I thought so. So do I.
And there’s no better place to start than right where we are. Today. Now.
Let’s accept the challenge of a young woman in Ireland, Virginia Salas Kastilio, to take just a small step to create a kinder day for someone else and add a bit more happiness to the world. [Her original website is no longer active, but I’ve kept this post because I love the sentiment].
Mission #1, should you choose to accept it: Letter to a stranger
Here are her instructions:
You take a piece of paper.
Write a beautiful letter wishing its finder a wonderful day, week or life,
Take a picture of the contents of the letter.
Be on your way in your daily life and leave the letter somewhere special for somewhere to find.
– In a book – On park bench – On the table of a cafe – Between the pages of a library book – In someone’s letter box – The windshield of a car
Then take a picture of your letter in its special place and send both pictures to me.
Let’s see how many letters we can write, in as many countries around the world. Let’s make people smile, create a shift in consciousness and make this world a kinder place.
[At the time, she included her email and mailing address with a March 2013 deadline. I have removed them to avoid confusion].
I can feel some of you smiling because you know how irresistible this kind of challenge would be for me!
Meeting Virginia Kastilio: another connection story
Someone (I wish I could remember who. If it was you, let me know in the comments below) sent me a link to a TED talk by Hannah Brencher talking about the love-letter-writing movement she has started. I was deeply moved and left a comment. Virginia read my comment and replied she was doing something similar. Here’s Hannah’s inspiring video that connected me with Virginia. It’s less than five minutes long:
So once again, social media has connected me with not one, but two beautiful souls, and it makes me happy to help them by sharing their heart-expanding missions.
Will you take the challenge and write a love letter to a stranger today? If you do, please let Virginia know.
Hi Karen!
Thank you so much for joining mission 1! It has been really exciting sofar. As I am living in Ireland at the moment I absolutely understand the weather aspect. What I did yesterday in a cafe was: I gave the letter to a nice waitress and said: “please give this letter to the next person that walks through the door after i leave.”
It was amazing because she was also very pleased an excited to be a part of something fun. So I made her smile aswell 🙂
Thank you for sharing this idea Elizabeth, I am so honoured. Let’s make the world a better place. Every act of love and kindness counts!
Love,
Virginia
What a great idea, Virginia! We can all do that, and then we’ve brightened up the day for two people instead of just one. I’m happy to spread the word about heart-centered work being done by others.
I really like the letter to a stranger idea. I think I might try that. Though if I leave it out in the elements up here, it might get ruined. I’ll have to think of an inside place. Thanks for the idea.
Haha…yes, weather should be factored in when identifying a letter drop location :-). I’m sure you’ll come up with something cool. I’m going to do it too.