How to Write a Love Letter

I read an article today that I wanted to share because the intention is SO universal.

It was written by Sharon Randall in The Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette and describes a note that she wrote to her eight grandchildren.

The note is a love letter to them, along with her ('Nana's') Top Ten Tips On Life.

Nana's Top Ten Include:

#1. Decide what kind of person you want to be — not your career, but your character — and then, every day, be that person.

#2. Respect your parents and teachers and elders. Learn all you can from them. Welcome their advice. But in the end, make your own choices. You have your mother's laugh and your father's eyes, but your life is entirely your own.

#3. Try to like the people in the family you grow up in. Chances are, for better or worse, you'll spend holidays together forever.

#4. Be kind — as kind as you can possibly be — to everyone, and most of all, to yourself.

#5. Be thankful. Nothing in life will make you happier, or more fun to be with, than keeping your heart filled with gratitude.

#6. Be wise. Use the brains God gave you and remember all the dumb sayings ("Pretty is as pretty does, money doesn't grow on trees, and don't count your chickens before they hatch!") that I tried to drill into your parents, and your parents try to drill into you. Someday you'll try to drill them into your kids.

#7. Forgive everyone, including yourself. If you hurt someone, apologize and try not to hurt them again. If someone hurts you, forgive them and move on. Holding a grudge will hold you back. Grace will set you free.

#8. Give more thought to your hopes and dreams than to your worries and fears. And spend more time looking at birds and clouds than at TVs and computer screens. Technology is important, but Nature is life.

#9. Listen closely to the stories people are longing to tell. And tell your own stories to anyone who will listen. Stories are how we get to know ourselves and each other and the world.

#10. Love with all your heart and soul and strength and time and money. Love your God and yourself, family and friends, neighbors and strangers and people you'll never meet. Love the person you share your life with, the children you call your own and the grandchildren you'll be given, if you're lucky. Love the least lovable souls on Earth, but most of all, love life.

- - - My favorite tip is #8: (essentially) Don't be scared. Live life, and especially outside. Technology is important, but nature is what life is really about (the natural world).

What makes Nana's Tips so universal is her intention with offering them: To help her grandchildren (and children) by offering life advice wisdom, tips, and guidance. 

What could be more natural than a grandparent helping their grandchild, and especially if that interaction time is very limited?

Life Advice is Essential For 3 Unique Reasons:

A. Nana (and others like her) have lived a long time and learned a lot in life. They are well qualified to comment on what they have experienced in life, and to recommend what the best choices are (why reinvent the wheel)?

B. Nana is genetically connected to her grandchildren. She is a paternal part of them. If anyone can offer the appropriate guidance and support, it is certainly a loving blood relative.

C. The connection is inherently natural and essential. Ever since the dawn of time, three generations of family have lived together and supported each other: grandparents, grandchildren, and parents. Only in recent times - since 1950 or so - have family members routinely moved away for work/jobs and broken the long standing three generation connection.

That connection and communication is vital.

We know that, from working with life story writers and life stories.

The Life Writer app's automatic chapter format provides a chapter exactly for that purpose: For the writer to leave a special message to their family, friends, or society.       

Check it out for free. Here is a link: https://www.thelifewriter.com/user/register

What type of Love Letter and message are you going to leave your grandchildren, children, friends, or world?  

A link to Sharon Randall's article: