Writing and Meditation.

Welcome to quiet contemplation!

Just stopped by to read ‘I’ve become my parents’ and found it entertaining and hilarious and yet so very true! We rarely do follow-through anything that we have started, give up mid-way and  never return to it- especially in the case of Writing. Great visions of a great story in the making-reaches a dead-end after a couple of sentences and is nixed even before the first paragraph has been completed and is all too soon a forgotten story!This was my experience in my early days of Writing and even though reading of a similar experience now made me smile, it was a tad too frustrating a couple of years ago to be unable to see through a supposedly great piece of story to its visualised conclusion.

Where was I going wrong? It was time for introspection and self-observation- in other words time to quietly contemplate on where the problem was and how it could/should be resolved.It seldom happens that quiet contemplation does not throw up the answers to the question that one were seeking and so if I were honest enough to admit the reasons for my inability to complete a creative piece of writing I had started- the reasons were staring me in the face. Laziness or a mental lethargy to put the mind to work to find the right words(why bother?) unwillingness to sit for long periods of time at a stretch(other things seemed more interesting like watching T.V.etc.) not determined enough to return or resume an unfinished piece(had already lost interest in the story) great new story ideas buzzing in the head even before the first one was even remotely near completion (simply yearned to begin what I thought was another great story)

Meditation revealed the qualities I was lacking in reality-single-minded focus, determination, commitment, a certain degree of self-lessness  to willingly take pains to write something that will be truly enjoyable and worthwhile to one who reads it  and a genuine need to communicate my thoughts on the subject I wished to write- not topics in which my interest was only fleeting and knowledge superficial. Meditation helped me to sift through the ideas and identify the subject I really wished to write on and therefore automatically relegated the other great story ideas as just that-great story ideas in which I had neither the long-term interest nor the dedication to see it to completion. Once I had ascertained the topic, the single-minded focus came easy because it was on a subject I really knew and really wished to communicate. Now it was not difficult to sit down to write even after supposed breaks for lunch/dinner etc. and despite the strong distraction of the Television because now I was more determined and therefore able to overcome the temptation/distraction. Lastly commitment- now that I had started writing a piece, I was myself curious to reach a satisfactory end and also eager to try and send it across for publication and hopeful and excited of seeing my first-ever piece published!

Now after nearly eight years, I have crossed all those initial roadblocks in Writing and today for me Writing itself is Meditation. Sitting in quiet contemplation and stilling the mind, being centred and in tune with the energies of the moment, knowing that I just have to begin and the energies will take me forward- Writing flows simply and effortlessly. This ease, this effortlessness has no doubt come about after working hard  at my writing, but even more importantly has come about because of a regular and sustained practice in Meditation and quiet contemplation. It is Meditation which has helped me tune in to the creative side and tap into the unlimited God-given resource and come up with something absolutely original- thoroughly enjoy the creative process whilst I’m writing and finally churn out a piece that is engaging,entertaining and hopefully just as enjoyable to the reader.

To me therefore Writing and Meditation go hand-in-hand.This art of Writing can be fine-tuned through sustained practice of Meditation and achieving mastery over the same because Writing requires thoughts/ideas and Meditation provides those thoughts/ideas.

Happy musings!