Meditation for Writers

Meditation for writers is really meditation for life. For many years now, I’ve been fascinated with meditation. And whenever something interests me, guess what: I read whole shelves of books on the topic. Most instructional meditation books agree that it can be as simple as following your breath. They also tell you that your mind will wander and that thoughts and emotions will arise. And then they’ll tell you that you just have to let them drift by like clouds on a sunny day and gently let them go. After a few weeks, it will become second nature. Um. No. Read More …

June 29, 2020August 23, 2020 LK Lohan

Communication in the Age of Distraction

We still read and often admire the correspondence between thinkers and writers of old. Before electronic communication came along, writing letters was the only way of exchanging thoughts, transmitting information, getting and giving feedback, or just plain keeping up with what was happening in the lives of faraway family and friends. Weeks and sometimes months would go by before you received an answer. I can only imagine the joy and anticipation, maybe mixed with a little dread, people would feel at finding a letter in their mailbox; how they would savor reading and re-reading it, just to prolong the experience. Read More …

June 1, 2020July 19, 2020 LK Lohan

Resistance

A few years ago, a little book fell into my hands. Steven Pressfield’s “Do the Work!“. A quick, easy read with gimmicky formatting (at least the version I have), and yet the contents hit me like an axe between the shoulderblades. It boils down to this: Resistance is the universal enemy, an unthinking force of nature that pushes us to act against our self-interest, our values, and our better judgement. It’s an ever-present threat that’s hard to recognize because internally it shows up in so many ways: Discomfort. Confusion. Laziness. Inertia. Preoccupation. Rationalization. The outward reactions it triggers are just Read More …