Meditation and Writing: How to Open Your Mind and Enhance Your Creativity

meditation and writing Writing is a unique career choice. There can be many peaks and valleys in terms of levels of creativity, work flow, and the number of projects that you are working on. This is why it is important to take advantage of productive times. This helps to mitigate the impact of the lulls in your productivity and the times when it is seemingly impossible to put a sentence together. There is nothing more frustrating than staring at the computer screen and trying piece a sentence together when you just can’t seem to find the right words.

Consistency, Focus, and Creative Flow

A common thing that most writers are always looking to achieve is consistency: consistency in their level of production, creativity, and the ability to maintain a high standard in terms of the quality of writing they provide for their clients. But, when you get busy with client projects, have to worry about when to pick up the kids from soccer practice, and everything else that is part of your daily life, it is easy for your mind to be preoccupied with other things. This makes it extremely difficult to focus on the task at hand – writing. While some writers find that they are at their best in the morning, and others have a particular coffee shop that tends to get their creative juices flowing, I have personally found that meditation has helped me clear my mind and think more creatively when working on writing projects.

Writing and Creativity are Interconnected

Writing and creativity go hand in hand. When your mind is full of busy thoughts it can be hard to create high quality content, let alone string together more than a few cohesive sentences. When your mind is cluttered with other thoughts, it is hard to focus and keep your creativity dialed in. meditation and writing This is why it is important for you to calm your mind and eliminate the background noise and thoughts that interrupt your creative flow. All writers want to avoid writers block at all costs. But, on occasion it happens to the best of us. I use meditation as a tool to do this. Okay, I know what you are thinking – “I don’t know how to meditate”. The truth is that meditation is actually really easy. All you have to do is:

  1. Find a quiet spot
  2. Close your eyes
  3. Focus on your breathing

Take a series of deep breaths and slowing as you let your breath out. This will provide you with a calming effect. It is okay if your mind takes your thoughts someone else. Just refocus and continue to concentrate on your breathing. Do this for 5 minutes per day to start. You may find that 5 minutes is all that you need. How long you meditate depends on how quickly you will be able to calm your mind. There is no wrong way to do this, so don’t worry about if you are doing it correctly or not. Just focus on your breathing and calming down your mind. I personally find that if I am having trouble concentrating at any point during the day, I do a 5-minute meditation session. This usually calms my mind and helps me focus on the task at hand.

How Does Meditation Improve my Writing?

Being able to calm your mind and eliminate the thoughts that are constantly running through your mind will help you be a more focused writer. I have seen a significant increase in both my focus and level of production since I started using meditation. Meditation will help you:

  1. Have greater focus
  2. Be more efficient
  3. Be more creative
  4. Be more present
  5. Think critically and solve problems more easily
  6. More clearly put your thoughts into writing
  7. Experience fewer cases of writers block
  8. Communicate your thoughts more clearly
  9. Uncover new insights
  10. Make more detailed connections between concepts

Meditation will make you a better writer. Give it try! You won’t be disappointed. Nolan Wilson is a freelance writer who specializes in content marketing, blogging, and SEO. He helps companies develop high quality content marketing campaigns for their internet properties. He Has a Master’s Degree in Library & Information Science. Connect with him on Google + and LinkedIn.


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3 responses
  1. Derek Thompson Avatar

    I really enjoyed this piece. I think meditation also helps us achieve and maintain perspective. We create a still point around which our writing life and all the other things we do can orbit. In fiction writing, a particular form of meditation called guided visualisation or pathworking can also be a great way to ‘follow your characters’ and see where they take you!

  2. betsey riedl Avatar
    betsey riedl

    I don’t meditate in a traditional sense.
    However, I lie in bed most mornings for 30-60 minutes going through my day. I have found this very helpful to keep me on schedule. If I have a problem while writing, I go for a quick 1-2 mile walk to clear my head and help me focus.

    1. Nolan Wilson Avatar

      This is exactly what I was getting at with the article. There is no one “right” way to meditate. It is more about calming your mind so you can re focus.

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