“Who am I,
Standing in the midst of this
thought traffic?
”
As we struggle to focus and write during COVID19, mindfulness and meditation are more helpful than ever to help us manage all the thought traffic that leaves us stuck creatively. These practices are what bring us back to ourselves.
Writer wellness = Intention + Devotion x Community
My husband’s grandmother went to mass pretty much every day of her life, and I think there’s a lot to be learned from that devotion. We can also consider the intentionality a dancer brings to the barre in class each day, even if they’re a prima ballerina, or how a musician will work their cello eight hours a day. As writers, we can build strong artistic habits ourselves. But it must start with devotion.
So how do we cultivate intention and devotion?
Showing up.
State out loud why you are or aren’t writing that day in order to set your intention and keep yourself honest. (“I’m writing today because…” or “I’m not writing today because…”).
Gratitude (check out the hand blessing meditation on the recording): For your hands, your literacy, this writing tool you’ve got, your imagination, etc.
Ritual: Light a candle, read a poem, do something that makes your time at the page sacred, set apart
Transitions: Meditate beforehand, or do some kind of ritual (as above) to ease from non-writing time to writing time
I spoke about how doing the Morning Pages from The Artist Way is a great practice, as well. You start your day off with words and emptying your mind. Win/win.
But a key practice? TRUST.
How do we trust ourselves as writers?
How do we cultivate authority and ditch arrogance? Basically, how do we know when to trust our guts and ignore feedback that doesn’t resonate with us.
As usual, my answer comes back to meditation and mindfulness.
The more that we tend to our minds by creating more inner expansiveness, and the more that we listen to our bodies, the better we’re able to understand where our North Stars are pointing. We can feel if something is tight and constricted (that’s a NO) versus warm and open and loose (that’s a YES). By decluttering our minds, we create more space, more bandwidth for our creativity. And the more we create, the more we set a foundation for trusting ourselves. We begin to know what works and what doesn’t. We have our own direct, lived experience to look at as opposed to just taking in what the million craft books and classes and talks tell us we “should” do as writers.
Even with my own advice, you have to try it - don’t just take my word for it. And if it doesn’t work for you, then ditch it!
Below is one quick mindfulness tool to begin cultivating some inner awareness, tending to your spaciousness. If you're like me, your mind is going a mile-a-minute all the time. You're running numbers, rehearsing for a conversation, lost in story lines or personal drama, going over the To Do list, obsessing about your career or social or - sometimes, if you're lucky - thinking about your new book.
It's a lot of thought traffic. All of this runs us, and runs us down. It's exhausting. And it doesn't cultivate the inner spaciousness we need to get our stories onto the page. This is where a bit of mindfulness comes in handy.
Hit Pause
As soon as you become aware of your thought traffic, first note it: "Thought traffic." As in fantasy novels, when you name something, it loses some of its power over you.
Direct your attention away from your thoughts and onto the physical sensation of your clothes on your body. Your hair on your head. Curl your toes or flex your feet to feel the ground beneath your feet. What does the jewelry on your body feel like, that weight? Notice the temperature - warm or cool.
The Pause can last as long as you wish. Even if it's just ten or twenty seconds, it's a mindful break in your thought traffic.
Do this every time you become aware of your thought traffic.
It might not seem like much, but what you'll notice is, over time: less thought traffic. More inner spaciousness. It won't happen all at once.
Don't take my word for it. See for yourself. Give yourself the gift of being truly aware of your one wild precious life.
Note: You can also hit Pause with sounds. Tuning into the sounds around you. I find external objects of meditation easier for The Pause, because it really launches you out of your headspace, but you can absolutely do this by focusing on your breath - 5 or 10 ten nice intentional breaths or just focusing on your breath for a bit as you breathe naturally.
If you struggle even noticing when you need to hit pause because you’re a victim of what Thich Nhat Hanh calls “habit energy” - habits that you do without thinking - then be practive and either set alarms on your phone to have some intentional pauses or always pause when you’re in a transition (such as when you go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, stand up, etc.).
I hope this helps as you navigate the ups and downs of the writer’s life! Courage, dear hearts.
