TOOLS WITH HEART NEWSLETTER
HOLIDAY SEASON
For last year's words belong to last year's language. And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.
~ T. S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"
IN THIS ISSUE
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WRITING YOUR HOLIDAY GREETINGS
For most people and especially journal writers, this is the time of year when we take time out to share a personal message in a holiday greeting card or letter. I recently gave a friend a thank you by sending a page from my journal, dedicated to her. I wrote about Susan's thoughtful gifts and caring nature. It was special for her to receive since it was like secretly peering into a good friend's diary, and all the comments were positive! In fact, I wrote it out in a new journal as a thank-you gift to her. You could do something similar for holiday greetings. Write your thoughts about what your family and friends mean to you. Was there a life-changing event this year – a move, a newborn, a loss? How were you touched by your family and friends? Do you plan to make an announcement this year? You could talk about your excitement and surprise everyone with an invitation. How about creating a page in the voice of your young child, a pet or even your home expressing how they look forward to a visit from them this year. If you had a loss or illness, your writing could be a deeply moving contribution to the season for both yourself and your family and friends. Consider a favorite photo, poem, story, quote or anecdote from a highlight of the year. One year I sent a photo of my brother and I sitting on Santa's lap in Macy's department store from 1953! Have fun, get personal, and your greeting will be a keeper for its recipients and a year-end keepsake for you.
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THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF CHINESE WOMEN
Five hundred years ago, in a society where Chinese women's feet were bound, so were their voices. Traditional Chinese culture was male-centered and forbid girls from any kind of formal education. However, in a remote part of China, a secret writing system for women was developed. It was called Nushu and literally means "Woman's Writing." In September of this year, the last user of Nushu, a 98-year-old woman named Yang Huanyi, died. In her last interview she said, "In any free time we had, we would get together to sing and write." As the men tended the crops, women would gather together within their homes to sew and spin cotton, accompanying their work with songs and poetry. Upon marriage, however, their lives were torn apart as they moved to their new husband's village to be tormented by their mother-in-law and worked within their new home. They needed to communicate with those they had left behind, and thus Nushu was born. Nushu would be communicated via handkerchiefs, pieces of material or fans. The women would use bamboo sticks dipped in the soot from the bottom of a cooking pot to record their feelings. It was a delicate, graceful script handed down from grandmother to granddaughter, from elderly aunt to adolescent niece, from girlfriend to girlfriend and never, ever shared with the men and boys. Three days after a wedding, the adolescent bride would receive a "Third Day Book," a clothbound volume in which her sworn sisters and her mother would record their sorrow at losing a friend and daughter and express best wishes for happiness in the married life ahead. The first half-dozen pages contained these laments and hopes, written in Nushu that the groom couldn't read. The rest were left blank for the bride to record her own feelings and experiences for what would become a treasured diary. Nushu manuscripts are extremely rare because according to the local custom, they were supposed to be burnt or buried with the dead in sacrifice. Now I know from the response to our last newsletter that some of you would like your journals to be burnt or buried before an unwelcome someone reads it, but we're grateful today for women's empowerment! We can express ourselves freely, choose from a multitude of beautiful journals and write to our heart's content.
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NEW! – WELLNESS PLANNER AND JOURNAL
Tools With Heart is proud to announce our new - Wellness Planner and Journal. When I was with Day Runner, this was the most requested new product topic from our users. At a time when physicians have little time to oversee each patient's overall well-being, The Wellness Planner and Journal puts the responsibility for personal health in your own hands. The two-page daily calendar page logs fitness routines, diets, water-intake, sleep and relaxation, intentions, goals, accomplishments, affirmations and next steps. Additional features include a Personal Health History, Medication and Supplement Log, Resources Pages, Mindfulness techniques, Notes and Questions for your health-care provider and more. We introduced The Wellness Planner at the International Spa Show last month where medical spas and resorts can order them for their clients. We are also making them available to our readers exclusively through the Tools With Heart Web site. They are not available anywhere else. For format, color and price information, go to: Wellness Planner and Journal.
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A HEALTHY DOSE OF GRATITUDE*
"Thousands of years of literature talk about the benefits of cultivating gratefulness as a virtue," says University of California Davis psychology professor Robert Emmons. Throughout history, philosophers and religious leaders have extolled gratitude as a virtue integral to health and well-being. Now, through a recent movement called positive psychology, mental health professionals are taking a close look at how virtues such as gratitude can benefit our health.
Seasoned journalers know that by etching their worries on paper and delving into the deepest parts of themselves can turn plain paper into leaves of gold. They find their passion and purpose in life. Gratitude, a healthy outlook, and a stronger immune system are often natural outcomes at the end of these writing journeys.Grateful people take better care of themselves and engage in more protective health behaviors like regular exercise, a healthy diet, regular physical examinations.
Gratitude research is beginning to suggest that feelings of thankfulness have tremendous positive value in helping people cope with daily problems, especially stress.
"There are some very interesting studies linking optimism to better immune function," says Lisa Aspinwall, PhD. In one, researchers comparing the immune systems of healthy, first-year law students under stress found that, by midterm, students characterized as optimistic maintained higher numbers of blood cells that protect the immune system, compared with their more pessimistic classmates.
Even in the face of tremendous loss or tragedy, it's possible to feel gratitude. There tends to be higher levels of optimism among people who have faced losses early in life, suggesting that adversity can promote personal growth over time.
*Thanks to Elizabeth Heubeck, MA for her contribution to this article
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MOST THOUGHTFUL GIFTS
To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.
~ Unknown
And in case you haven't visited our Sitting Room for awhile, we want to remind you about some additional thoughtful gifts:
NEW! Sketch Journal and Pencil Set
-rolled into a suede belted case in great colors!
NEW! Blank Journals and the Traveler's Series
-with ribbon page marker and magnetic flap closure
NEW! Slippers for Mom and Babybella Booties
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A REFILL FOR YOUR THOUGHTS
Think about the T. S. Eliot quote from the top of the newsletter: For last year's words belong to last year's language. And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning. Explore your own beginnings and endings. Does the calendar prompt you to reflect and renew? Is there a pattern to your life-changing events? Do you shed your skin with the start of a new season? Send your thoughts to: felice@toolswithheart.com
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Felice Willat writes the Tools With Heart newsletter. We encourage you to forward it to your friends and family who may benefit from it. We only request that you keep it intact including our contact and copyright info.
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