Clattertron

[dc]I[/dc] send out a new email newsletter every week through MailChimp (sign up here), and decided to back up my old newsletters here. This is Clattertron Newsletter #2 – When in Doubt, Meditate from July 19, 2015. 

I’m no stranger to meditation. My first exposure to the practice of meditating (and it is a practice) was about seven or eight years ago at a meditation workshop held in a local yoga studio.

I’ve dealt and with anxiety, depression, stress, over-reacting, and more over the years, and I heard meditating could help with these. The workshop did spark an interest in meditation, and I left the workshop feeling amazing (for a little while).

I didn’t stick with the practice though, and only seriously picked it up again within the past couple years or so. I can meditate by myself, eyes closed, no problem, but I do enjoy guided meditation. Guided meditation, as the name implies, is when someone speaks to you while you meditate, saying which parts of your body to focus on, how to breath, or even give you affirmations to repeat in your mind.

Meditating does work, for me at least. I notice a big difference when I keep up the daily practice (sometimes even twice, or more, a day) and likewise, I notice when I don’t meditate for a few days in a row.

These days, I regularly use the Calm app on my phone when meditating. In fact, I rarely meditate without it.

The Calm app.

The Calm app offers a variety of guided meditations, ranging from positivity to motivation to quelling anxiety. The app is free at first, and comes with a bunch of free meditations, but I paid the $40 yearly subscription to gain access to everything.

Calm’s centerpiece is its 21 Days of Calm, a 21-part guided meditation series about mindfulness. I’m on day four, which I just finished before writing this newsletter. (note: you can try 7 Days of Calm for free when you first download the app)

Because everything is better with Star Wars, there’s a very Jedi thing to Calm’s mindfulness meditations: it’s about not reacting. Emotions, sounds, and sensations—ignoring them (or rather, ignoring your knee-jerk instinct to react with emotion). In Star Wars, there are many references to be mindful of your feelings or emotions betraying a character (being angry never leads to good things for me).

This is something I am working on: being mindful, and not reacting. I have a long way to go, but I notice improvements, bit by bit.

In Star Wars, the Jedi are all about being calm and not giving into their emotions. The Jedi’s opposites, the Sith, use emotions (mainly anger and hatred) as a power source, but with consequences (they are never at peace, for example).

I’m hardly a calm, peaceful Jedi, but I’m making the effort. When I’m calm (especially after completing a meditation practice) I’m focused and motivated, which is good in my creative life as well as my personal life.