The Pen May be Mighty Weapon

by patgarcia | November 28, 2008 at 05:43 am

487 views | 26 Recommendations | 10 comments

Expressive writing and gratitude expressions to life are full of power to uplift human spirit even when facing trials. I have practiced this kind of writing through adversity and have found it to be an experience that anchors you to who you really are, not letting you go adrift to all kinds of tempest winds. Personally I love script handwriting it allows your soul to flow with style and rhythm expressing as if a symphony your inner most feelings. How mighty and powerful it is to share positive love filled emotions with those around ourselves.

Toepfer, an assistant professor of family and consumer studies at university's Salem Campus, says that expressive writing is something that has been available to mankind since ink first appeared in Egypt more than 4,000 years ago.

"Everyone is pursuing the American dream. We are wealthier than previous generations, consuming more and experiencing more, but yet so many of us are so unhappy," Toepfer says. "The question of 'is there something simple we can do to be happier?' is one that I have been thinking about for many years and one that has interested people for much longer."

With that question in mind, Toepfer enlisted students from six courses to explore the effects of writing letters of gratitude to people who had positively impacted the students' lives. Over the course of a six-week period, students wrote one letter every two weeks with the simple ground rules that it had to be positively expressive, required some insight and reflection, were nontrivial and contained a high level of appreciation or gratitude.

After each letter, students completed a survey to gauge their moods, satisfaction with life and feelings of gratitude and happiness.

"I saw their happiness increase after each letter, meaning the more they wrote, the better they felt," says Toepfer, who also witnessed improvement in participants' life satisfaction and gratitude throughout the study. "The most powerful thing in our lives is our social network. It doesn't have to be large, and you don't always need to be the life of the party, but just having one or two significant connections in your life has shown to have terrific psychological and physical benefits."

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Paschen

at 05:50 on November 28th, 2008

This is a great idea and may well be practised as soon as in junior High School.

patgarcia

at 05:54 on November 28th, 2008

Speaking of gratitude............. Thank you so much for all your recommendations and encouraging comments! Even though we are so far away I perceive you and others at NowPublic as friends!

Paschen

at 06:11 on November 28th, 2008

Thank you Pat, I appreciate the sentiment and the sentiment is reciprocal. And I am grateful for each and every recommendation from you and other as well that where so generously given.

We Humans and our Humanity is facing great trials these past two decades after we enjoyed some hope or the elution that we had finally conquered our evils with in each of our societies. This tool you are proposing here may very well help and contribute to re-conquer hope and redirect our societies into the pass of peace and mutual respect as well as compassion and mercy.

PROFARMS

at 10:33 on November 28th, 2008

Pat,thanks so much for bringing this to light. I have been wondering why my best inspiration to write springs up just before I sink into depressing moods and my best moods come immediately after I've jotted something down in my now brown-dog-eared old diary.

I may not write to someone but I write about people I've met over the days a whoa! My mood is elated.

One more thing.

I don't write on my electronic diary;there is nothing like the scratch of an old fountain pen on an old diary page to make you feel that you are connecting with your thoughts!

Amy Judd

at 10:37 on November 28th, 2008

I have tried this kind of writing, and although am not very good at sticking with it, I think it is a really good idea.

ArnorSkuli

at 18:25 on November 28th, 2008

I took this photo for a project to get into a Collage in New York City. The project was to find something that you take for granted and explain why you thought it was taken for granted.
As soon as I started thinking about what I take for granted and I was writing my ideas on a peace of paper I suddenly stopped and look at my hand and said to myself "the pen" ! It has been at my service since I was a little boy and I had never stopped and thought of what a significant and important tool the pen is in our daily life and in history.

Hope you like the photo.

ArnorSkuli has contributed a photo to this story.

robertocoletti

at 09:59 on November 29th, 2008

jeff,
thank you for your invitation!

all,
glad to join here...being writing addicted, i guess it's really the right place.

ciao,
roberto

robertocoletti has contributed a photo to this story.

Path of Totality

at 12:40 on November 29th, 2008

For anybody that has never used a fountain pen I highly recommend buying one (you don't have to spend a lot) and once you make a few adjustments you won't go back. I have been collecting and using fountain pens for ~15 years and save using a pencil once in a while, all my notes are with fountain pens. The adjustemnt that I mention are the preassure and angle you use as compared to a ball point pen. Suffice it to say, your wrist and forearm with thank you for it if you write a lot. The picture I was asked to contribute is a 1960's Sheaffer School pen. Nothing special and I think I paid about $5.00 USD for it on E-Bay. Roughly 75% of my collection is vintage in nature (i.e. 1960's or older) and I always wonder what was written with these pens before I acquired them.