Open Letters

I enjoy reading other people's blogs - there are so many interesting people 'out there'. I like how thoughts are shared or how snippets of life experiences reach out and touch someone. Truth is so interesting. I didn't used to think so when I was younger but now I enjoy auto-biography ... of sorts! Blogs are like a peek into someone's journal or like open letters to friends and family when we don't get to talk much to each other due to busy lives or distance between homes. Some blogs give advice, sharing what someone has learned. Mine is one of those that is a mish-mash! LOL But I can't imagine not reading a friend's blog or being interested in what they have to say; that is completely foreign to me as both a reader and a writer. What we write can express so much of what we feel, and feeling is so akin to being connected with other people. If someone takes the time to write what they're thinking, usually the topic is an important one or has touched them on some deeper level than the obvious so I find myself exploring the message more deeply. I often feel more of a kinship with those who I've only met through writing than I do with someone who lives down the road. Why? Because of the sharing of inner thoughts, ideas, and feelings -- these often get easily side-tracked when we chat on the phone or meet for a quick lunch. At those times, the conversations can become mundane or laden with complaining or filled with minutia of every day living - not that blogging doesn't have its own fair share of those (and 'minutia' has its own value inherent within our normal, ordinary lives) but to me, they then beg the question of why the writer is mentioning them. Where is the message coming from?

Reading these 'open letters' can be a powerful form of true active listening!

Writing them could be the call of a voice in the wilderness.

Together they can create unity.

Something to think about perhaps ...