“Both writing and meditation are ways to expand and enrich time. In meditation, we learn to examine our thoughts and feelings from a new perspective, to watch the river of our consciousness flow by, observing it but not attaching ourselves to it. We train ourselves to have a meta-consciousness that observes ourselves observing, and that enlarges moments into infinity. In writing, we also develop that meta-consciousness. We experience our lives as lived events, but also as material to be carefully examined later for richness and meaning. Just as meditation makes life more aware and joyous, so writing allows us to live more deeply and fully. Both involved the sanctification of time.”
– Mary Pipher, Writing toChange the World .

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On Writing & Meditation

When we start to look into the topic of meditation for writers, two sets of questions can quickly arise: What kind of meditation? Mindfulness Stress Reduction? Tibetan Mantra practice? Calm Abiding? Sadana Practice? Centering Prayer? What kind of meditator: beginner? seasoned? occassional? lapsed? And what kind of writing? Screenplays? Non-fiction? Poetry? Journaling? What kind of writer? Private & personal? Professional? Somewhere in between?

But all of these questions occur somewhere downstream of the basic processes of writing and meditation whereas upstream we find that they both have much in common.

Similarities of Writing and Meditation

Writing from Deep Mind

Fear of Writing