Frasch Ideas—Examine, Inquire, Explore

Perhaps I should explain why I am writing cards to myself. I started this when I was in therapy, back in the early 90’s.

I felt like no one understood me the way I wanted to be understood. I felt like no one knew me deep enough to reach my innermost hurting part. I’m not really sure what inspired me to write a note to myself, but I did.

Writing was the way I expressed myself the best…at that time it was practically the only way I expressed myself. I needed to see it in writing before I could say it. I wrote my therapist long letters, I wrote my friends cards and notes, I wrote out lists of what I wanted, didn’t want; what I liked, didn’t like; what I wanted to do, didn’t want to do. One day I wrote a card to myself.

I have saved them all and I go back and read them from time to time. Sometimes they make me cry. Sometimes they make me remember how brave I was back then. Sometimes they make me feel proud of how far I have come and the accomplishments I have had.

I still write them to myself. Sometimes there are long spaces in between cards, sometimes there are two or three in a row. It doesn’t matter…they are there when I need them.

I call my special “card therapy” Notes to Self. You could try it, too. Write yourself a card, a card hand picked by you. The card should reach out to you. The picture and the words should be something you wish someone else would know to say to you. You might not find the perfect card if you go out with the intent to find one…so always keep your eye out for something that might speak to you.