“A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be.” ~ Douglas Pagels
Today I have a small challenge for you. It will only take five minutes, although you’re welcome to spend longer.
My challenge goes like this:
- Take 5 minutes out of your busy day.
- Fetch yourself a delicious beverage – a cup of tea, a good coffee, a cold juice, sparkly water, a glass of wine – whatever works for you.
- Connect with a friend or loved one. The rules of connection are these: it can be in person, a phone call, or a letter. (That’s right, a letter, written by hand, on paper, so that you can pop a stamp on it and send it through the post. Email, facebooking and texting don’t count.)
- If you’re connecting in person invite your friend along to enjoy a beverage with you. Or use your five minutes to call them and organise a face-to-face meet up sometime soon.
- If you’re connecting by phone (or skype!) sit somewhere with your beverage of choice, make that call and enjoy a quick catch-up. Aim to put a smile on someone’s face. Reach out for the joy of hearing another’s voice and sharing your news.
- If you’re connecting by letter, enjoy the simple act of putting pen to paper. Letters can be funny, warm, wise, newsy, deep or full of scribbled pictures and snippets of poetry. Who doesn’t love getting a letter in their mail box? Maybe you’ll be lucky and get one in return. Older people and children especially seem to appreciate letters. Lovers do too. Who can you surprise and delight with one of your letters?
Taking five minutes to connect with the ‘human touch’ is one of the simplest and most powerful acts you can take to maintain relationships. It also alleviates social isolation, one of the leading causes of depression.
I hope you can find that five minutes to take up my challenge. In fact, I dare you to make it a regular part of your life! Much love to you, Nicole ❤ xx
You are so inspiring Nicole. I must confess, I had the same brain wave as yourself. I have recently moved 600 miles from where I previously lived, hence I have very few friends in this new place. In order to cultivate new friendships, I decided that I’d start inviting new friends to my home to share a beverage with me. Today I invited a neighbour to dinner and we had a lovely time. I did not think about writing letters, that sounds beautiful. I think something shorter such as a postcard is more realistic for me. So I may try that out instead.
I like emails and facebook very much!!! I agree that lettres and phone calls are more personal. Taking a time to have such a contact is a good idea. I join the club. 😀 <3
I LOVE phone calls from friends. Living on the other side of the world from so many old, beautiful and dear friends I started a “cuppa chat” call years ago. As the time difference is always an issue I decided to turn it around to my advantage. So, as my lovelies were getting ready for their day in Australia and having their first cup of tea for a day I would be having my last one for the day and we would have a simultaneous cuppa whilst catching up. It is SUCH a lovely notion and makes the distance almost negligible. For me it is like being wrapped in an old familiar security blanket when I catch up with one of these women and restores such a lovely equilibrium in my week.
Thank you for todays post Nicole. Beautiful written as always.
P.s. yes, I still enjoy wrting letters to my friends too and think it is a tragedy that it is now seen as old fashioned.
I love sending & receiving ‘snail mail’, Nicole. I was only thinking when I was sending Christmas cards away that we seem to be receiving fewer & fewer Christmas cards in the post. Many people email a message or have given away the idea of posting Christmas greetings altogether, which is such a shame. Some of most treasured possessions are letters from friends & family dating back from when I was quite young. I hope that one day they will provide some insight & valued entertainment (amusement?) to a future generation! ♥
This is gorgeous and something that has been on my mind in the New Year. Love it! 🙂
This seemingly small challenge had big impact on my wellbeing and the course of my whole day.
Thanks Nicole. you are gem.
Good idea!
Glad you’re joining me on this one! {{{HUGS}}} xx
YES! Letter writing is the best. xxx
🙂 It’s good to see so many people still upholding this dying art! xoxo
Nicole, I think the demise of letter writing is one of the saddest outcomes of modern society. Receiving a letter (a personal, hand written letter) used to bring me such joy and while I still sometimes write to friends I cannot remember the last time I received a letter in reply. While I was away recently I came across this little saying ‘Email is the one night stand of communication’ and it really spoke to me. So my goal for 2013 is to write to my friends more often even if they live just down the road.
I love that quote, Chris. And I agree. Letters rock!!! 🙂 xx
I like this challenge! I used to write letters, and phone people, quite regularly, but with email and texting (and Facebook of course) there hardly ever seems to be the need now.
Although email and texting (and Facebook) do make communication easier, I still love the immediacy and intimacy of a phone call, and I especially love letters. Letters are something you can carry around with you that tangibly hold the energy and spirit of the sender. And they endure long after phones die, don’t need power and can last well into the future…
I agree. I still have letters that were sent to me years and years ago.