| January 30, 2025
Wisdom
I've been meditating pretty regularly for the past two years, ever since experiencing a period of extreme burnout that really knocked me for a loop. Recently, I noticed something fascinating about the parallels between meditation and writing that I wanted to share with you this week as it’s really helped me weather some of those “bad” writing days that we all know so well.
Both writing and meditation are practices where you never quite know what you're going to get until you sit down. With meditation, there are those rare "good" days when everything flows – your thoughts fade into the background, you feel calm, clear-headed, and maybe even a little zen.
But then there are the other days (which, let's be honest, happen far more often). Your thoughts ping-pong all over the place. You can't sit still. You're fidgety and anxious. You can't follow your breath for longer than a single inhale and exhale, and random thoughts from twenty years ago suddenly pop into your head.
Sound familiar? It should – because I've just described what it feels like to write a novel.
Some days, you sit down and everything flows. The words pour out, you're inspired and motivated, and you have to force yourself to take breaks.
Then there are those other days when you feel completely inept. Your fingers fumble over the keyboard. You can't string together a single inspired sentence. Your plot feels weak, your characters fall flat, and you wonder why you even started this project in the first place.
Here's the thing though – my meditation teachers constantly remind me that the goal of meditation isn't to feel peaceful and calm (though that can be a nice side effect). The goal is to practice being aware of your experience as you're having it.
I'd argue the same is true for writing. Yes, the goal might seem to be "finish the novel," but if that were the only goal, why not just hire a ghostwriter? Because the journey of writing the novel – that's where the real value lies.
The ups and downs, the plot holes and plot fixes, the "this sucks" days followed by the "wait, I know how to fix it!" days – these are the real treasures of the writing process. Both writing and meditation brush up against something fundamentally human, but if we're too focused on the outcome, we miss that opportunity.
Both require us to show up and practice, regardless of the weather outside or inside our minds. We have to do the work, sit down every day, and trust that over time, little by little, we have the potential to create something magnificent.
It doesn't happen in one "good" sitting or one "bad" sitting. It's the collection of all those experiences, all those writing sessions, that ultimately creates the story.
So the next time you're having one of those difficult writing days, remember – it's all part of the practice. The struggle isn't a sign you're doing it wrong. It's proof you're doing it right.
- Jessica |
