Lisa Francesca
  • Home
  • The Wedding Officiant's Guide
  • Helen & the Masters
  • Lisa Francesca's Blog

Thoughts about weddings, writing, and the world

The Most Important Voice

7/3/2014

 
Picture
Last week we talked about how to find brilliant speakers to listen to during your stay at the Summer Writers’ Colony. Now let’s talk about listening for the most important voice of all.

The arc of this summer is about discovering your writing life. Retreats are about pruning away all the non-essentials of everyday life. For writers at Yaddo, all that’s left after pruning might be a small bed, a large desk, and lunch delivered every day in a basket.

But perhaps you, like me, are surrounded at home by family members, animals that need feeding, and mountains of laundry. Then it is essential to start, strengthen, and maintain a meditation practice, if you do not have one already. By meditating daily, you are creating that still, spare room in which you write. If you are starting your very first meditation practice, begin with five minutes.  Lengthen your session by a minute every few days. Twenty minutes is a good session. Twenty minutes twice a day is probably optimum. You are rebooting your system.

You can find eleventy-seven ways to meditate on the Web, so I won’t crowd this post with how-to. But it’s worth pointing out that meditation practices tend to fall into one of two camps. Either you watch your thoughts rise and pass (insight meditation), or you perform a technique in order to temporarily ignore your thoughts (concentration or tranquility meditation).

Now, we writers think A LOT. We spend most of our time embroidering our stories—that’s how we roll. The benefit of owning a delirious writing brain is that when you give yourself a little peace and quiet, the most outrageous and wonderful ideas tend to pop up. The downside: we are more vulnerable than the average Jane to getting mired in our stories. Folks who are in recovery from various addictions are often warned, “Your mind is a dangerous neighborhood; don’t go in there alone.” But as a writer, I have to disagree — yes, it can be an dangerous place, but that's where I live and do my best work. We find our balance on the razor's edge.

So you might want to spend a little time thinking about which kind of meditation you need right now. If you are stuck in something you’re writing about, try insight meditation techniques and let the thoughts come. Just don’t chase them. Keep a pad nearby and jot down any particularly gripping scene or solution, then let it go. As a writer, you are allowed to do this. And then get back to your breath.

If, on the other hand, your mind is more crowded with characters than a Lower East Side turn-of-the-century tenement, by all means, use a mantram or your breath to shut off the neurojuice for a while. It’s your brain and your meditation practice. Make this divine tool work for you.

Your homework this week: Start a notebook about your writing life. When are your best hours? What helps you to quickly get down to business? How do you decompress? How’s the meditation going? Leave a comment and let us know!

These zen masters below, photographed by artist Peggy Anderson, are demonstrating the tranquility meditation method.


Picture

Comments are closed.
    Picture

    Welcome!

    Here are some thoughts about weddings, writing, and the world. Enjoy.
    (Photo by Peggy Anderson)

    Categories

    All
    A Good Marriage
    Anxious
    Books For Marriage
    Bride
    Community
    Create Your Ceremony
    Cultures
    Dresses
    Eco Writing
    Fair Fight
    Food
    Helen And The Masters
    Interfaith
    Marriage License
    Meditation
    Props
    Readings For The Wedding
    Religions
    Resources For Writers
    Short Ceremony
    Social Media
    Spiritual Practices
    Summer Writing Colony
    The Officiant's Guide
    Useful Actions
    Wedding Mistakes
    Wedding Vows
    Witness
    Writing

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2021
    July 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    July 2017
    March 2017
    June 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • The Wedding Officiant's Guide
  • Helen & the Masters
  • Lisa Francesca's Blog