Did you know that writing longhand – in cursive – is one of the best ways to stimulate your creativity, improve your memory, and exercise both sides of your brain?
Writing long-hand is becoming somewhat of a lost art. There’s been a debate in schools in recent years about whether or not children should even be taught cursive. After all, most of us type on our phones, computers, and tablets. We even do our banking online so there’s not even a need to write checks!
I’ll admit that when I’m writing articles like this one or writing chapters in my books, I tend to write on the computer. Thanks to my mother for insisting that I take typing (now keyboarding) in high school, I type much faster than I write.
But I’ve learned that I might be selling myself short by doing this because writing long-hand has all kinds of benefits that typing on a computer keyboard just doesn’t have.
Here are just a few of the benefits of writing long-hand:
Using More Brain Power: Want to help keep your brain sharp and your memory working at peak capacity? Write! The act of writing and reading what you’ve written long-hand stimulates more parts of the brain and more neural pathways than typing.
Honing and Maintaining Fine-Motor Skills: Writing long-hand is actually one of the most complex motor skills humans can perform. We can exercise those motor skills by writing long-hand regularly, which could have surprising benefits as we age.
Stimulating Creativity: The more unstructured act of writing long-hand opens up different parts of our brain, including our subconscious. The physicality of writing vs. typing allows you to make connections that you might otherwise miss. Even the process of crossing things out allows the brain to retain those ideas better, leaving room for them to be used in a different context.
Reducing Stress: Yes! Writing long-hand is therapeutic. It’s a slower process, requiring more concentration mentally and physically. The power of that focus is to calm the mind. In her famous book, The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron encourages artists to write “morning pages” (three notebook-sized pages of longhand journaling) every day as a way to tap into their subconscious, get negative thoughts out and released, and become more grounded to start the day. There have been other studies that have shown that people who write out their feelings – long-hand – are better able to process and release negative feelings.
Make Deeper Connections: How do you feel when you get a handwritten letter or postcard vs. an email? While it’s lovely to receive an email from a friend, how much more wonderful is it to get an actual letter in the mail? How much more meaningful is getting a handwritten note from your boss to say thank you or “good job”? I wish I had written more personal notes when I was working because the power of a good old-fashioned thank you note or heartfelt greeting is incredibly powerful in deepening your connections and making others feel valued.
If you research long-hand writing, there are many, many more benefits that I can list here. I’ve put references to a few of the articles I used in my research below.
The bottom line is that writing long-hand is a good practice. Period. Whether you keep a daily journal, write a friend a letter, or just create a handwritten to-do list, you’ll reap enormous benefits.
I personally find that when I do my “morning pages”, my day goes a lot better. Next week, I might even try writing my article longhand. I’ll let you know how it goes!
So, get writing – by hand!
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