Have you thought about the effectiveness of lists in writing? Take a moment and think of the famous lists that come to mind like My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music or the Ten Commandments from the Bible. Even when we can't name them all, I bet we can name a few or most.
Lists can help us as writers be concise, ordered and on topic. They also let the reader draw their own inferences. The first post I read on this blog was Jack Canfora's gratitude list, Dear Lord, Not Another Post on This Blog about Gratitude and I'm grateful it made me want to write for this blog. AP2 polled the readers of this blog and created 9 Pieces of Indispensable Life Advice From Your Future Self. And Dr. Gerald Stein's list of How to Become Your Own Best Friend has so many nuggets of wisdom to mine. I can name those lists as impactful off the top of my head plus some items on them because at least I find lists are more memorable.
So, here's a list I've written.
Why I Meditate
I meditate because it is the one thing that has improved the quality of my life the most.
The quality prior to meditation was only manageable if I drank a bottle of wine a day.
Meditation helps me live in my heart, not my head.
Because the voice in my head is an asshole.*
And I was sometimes an asshole when I listened to it.
Meditation has helped me to eat at the table of what IS and stopped begging at the table of what ISN'T.
I meditate to so that at least once I day I'm listening to the right things instead of the wrong things.
Right things include love, empathy, patience, wonder, awe, curiosity, grace, laughter.
Wrong things include judgment, self-flagellation, anxiety, comparison.
Meditation has helped me give up two key stories: that situations are win/lose and that choosiness leads to joy.
Instead I believe in bowing down to openness and creating porous boundaries where I try not to hang out to things as they come and go.
I meditate because it helps me exercise my grace muscle instead of my judgment reflex.
Sitting quietly in meditation has helped me to hear the heartbeat of life and trust in its timing and flow.
I almost always get this wrong and push ahead of the envelope but I've learned to respect it, especially in hindsight.
Meditation has helped me find internal quiet and be able to rest there.
When resting in that space, I can more easily find my way to others.
It takes repetition but meditation in five-fifteen minute daily increments has been the most gentle way of changing my life.
The other ways change has come to my life through loss, suffering and chaos have been a lot less fun.
And when I get all of the above wrong, which I do all the time, meditation helps me not judge myself too harshly, breathe and begin again.
How's that for a list? Do you use lists in your writing? How about meditation?
*I give credit to former newsman Dan Harris, a self-described cynical but committed proponent of meditation and mindfulness for the phrase "the voice in my head is an asshole." His podcast, Ten Percent Happier has great guests who discuss the science of mindfulness and it also has free, short 8-10 minute guided meditations. And for anyone looking for an app, Healthy Minds has 5-minute meditations. I am not affiliated with either.
For more posts like this – a little story-telling mixed with philosophy, please visit my personal blog at https://wynneleon.wordpress.com or follow me on Instagram @wynneleon
An Ask: If you haven't already, please sign up for the Wise and Shine newsletter. We are working hard to make this a community for writers and readers. I promise our newsletter will be chock full of interesting content you won't want to miss!
And please connect with us on social media Instagram account: @wise_and.shine and Twitter account @wise_nd_shine, Facebook Wise and Shine Zine and Pinterest as Wise & Shine.
(featured photo from Pexels)
No comments:
Post a Comment