Meditation is the language of the soul. Writing meditation helps us to become still and quiet long enough to practice mindful listening and allow our soul to speak. In the focused and attentive moments of our practice, if we pay attention, we will hear the quiet whisperings of what matters most, the longings of our heart and soul, the essence of our true nature and how to make meaning in our lives.
Listen quietly inside for the longings of your heart and soul. What matters most?
The same is true for any types of mindfulness practices, whether we’re practicing mindfulness meditation, writing meditation, mindful listening, mindful photography or other mindful practices. Lately I’ve been making a lot of space for mindful listening in my sitting meditation, writing meditation, and photography meditation practices.
Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; unbelief, in denying them. –Ralph Waldo Emerson
One of the things that my soul is longing for is to focus more attention toward the intersection of mindfulness, meditation, and creativity. I’ve spent this year deepening my mindful creativity practices, and I feel more aligned with my authentic self in ways that make me curious about how I ever seem to veer off track. But life has its twists and turns that always take us away from what matters most, and it’s up to practice noticing when we leave ourselves, like the mind wandering during awareness of breathing practice, and bring ourselves back to home base. My home base includes mindfulness and creativity.
To this end, I’ve been deepening my writing meditation and photography meditation practices, and I’m enjoying sensing back into why I love these practices so much, the rewards that each of them brings to my life, and why I’ve always loved teaching these practices. I’m feeling so re-impassioned about writing meditation that I’m putting together a long blog post about it with links to a series of 12 blog posts over the next 6-12 weeks that explore different aspects of writing meditation practice. And after that, I’ll be putting together a series about photography meditation.
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. –Maya Angelou
What are the mindfulness meditation practices that bring you back to your home base and true nature again and again? I’d love to hear more about your experience in the comments below.
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2 replies on “Writing Meditation as a Mindful Listening Practice”
[…] Engage in creative expression. Studies have shown that being creative also activates the parasympathetic nervous system, creating an optimal state in which healing can occur. Try making photographs with your cell phone, writing, baking, knitting, hand-building clay, coloring, drawing, painting, woodworking, or any other creative adventure that you may like to explore. Let go of trying to do things perfectly, and just enjoy being creative. See my post on Writing Meditation. […]
[…] healing can occur. Try making photographs with your cell phone, writing in a journal, practicing writing meditation. , baking, knitting, hand-building clay, coloring, drawing, painting, woodworking, or any other […]