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Thursday, December 17, 2009

Letter Therapy

So yesterday I posted a letter to an abuse victim. Years ago I discovered letter writing as a form of therapy. I can say things in a letter that I could never say to someone's face. I can talk to people who are dead. I can speak my mind without worrying about the consequences. It's a good way to test the waters and find out how I really feel.

Over the years I've written lots of letters to the people who abused me. I've never sent them for a variety of reasons: 1)I'm still afraid; 2)the person is dead; 3)I don't want to hear unhelpful/unkind things; 4)the benefit is in the writing, not the sending.

Yesterday I wrote a letter to 2 abusers. Neither abused me, but both abused the woman in the first letter. It was a cleansing and cathartic opportunity to "tell" them what I really think of their crimes and sins.

Not all of my letters are venting, though. Some of them are opportunities to let people know how much they mean to me. Like the Random Thoughts post from a few days ago. I worry about how people will respond to kindness almost as much as I worry about how people will respond to criticism.

My request of you today is that you take a moment today to write a letter you've been meaning to write. It can be therapy or gratitude, or maybe both. Send it, don't sent it. It's up to you. See how you feel and share if you'd like.

Blessings of the season.

2 comments:

  1. I have not taken the time to write such a letter today, but I have done so many times. I don't send them; the organizing of thoughts and venting (even just to myself) is the helpful part. It's a very good exercise.

    Glad to see you blogging!

    --ML

    ReplyDelete
  2. I sometimes write letters to God- when I'm trying to give something over to him. Writing it down and sealing it keeps it from bumping about too much in my brain.
    I might need to do that about Jack. Gotta think on it.

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