yourself now. Again, offer advice, guidance and encouragement.

2B. WRITE A LETTER TO YOUR OLDER SELF

Feeling into the loving advice and wisdom you have connected with from the previous three exercises, write a letter to your future self as reminders, small prayers, intentions, wishes, hopes, encouragement and love. Seal it in an envelope and address it to yourself. Write an ‘open on’ date on it, a few years from now, and keep it safe. Or place a stamp on it and hand it to someone you trust, asking them, at some point in the near or distant future, to post it back to you. You never know, perhaps it will arrive just when you need it.

Reprinted with permission from Your Spiritual Almanac: A Year of Living Mindfully (Laurence King Publishing). Available from Amazon and Bookshop.