Tools for Creative Meditation

How I use mediation, journaling, and music to nurture and sustain my creativity.

I possess a mind that is easily driven to distraction, wandering off like a curious puppy who has gotten loose from its collar and leash. As well-intentioned as I might feel at the beginning of the day, I become lost in thoughts, emotions, and the inevitable disruptions and crises that are a natural part of life.

I inadvertently discovered that I used photography as a meditative practice, a tool to bring my easily distracted mind back to the center. Wielding a camera focused my attention on the moment before me rather than lamenting the past or obsessing over the unknowable future. I appreciated the beauty and the peace found in observing and experiencing the present moment. I enjoyed that feeling, and I wanted to get back to it as much as possible.

However, the realities of life prevent me from doing this as often as I want. It isn’t just about photography but occupying a healthier headspace, where I feel more like a human being rather than an amped-up hamster running frantically on a wheel. I needed ways of experiencing that state of mind without a camera.

Meditation

Meditation became a necessary part of my day. Along with exercise, it evolved into an essential component of my morning routine. As I have told many friends, I roll out of bed “crazy,” filled with thoughts and expectations about a day that hasn’t even started.

Those five-to-ten-minute sessions don’t adhere to a specific meditative practice, many of which exist. But whether I practice box-breathing or listen to a guided meditation, I manage to quiet down the voices in my head long enough to be grateful for even having woken up.

I observe my breath and take in the sensations of my body and the sounds and smells around me. I enjoy and appreciate the space that is my home, my sanctuary. Regardless of the previous day’s events and today’s obstacles and challenges, my moments of meditation are mine, untethered from barometers of good versus bad, success or failure.

Journaling

Daily journaling became another tool of my morning practice. Inspired by Julia Cameron’s influential book, The Artist’s Way, I produce two-to-three pages of stream of consciousness writing in a journal. Though the writing may sometimes chronicle moments in my life, it often filters my thoughts and feelings. Putting pen to paper provides a momentary reprieve from feelings that can easily overwhelm and distort my perspective. It helps to realize and consider alternative choices to big and small issues. I realize that I don’t have to default to a long-conditioned reaction that no longer serves or benefits me.

Despite using a digital journal for years, my return to an analog journal has been transformative. Adding a fountain pen (typically a Lamy 2000) and a bound journal slowed the writing process, making me more careful as I manifested each word and thought onto the blank page. The process is as physical as it is mental. I concentrate on the way the pen feels in my hand and how the pen’s nib releases ink onto the paper. It mirrors the experience of handling a camera in that it consists of a series of choices culminating in something tangible. The experiences are equally as satisfying.

Music Listening

Music of any genre or variety is easily available and accessible. It exists in the palm of our hands and, with a pair of earbuds, can become an intimate and private experience. Yet, in today’s world, music is nothing more than background noise. It exists in the background while negotiating a highway, doing housework, or drafting a spreadsheet. It’s something we are aware of but not necessarily paying attention to.

I have made music listening a more purposeful thing in my life. I am returning to the days of my youth when I placed vinyl records on my dad’s precious stereo system, donned his oversized headphones, placed the needle on the record, and got lost in the sounds and the hypnotic rotation of the album on the turntable.

I haven’t returned to vinyl records, but at least one day a week, I settle in a lounge chair in my office, launch the music app on my phone, don my favorite headphones, and listen to an entire album. I focus exclusively on the music and don’t check e-mails, write tracking scripts, or edit photographs. I listen to the music and that conversation that the artists are having with me.

My musical choices have revolved around creating an experience of discovery or rediscovery. The goal is to quiet my mind and pay attention to the nuance of the instruments, melody, voices, and the emotions and thoughts they bring out in me.

Recent albums have included Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour’s self-titled solo album, Serenata by Brazilian guitarist Paulo Bellinata, From a Room Vol. 1 by Chris Stapleton, and Roots by Curtis Mayfield. I may return to old favorites, but exploring less familiar material helps me to focus my attention on what I am hearing in the moment rather than how I may remember it.

Whether photographing, meditating, journaling, or listening to music, the goal is to return to that place of being present, in the moment. Purposefully returning to the space makes life not only more pleasurable but ensures that the next time I pick up a camera, I will know how to quickly return to that mindset where I thrive creatively and find joy.