Today, we’re looking at a wonderful idea called Wind Phones. They’re regular old-timey wall phones that are installed on trees or other structures in quiet spots. You are meant to use them to talk to the loved ones you’ve lost. Of course, they’re attached to nothing technological, but people report that talking into them to a person you cherished seems to help. I could see that being a comfort, like what meditation or prayer can do for the brain of a believer.

A good childhood friend lost her mom a couple of days ago, and as it always does when a friend loses a parent, it took me right back to the week I lost my mom. There have been so many things I wanted to tell her over the last 13 years, so today’s thoughtful and beautiful thing really resonated with me. I may need to visit one of these in New York.

The original was created in Japan by a man named Itaru Sasaki. He had just lost his cousin to cancer, so he got the idea to set up a phone booth in his garden. He called it Kaze No Denwa (風の電話), which translates as The Wind Phone. The following year, an earthquake and tsunami took the lives of many of his countrymen. Wanting to share his idea, Sasaki moved his phone booth to a hill overlooking the Pacific and encouraged mourners to visit the wind phone to talk to their lost loved ones. Eventually, a charitable foundation grew up around the idea, and the phones started to appear all over the world.

You can learn more about the organization on the My Wind Phone website and on Instagram and Facebook. The website includes a Wind Phone locator so you can find one near to you.

Wishing us all peace.