Writing for relaxation

I can type pretty fast. I took typing on a manual typewriter in high school. Years of typing papers, and later sermons, and I feel fairly confident climbing around a keyboard. Yet, I wonder just how helpful that has been over the years... 

I was writing in my journal the other day - in a notebook with a blue ink pen - and it occurred to me just how relaxing that simple motion was. It had nothing to do with the journal, or even the content. The mere act of writing - pen (or pencil) on paper - and taking my time to make it legible... I'd never noticed the calming quality of such a craft.

Most of my life I've written by hand only because I had to. I was scribbling something down to remember it for later, or getting information, or doing an assignment. My handwriting was therefore never very good, because I thought the important thing was WHAT I was writing, rather than THAT I was writing.

Not that some of the things we write aren't important. I have just begun to marvel at the relaxing qualities of the act of writing itself though. Whether printing or cursive, there is something about taking the time to form letters and words that flow from the touch of two completely unalike objects. Moving pen (or pencil) on paper in a slow, methodical manner, almost like mini Tai Chi for the hand and arm. It is so calming.

Sometimes I miss smoking cigarettes - not because of the taste or smell - but the relaxation benefits are similar. I miss the chance to go outside, sit in a chair or on the porch step, and simply stop all else to puff on some ponderance ever so briefly.

So maybe handwriting is my smoking substitute! How about that? Perhaps I need to purchase a moleskin (though I prefer a notebook with the spiral on top - I'm a lefty after all) and keep it with me. Whenever I need a break from the stress of life, I can stop and pen some thoughts, jot some tittles, or maybe doodle a noodle. Hmmm...

Anyway, maybe I'm late to the game, but I'd never thought about the relaxing qualities of handwriting. Maybe you haven't either. If not, I suggest you give it a try? And remember... the slower the better.

Actually, right now I have this mental image of the alphabet from grade school (you know, up on the wall above the blackboard)... I wonder how meditative it would be to sit and reproduce that some day... both physically as well as mentally placing my mind in that time and place. Yes, I think I might.

Write now, right now. Right on; write on.