Ink Stains and Heartfelt Words

Celebrating the joy of snail mail

Snail mail at its best

Dear Friend

How are you feeling today?  

I hope the sun is still shining in your corner of the world.  It is beating down through my window, which is wide open, letting the warmth and the bird song pour in.  What a great day to be alive.

As I was making my morning coffee, a little note dropped through my letterbox, I jumped for joy like a little kid desperate to open it.  Don’t you just love receiving hand written notes and letters through the post?  There is something so magical about holding a piece of paper, feeling the texture of the stationery ad seeing the curves and loops of familiar handwriting that evokes a sense of connection that’s hard to replicate through screens.

As I opened the envelope and unfolded the paper, I felt a warmth spread through me. There’s something special knowing that someone took the time to sit down, put pen to paper and share their thoughts and feelings with you.   The little letter was from my dear friend

Nicola

, despite the miles that separate us, Nicola’s words bridged the distance reminding me of the bond we share as friends.

We spent the whole of last weekend together attending the

Elizabeth Gilbert

weekend workshop.  Funnily enough Liz encouraged everyone in the audience to write letters from the heart, suggesting we express all our raw emotions, exposing some of our deepest secrets and desires.

Nicola and I shared our letters with each other, we cried, we giggled, we walked n talked and we had the best time together. What was even more beautiful was that we got the opportunity to meet up with fellow Substack friends, enjoying IRL connections as we sat and ate our sandwiches in Hyde Park during the lunch time intervals.

But our connection extends beyond the occasional message or workshop, it’s rooted in our mutual love for the written word.  Inspired by Nicola’s kind gesture, I found myself yearning for more of these meaningful exchanges.  Perhaps it’s time to revive the lost art of letter writing and suggest to Nicola that we become pen pals, sharing our stories, dreams and reflections through handwritten letters.  We’re actually trying to encourage each other to write our own memoirs, so writing letters to each other could be the accountability platform we’ve been searching for.

When was the last time you wrote a letter to a friend or loved one?  

Did you have a pen pal when you were in school?  

Please share your letter writing stories with me, wouldn’t it be amazing if we could rekindle the lost art of a handwritten note?  

“The beauty of a handwritten letter lies in its ability to carry the soul of the sender”

I find that this world is moving way too fast for me, so there’s something really comforting about the stillness of pen meeting paper, carrying our thoughts and emotions across miles and sometimes oceans.

If you’d liked the look of the stationery that Nicola used for her little note, here is a link to the brand Pigeon Posted - there are so many gorgeous illustrations to choose from. Inspired by origami, Pigeon, is a beautifully crafted combination of letter and envelope, super cute on so many levels!

Until the next time

Take care and stay safe. xx

PS - Something rather exciting is being announced early on Monday morning. If you’d like to know all about it, make sure you’re subscribed my dear friend

Emma Gannon

newsletter. My paid subscribers will also get to hear about the news too!

About me… I’m Tanya Lynch, a mother, a ridgeback owner and the founder of Ease Retreats.  I love what I do, collaborating with authors and creatives, hosting retreats in beautiful venues across the UK.  I’m also a therapeutic journaling coach and through my program Rage on a Page, I help midlife women channel their emotions into something more positive and creative in less than 60 days. Each Thursday I host an online journaling club called Journal with Ease and it’s free for paid subscribers to attend. If you have any questions about the benefits of therapeutic journaling, please reach out and connect. I’m usually on a beach walking the dogs, hosting retreats or hanging out here on Substack.