Finding Peace in the Pen: The Meditative Quality of Writing

Photo by Jessica Lewis Creative

For many worldwide, reading a book about short stories and poems can be transformative, cathartic, and soothing, but for a few, that distinction goes toward the act of writing itself.

Meditation is the practice of achieving mental clarity and emotional soundness through techniques that train one’s control of their awareness and attention. Many meditation methods involve breathing, repeating a mantra, or stimulating the senses while prompting the mind to be “tranquil,” taking it into deep relaxation and stillness. This result untangles the messy fugue of a chaotic mind full of pointless thoughts, run-away ideas, and intrusive memories. The idea of meditation is the improvement of one’s mental and physical well-being.

While reading a book about short stories and poems can be a way to meditate, most people are unaware that writing can also be a suitable method.

How Can Writing Be a Method for Meditating?

Writing meditations are short, focused sessions that foster creativity through mindful and deliberate concentration and help to provide a moment of reflection and introspection. It also encourages empathy and critical thinking by prompting shifts toward unique perspectives.

Writing has plenty of benefits aside from being a vehicle for expressing oneself and telling a story; it increases productivity, improves mood, and betters health conditions. 

Finding Peace in Writing

There does not need to be a proper process regarding meditative writing, only generalities. Here are some of them that you might want to consider when finding peace:

1. Before anything else, the first thing to do is to find a prompt that keeps you focused.; it could be a personal endeavor or simply something solely for writing or meditation.
2. Then, find a quiet and relaxing place, somewhere no one will barge in. Assume a comfortable position to write and set a timer for however long. Take deep breaths while you are in the middle of preparation. Forget everything else, unburden your mind, untangle the knot in your stomach, and pull down the tautness of your limbs. Eliminate the tension in your nerves.
3. Take the time to examine your surroundings. Weigh the pen with your hand, or feel the clack of the keyboard. Do some warm-ups to ready your mind by writing down everything you see that attracts your attention.
4. During the writing process, don’t worry about the technicalities of grammar and spelling–put your thoughts into writing. Do not think about a potential audience other than yourself. These words are for you, not for anybody else. Avoid editing your work.
5. Write as much as you can given what time you have given yourself. Remember, the purpose of this exercise is to train you to focus only on the writing process without consideration of anything else. Leave your mind on autopilot and let it guide the pen or the keyboard.
6. Just breathe and relax. Write everything that comes to mind, even the stray thoughts. Let every word that pops into your head bleed through your writing. Fill out the page. That is the mantra.
7. If you find yourself empty of words to write down, take a deep breath and calm yourself. Immediately jot down the first word and continue doing so until a steady pace is picked up. You can write down your sensations: the scent of the room, the sound of the pen meeting paper, or the keyboard meeting fingertip.
8. Do not think about what is being written; only that it is written. Even if a memory or a line of poetry suddenly emerges, maybe even a fragment of dialogue. Write it all down. Whether something pulls you toward a direction or not, write.
9. When the time is up, stop immediately. Read what you have written, reflect, and make clarifications; now, you may edit your work, critique, and judge. Always attempt to be introspective.

In Conclusion, Finding Peace Can Be Done with Writing

Whatever comes about during the meditative writing process, the result should always and foremost be something for you. When you are meditating through writing, you are not attempting to forge a novel or an essay. The result should be with the intention that the only reader is yourself. Many of history’s most significant personages wrote to meditate also, with no consideration that there would be an audience after the pen has left the paper (Although many of their writings have become public literature, that is a topic for another day). One thing is true among them: they understood the benefits of deliberate and focused writing to creativity, self-awareness, and personal well-being.