Manifest, Meditate, & Write!

This past month I took on a manifesting challenge via Facebook.  I was not familiar with the practice of manifesting and at first I was a little skeptical of the whole thing.  How was just asking the Universe for support going to make any difference?  Then again I wondered -- what else did I have to lose?

I'll be honest, I am still unpacking my experience and my lingering doubts, but for some reason I keep hearing Jen's voice to "trust the process."   A lot of the manifesting process wasn't just about asking the Universe, but also asking yourself about your desires, motivations, fears, and futures.  Ultimately it was about showing up, but also about patience and trust.

I'm good at showing up, I'm not always great at patience and trust.   That was one thing I learned from the challenge -- which may not have been the intended result.

The other lesson I learned from my manifesting course is the real reason I am writing this blog post. I discovered a new practice to bring into my morning routines and by extension my notebook writing.  Since we started January discussing notebooks, I thought it might be a good idea to circle back to that very topic for this blog.  

Mindfulness Routine: Meditation  

One practice that this manifesting challenge brought back for me was meditation. Does anyone else struggle with meditation?  I've always liked the idea of it, but in practice I have always been too wound up with energy or feeling like I need to always be doing something to spend much time actually practicing it.  I can recall at one point during the manifesting challenge where I was supposed to be meditating, but all I could think about was how I had so many other things to be doing!

I felt guilty and I don't think the intention of meditation is to feel guilty.  This led me to wonder: how can I better fold meditation into my day so that it fits more naturally and is actually helping me and not making me feel bad?

The answer came to me the next morning when I was going about my routine to get ready.  It's the same routine every day: shower, get dressed, brush my hair, brush my teeth, take my vitamins, and sometimes makeup.  In the past, I have listened to podcasts, music, or even TikToks while going through this routine.  

However, the routine was so short that I never had enough time to properly listen to the podcasts.  I would often waste a lot of time trying to pick the "just right" song.  And I realized a few weeks in to my TikTok addiction that it was starting my day out with negativity and I didn't like that.

Instead, I could use my morning routine to meditate.  Not only did my manifesting challenge come with meditation activities, but I also had access to the Calm app for when there was no manifesting meditation.  I was pleased to find that most of these meditation practices already fit nicely into that time I spent in the bathroom.  

A true happy coincidence happened this morning though -- after I started writing this blog post what should the Calm app's meditation be about but "Mindfulness for You: there's no single right way to meditate."  Thanks Jay Shetty for confirming what was already my suspicion about meditation!  And apparently giving me proof that manifesting works because where were the chances that the meditation today would even be about that?

Meditation And Writing

By now you are probably wondering what does any of this have to do with writing?  That's what comes after the meditation.  I noticed fairly early on that many of the manifesting challenge meditations ended by having participants free write about whatever that day's topic for mediation was. 

For example, there was one day where we were asked to meditate and visualize our desires, along with how it made us feel.  Once the meditation was over, we were to write in detail what we saw and how we felt during the meditation.

Other times the writing was more prompted.  For example, writing a response to questions or finishing a statement.  It reminded me a lot of the gratitude journaling or permission to pause prompts many of you shared at our notebooking event.  

Somehow, in all my attempts at meditation, I had never thought to pair the practice of meditation with the practice of notebooking.  I suppose you could practice them at the same time (if Shetty's Daily Calm talk was anything to go by), but I think I will stick to them being a separate but united practice moving forward.  

Have you tried a practice like this before or would you be willing to try it?  I'd love to hear from you with how it goes.