Transcripts
1. Introduction: If you've been used to listening to all those voices out there, telling you what you should do, how you should live your
life, who you should be, and why, well, we're in this together. I know it's such a temptation to try to keep up with it all, so much amazing advice out
there, ideas, inspirations. But do you ever feel like it
can be a bit overwhelming sometimes or you don't
know which to choose, which one is right for you? To me sometimes I feel
like it's a brain overload and not even speaking
about my heart or soul. I'm Agnes de Bezenac, an artist, author, and teacher and passionate about helping equip other
woman to discover their full potential
and living out their extraordinary lives in a way that is most
fulfilling and meaningful. Through creative
materials, craft pages, journal books,
positive reminders, posters, affirmation
cards, creative visuals, meaningful decors,
just to name a few. Delving deep into the aspect
of self-care and self-love, all the way incorporating a
mix of art and creativity. That's the fun part which
somehow never fails to radiate more joy,
peace, and confidence. In this course, you will
learn that there is a place that you can go
to find the most wisdom, the most meaning, and value. The most comfort, motivation, and courage, whatever it is
that you need at the moment. Even during some
of those bad days, or maybe those
more difficult and challenging moments
in your life. You will find that cheerleader
encouraging you onwards, being a shoulder to cry on, or heart with big ears. You guessed it. That place is you. Today in this course, you will write yourself
a love letter, loading yourself with love and attention and understanding
that you need and deserve. Writing a letter is one of
those things that you can do to practice more
self-care and self-love. It's also a step towards
learning to give from your overflows rather
than your reserves. Throughout this course,
you will learn some of the benefits to writing
yourself a letter. All letters, as well
as step-by-step, how to make it creative and fun. Also, the most meaningful
and personalized to you as you pay attention
to your own needs, wishes, and compassion
along the way. I hope that you will think
about taking this course to begin to treat yourself to
some love and kindness. I'm so looking forward
to experiencing the self-care journey
alongside you. Let's get to class. [MUSIC]
2. Materials Needed: Here are the materials
that I'll be using for this course. But of course, feel free to
personalize it to what you have at home or what
you prefer to use. These are some ideas
of what you can get started with as we go
through this course. You will need an envelope. I have here different types
just to show you as examples, maybe you have different
colors, different sizes. Sometimes you'll find envelopes, different colors
with a card inside. That's what I'm going
to be using today. But if you don't have that, you can just use an envelope and a
regular sheet of paper, either lined or just
plain white like this. Then you will need your
pencil and eraser, a black inked pen, some scissors, and a few markers and
color pencils if you want. Whatever medium of
color you like to use, whether it's paint or markers
or pencils, any will do. I'm just picking
two shades of pink here and turquoise and blues, just to match my envelope. Then you will need some glue. [MUSIC]
3. Sketch out Your Letter writing: [MUSIC] So to get started with
this letter to yourself, we're going to create a
fun, beautiful letter look. We're not just going to
write and use texts, but we're also going to
personalize it to ourselves. What do we enjoy? What are the colors we enjoy? What sparks inspiration? What makes it look attractive? Because we're creatives, what better way than
to create some type of art for this letter
to ourselves. I'm going to start out
with my pencil and eraser. I also have a little scrap
paper which you might want to use in case you have a colored envelope
like I do here. I would like to
decorate my letter writing paper and my
envelope matching. I'm going to create some
little flower patterns because I love to draw flowers. You can draw along
with me or you can create your own flower patterns or other patterns if you prefer. First of all, I'm
just going to put something on the envelope, maybe here in the corner. I'm just picturing it here on
this white piece of paper. Starting out with
one big flower. I'll be adding another type of leaf and add some other little
smaller flowers around it. Very simple little shapes. Sometimes the simplest shapes can come out to be so pretty. We're not doing
anything fancy here. I'm just going with what
fits my mood right now. I might add that to this corner. Maybe I'll put something
on the top corner here. So again, I'll do a
little bit the same, I like to keep to the
same style all around. I'm going to follow
the same flowers. While I'm at it, I'm going to also sketch
my letter writing paper. It's like we're creating
our own letter writing set with the envelope and the
paper to write our letter. So we could probably
find these in shops. You could probably find some beautiful ones that you enjoy, but I think it's so much more special to do it to yourself, especially if you're an
artist and a creative. There's something
special about making it yourself and looking back
on your own piece of art. Even if it's not perfect, just the fact that you
tried and you did it. There's something
about creating art, doing something related to
art that is so relaxing. So that's how and why
I like to incorporate little art projects with some of these
mindfulness lessons. I called them little life
lessons because they're so important for our well-being,
our mental well-being, emotional well-being,
and in the end, they benefit everybody that we interact with
throughout the day. They'd benefit our families, our loved ones, our friends, even those
that you work with. Then I'm going to draw something
on the top here as well. I'd like adding one big
flower as you've noticed, and then all these little
surrounding flowers. Sometimes I add a big
leaf or little leaves. [MUSIC] So just enjoy this
process of drawing, sketching, whatever
you feel happy with. [MUSIC]
4. Ink Your Letter Design: [MUSIC] Now that you've done that, you can go ahead and ink it. I'm going to ink it
just so you can see it might be a little
clearer what I've made. While you're doing
this, you can always be thinking about little ideas, things that you'd like to add
to your letter to yourself. I call it my compassion letter, but you can give it its own
name that fits perfectly for you because really
this project is all about personalizing it to
you, to your situation. That's how you'll
get the most benefit from this little activity. [MUSIC] So important
that it comes from you. You can go ahead and
use pen but you also don't have to you can just use your markers or your colors. There's no right or
wrong way to do this. Just follow your lines
or change your lines, be open, flexible to anything that you would
like to change as you go. I might add circles like this to my middle part of the flowers. I hope this is enjoyable
and relaxing for you, most of all helps you realize
that you are important and you're so worthy of
this time for yourself. Not only are you
taking the time right now to create this
little compassion, keep safe, but you're creating something
that will keep you going for a long, long time. I've been using mine for a
few months now and I love it. I noticed that it's
just by creating it and having a
part in making it, personalizing it to me and
my needs has really made a difference and has really
helped me grow in compassion. That's my wish for you today. I might add an
extra little line, an extra little flower
here and there. [MUSIC] Now I'm going to move on to my little
envelope decors. [MUSIC] Maybe you have a favorite flower
or favorite leaf, something that you would like
to include on your picture. Be sensitive to
what you feel you need at the time or
what you would like, but sparks you joy. [MUSIC] Now that we're finished inking, I'm going to just
go through with my eraser and erase the
lines that I don't need. That way, there's
a cleaner look. [MUSIC]
5. Cut the Flower Designs: [MUSIC] I'm going to cut
out these flowers on this extra piece of paper
that are for my envelope. Again, if you have
a white envelope, you just go ahead and draw
directly onto your envelope. You don't have to use an extra paper like this
and then cut it out, it would be a step
easier for you. I'm just doing it
this way because my envelope is blue and I wanted it to stand out a little bit. This makes it look
like a little sticker. You leave a little
white to your picture. If you wanted to, if you don't feel that
you're artsy enough, you could just go ahead and add whatever
stickers you would like to your letter writing
paper and envelope. But I think it's
special to make it yourself and you're also treating yourself
to a little quiet, peaceful moment doing
something artsy, crafty, leaving room for your imagination and
creativity to bloom. But I understand that you don't have all the time in the world. Maybe you're a busy
mom with little kids. If you just have the time
to write your letter, don't worry about
doing this step. Just skip to the
letter-writing part and that is so important, so vital for you.
6. A Touch of Color: [MUSIC] Now that we have our
little pictures all ready, I'm going to bring in my colors. Then you choose the
colors that you want for each part
of your picture. I might make all my
big flowers this color just like a light peach color. [MUSIC] You may be wondering, what's so important
about this letter? What does this letter have
to do with self-care? That's interesting
because lately I've been writing few
letters to myself, a few different letters at a different times and occasions, reading back over them, asking myself why I
wrote it at the time. It always came back to
self-compassion, self-love, the realization of
how much I needed it and how much it meant
to me going back to it. Research actually
shows that writing a letter to ourselves
can increase happiness. I've learned and experienced
that in my own life. [MUSIC] The idea of compassionate letter
writing is to help us refocus our thoughts and
feelings on being supportive, helpful, and caring
of ourselves. I try to think as if I were
writing a good friend, what would I tell them
to make them feel better or to let them
know that they are loved, to that support and
encourage them, even if they're down on themselves because
of some mistake, or bad experience, or
maybe a negative thought, or they're hurt and
suffering in some way. Then I think about how I would
like to be for that person or what qualities would show them the most love
and compassion. Then of course, I
do that to myself. I feel writing a letter is
the best way to give myself an extra dose of encouragement , motivation, and gentleness. It's accepting the best
and the worst of who I am. I think one of the main benefits of this letter for myself, rereading it very often, is how it's changed a
lot of my vocabulary. It's helped me to pay attention to the
words I tell myself. I used to get so down on
myself whenever I'd forget something or make a wrong
choice, make a mistake. I was just like,
I'd use the word stupid me or I'm so silly, I'm so dumb without
even thinking about it. It almost came subconsciously. But now, as I tell myself all these kind and gentle and compassionate words, those are the ones that I use. I see a huge difference
in the way that I feel, the way that I respond
to situations, even challenges
and difficulties. It's really opened me
up to more positivity in my vocabulary and
thus in my well-being, both physically and emotionally. I'm just enjoying this
process of coloring.
7. Time to Ponder and Reflect: [MUSIC] As I color, I follow my intuition
for the colors to use, which flowers to color, maybe how to mix and
blend the colors. I try not to even
think about it too much and not have
it all figured out and planned because
that's when I benefit the most from
this calming activity. That's when I can let
the emotional me just be and create in
all its goodness. That's when I feel
in perfect sync with my creativity and
at the same time, I can be reflecting on all
the words I'm going to tell myself or write
myself in this letter. Just go at your own pace. Want to go back to
my peach color, I get more peach around. I like that there's
no too many colors, so it's not too overwhelming, at least it brings in some
extra colorful next to it too. I like blending colors
together as well. Might add a little pink to the middle parts of the flowers. You can go ahead and add
little dots if you want, anything else that you feel could make it
special or artsy, or fit your style. [MUSIC]
8. Prepare Your Envelope: [MUSIC] I have my letter writing
paper and now we can go ahead and glue on our envelope. I have a corner piece and
a site piece like that, either I can put it on the top, or I can put it on the side. Not sure yet. Actually, I might even use
my extra paper here and I'm going to just draw a
little circle, oval actually. Totally unperfect.
It's okay, actually, I'm going to go with
the unperfectness of it and do another oval. Again, unperfect,
and another one, just trace over the lines that
are not totally straight, to give it that look. I can even add a little ribbon. [NOISE] I'm going
to cut that out. Just as my little
title on my envelope. You can go ahead and even
just keep your paper, a letter writing paper open. You don't have to
put it in envelope. I just think there's something
special about opening an envelope to find
a letter in it, and that make it
even more special. It makes it more
like from a friend, and that's what this is. It can be your own best friend. I'm going to glue this right
in the center. My envelope. Then glue this on the side, and glue is here on the side. If there's anything
else you want to add, I'm going to try to match
that little look of my letter writing paper
with the little dots. [MUSIC]
9. Write Your Letter: Now you're ready to
write your letter. Again, clear your little desk. Make sure that this is
a mindful time for you. Quiet, peaceful, free from any other distractions because this is really an
important time, this is your time. It's like as if you
would write a friend, you would take the time for it. You can't write a letter and be distracted and thinking of
your day at the same time. I'm going to just
write a few things that I know my heart
needs to hear. I'll start out by writing. You can write on
your envelope too, and you write your name as
if you are writing a friend. I'm going to write my name. Then you start your
letter by writing, Dear, again using your name. I'm going to write
a few things and you can write along
with me or you can personalize it
exactly for yourself. I am loved. I am valued. I may not always
feel at my best, but I am just where I need to be. I am enough. I'm going to write
a few sentences for you to personalize. I know that I am worthy of, you go ahead and write just what you need for you personally. I deserve all the, you go ahead and
personalize that. My strength, are qualities that the world needs more of. If I could give myself one piece of advice, it would be when I am hard on myself, I, you could write
the way I feel, or the way you act, or what you discover or
realize about yourself. I'm walking into this adventure of, whatever that may be for you, whether it's your creativity, learning more about yourself, learning to check-in,
self-compassion. Today, I'm being
fully present by. What does fully
present mean for you? I am happy that, I'm most excited that. Don't worry, you can take
all the time that you need. Feel free to pause the
video and reflect, and write those things that
are important for you. I take the time to imagine and dream of. My favorite moments are. I can create my own definition by doing what? I feel successful when I know I can accomplish. I celebrate my, my favorite thing to do is, my favorite place is. My favorite people
in the world are. I feel at my very best when I notice my progress in. I accept my. I am. You end it however you want, whatever will build
up your confidence, self-love, and compassion.
10. Ending Thoughts: [MUSIC] Now that I'm done my letter, I'm going to sign my name, right here at the bottom. [MUSIC] Then I might add some little hearts
and decorations, showing that this
letter is filled with so much love and understanding. [MUSIC] So do take the time to fill in the blanks and personalize it to your need, what your heart
is longing for at this time, at this moment. [MUSIC] For me, I just leave in
the blanks on my letter. I don't even fill it up
because I love going back to it at a different time
later in the future. That way, every letter is
new and different with a unique message
and special words that really fit the time
and what I'm going through. I like to keep my
letters by my bed, something to remind me of my self-love and compassion
just before I fall asleep, or maybe something
to wake up to. I also keep one on my desk to keep me motivated
and inspired. [MUSIC] Use this idea in whatever ways that suits you and
that you would like. [MUSIC]
11. Other types of Letters: [MUSIC] You don't have to be limited to writing
just one letter, you could write letters for specific situations or
different times in your life. For example, I've written
a few for myself already. I've written a
letter for when I'm going through difficult time. I share some advice
that could be beneficial for me at
that time because when I'm in the
middle of turmoil or grump's not always so equipped
to make wise decisions. I might list things that
helped me feel better, things that I want
to do or stop doing, then I might add in
some favorite quotes. I also like writing a
letter to my younger self. It might help me put into
practice that advice right now. It could also help me learn
from past decisions and I learn to question my choices and make better
choices in the future. Another one would be encouragement
motivational letter. All this I think really ties in with compassion and self-love. Maybe some motivational
words to stay on my journey. Maybe I might list
some simple steps to help me get there or to
make the changes that I want to maybe to improve in a certain area and I load it
with affirmations to myself. I think that one is key, also reminders of how I just need to follow
my heart and turn off the voices that drown
out my own feelings and thoughts because by
checking deep within, I'm able to find those
treasures deepen side that will lift me up and helped
me feel compassionate. I also like maybe writing
a more practical letter to myself related to
setting goals, planning, maybe a list of
favorite things to do, maybe a list of things
that make me happy, ideas of things to do when
I don't know what to do. I could add a list of
things that call me, make me feel centered
and grounded, or things that inspire me and bring about more creativity. Maybe a list of
things I want to try out or challenge myself in. Anyway, I think there's so many things that you
can add in your letter. I think this is really
key to personalize and realize what words that you need right now or for
your future you and then reread that letter over and over again as much
as you need it. [MUSIC]
12. Examples of my Own Letters: [MUSIC] I wanted to show you in
this class a few letters that I've written for
myself as of late. As you know, there's this one, which is the one
we've done together, which is more like a general
encouraging, uplifting one. Then here's another fun
little bag I found. [NOISE] It's different than an envelope but I thought
it could be variety. This one, I've called it
my motivational lecture. It's one of those
letters that I read to myself when maybe I'm
having a dull day or a blur day or just
nothing seems to be happening or going right
or I don't feel motivated. It's hard to get
started with something, whether it's a new project
or whether it's little piddly details of
completing a project, just that little
cheerleader letter that I need during
those moments. Here is a letter which I've
called authentically me. This one is a very short one, which I've written on a
little postcard because I loved the picture and the
flowers and the colors. This one is more like just
a reminder to myself, hey, I can be me. I don't have to try
to be anybody else. No matter what I'm doing, what I'm not doing, it's okay as long as I'm being true to myself and
honestly myself. Because that's the
most important. There's a quote that says, how wild it is to
just let it be me. Anyway, I love going
back to this one just as a reminder that I can be my best self without
anybody else's help. This one is, be encouraged. As you can see, I've decorated each one
a little bit differently but still with loads
of fun and pictures, sometimes I've added stickers
and some of my own designs. This one is my own little letter writing paper that I used, and this one is my
encouragement letter. It says when I need a
pick me up to reassure myself that it's all
going to be okay. This is for one of those
low days and maybe when somebody tells me
something and I feel like I could just burst in tears, we have those moments too, so I'll pick up this
encouragement letter. Here's one I don't
think I've written yet but it's a beautiful
letter-writing paper. I think I'll write this
one to the future me. This one is for during
a difficult time. This is when I probably need
a little more encouragement. I've also written it with
little blanks so I can personalize it to what I'm
going through at the moment. I feel that some
letters I just write and I just read and I'm
just feel encouraged. They're more general
but this one, I feel I have to really make it true to the moment
and I think that will have the most meaning and
wisdom and comfort that I need. Not only to help me be understanding of
myself and aware of those feelings but also
be able to let them go and move on to more positivity. This one, I've
added another one, which is the
wonderful thing about envelopes because you don't have to feel limited to just including one letter,
you could write more. I wrote this one and I
called it a piece of wisdom, which I guess also ties along
with when I'm going through a difficult time so I
included it in this envelope. This one, it's a
beautiful card I found. It's also blank so this is another one to write
in the future. As you can see, I love to have some blanks available
so that I can continue to do this
process because each time I write a letter
and I read over a letter, it just has so much more meaning and because I grow
and evolve with time, I think I know what my
heart needs at the moment. If you find a nice
pretty envelope or letter-writing paper or card, keep it for yourself. Even if you don't write
the letter right then and there you can use it for
later down the line. This one is a really
cute paper as well. It's called to my younger self. It's a cute kitty
letter writing pad so I thought it was
applicable and I use that dear younger
self and it's with love from your
45-year-old self. Because that's my
age when I wrote it. That would be fun to always go back to and even write a few. I brought myself
back in time when I wrote this one to a certain
time in my life when I was going through some difficulties and some challenging moments and I could speak to myself right then in
there encouraging me, motivating me to keep going, everything's going to
turn out all right. This one I love. I've placed a sticker and a little
string as a ribbon. Again, you can see you can
get creative with your cards and envelopes and
writing papers. I think that's the fun part. This one is a thank you
card or a thank you letter. I think we all need those. Maybe we don't hear enough
thank yous in our day, in our lifetime so give
yourself that thank you. I had lots of thanks to say. My family, they load me with
thanks but I think I needed something very specific at the moment so I wrote
myself this one. The last one so far
that I've made, this one is a little
envelope I put together, it was a piece of paper and
it's called gift for you. This one is my motivational
letters or quotes. These are some shorts, I haven't even filled
them all up yet. These little cards,
little papers and when I might need a
really quick maybe one liner, says to and yes, from me, because I love you, and you're worthy, and
you have things to share. It says yay, it's your
day to shine, to show, to share, just to
be, and not care. I wrote myself that little rhyme as a gentle reminder that, hey, I can be myself again, I don't need to
care what everybody else thinks as long as I care, as long as I give
myself self-care, that's what matters, that's the most important. Well, that was my little
collection of letters so far. I hope that this
might inspire you to go ahead and try some for
yourself and write them, read them, reread
them and if you need something else in the
moment then write another one. So many benefits from writing yourself that
letter and most of all you give yourself that
best wisdom, that support. Well, I'm looking forward
to seeing some of your letters or pretty designs of envelopes, writing papers. Don't worry about sharing your personal notes to
yourself but if you have some beautiful designs that
you've got inspired to make after watching this
course I'd love to see them. Send me a comment. Send a picture. Share it with the rest
of the community to encourage and motivate others to do this little activity
for themselves. Bye, for now.
Agnes De Bezenac, Designer of Tools for Wellbeing
