The Gift of the Written Word

"You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world's happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime."  Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) American writer.

Take the time this Christmas to give a little of yourself….. 

Remember this Christmas that the present is not the only gift you can give.  There are two other, more meaningful gifts you can and should give - your time and a personalized, hand written card.

The Christmas card often only receives a brief, quickly scrawled cliché line about enjoying the day.  The whole card buying and giving routine often becomes as impersonal as the wrapping paper.  Relegated to the indignant status of gift accessory.  We buy it quickly, scrawl on it even more quickly, tape it to a gift where it receives a cursory glance before being unceremoniously dumped onto a table alongside dozens of other similarly mass scrawled cards.  A mere token of measurement of our popularity (how many cards we received) rather than a medium by which our family and friends sought to express how they felt about us; to convey how special we are to them.  Well don’t fall into the trap of the masses this Christmas!  Say no to the thirty second scrawled message and take time to write how you feel about the person receiving the card.

Come on... try it...this year take some time to write a meaningful, heart felt and original message in the card.  Take the time to write more than the two or three lines churned out with the mass production precision of the card manufacturing plant.  Better still hand deliver it to the people you care for and spend a little quality time with them.  Hand the card to them and reinforce exactly how important it is having them in your life.  After all, now is the time of year where we remind those closest to us (and ourselves) how much they genuinely mean to us? 

For something a little more nostalgic to match the traditional Christmas spirit, use a fountain pen.  In keeping with the Christmas seasonal colour, try some Iroshizuku yama-budo or Mont Blanc winter glow ink and write a sincere and caring message to those closest to you. 

Yama-budo Ink - Photo by Eclectic Psyche

In this day of sms, email, mobiles and the like, we forget to stop and actually write something meaningful and lasting to those we care for.  So resist the fast lane trend and stop to smell the roses, or rather write about the roses in your life!  You will probably find you have more roses than you realize and soon discover those roses are ever-lasting as a result of the time you take to ink your feelings.

This season - Ink it!  Write it!  In doing so you will reconnect important relationships and perhaps also rediscover yourself at a time of year when reflection is key to our growth in the New Year.  Take time for a little introspection and to contemplate who is important to you, then communicate your thoughts to those you value.   And if you handwrite those thoughts with a fountain pen the message becomes even more personal, meaningful and special. Well it does for me.

And for the more creative, try rewriting an old Christmas carol to fit the message you want to convey.  Music written before 1923 is not bound by copyright restrictions.  Just two to try are: I heard the bells on Christmas Day and Joy to the World! See what you can rework those into as a personalised christmas message.

If you are a little stuck with getting started with which songs to use, click on this link  http://www.christmas-carol-music.org to get some ideas on music/songs that can be used.

Remember to make it personal, meaningful and from the heart.

Ink it!  Write it!

Have a safe, happy and special Christmas!  Hope Santa brings you that new fountain pen and ink you have wanted all year!  See you in 2013!  May it be a peaceful year for this global village we share!  

Ku-Jaku (Peacock) Ink - Photo by Eclectic Psyche