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For anyone who develops a meditation practice, a question that often eventually arises is, \u201cShould I have a pad of paper next to me in order to write down good ideas that come up when I meditate?\u201d<\/p>\nFor anyone who develops a meditation practice, a question that often eventually arises is, \u201cShould I have a pad of paper next to me in order to write down good ideas that come up when I meditate?\u201d<\/p>\n
In general, the standard advice for meditating is to sit still and not move. If you\u2019ve ever gotten a massage, perhaps you\u2019ve noticed that once you\u2019re deeply settled and relaxed, even a small motion can tighten everything up again. Similarly, generally, anytime we move when we meditate \u2014 to blow our noses, to check our phones, to adjust our posture, and yes, to write something down \u2014 we\u2019re usually disturbing our meditation, physically and mentally.<\/p>\n
Pretty much all monasteries and retreat centers that I have practiced in over the decades have enforced a rule of \u201cno writing anything down inside the meditation hall.\u201d In fact, during some intensives, the regulation has been no writing anything down at all for the five to ten days, everywhere and at all times. The invitation has been that if one has an idea that seems brilliant and important \u2014 \u201cI should remember to pay that bill,\u201d \u201cHere is a thoughtful email I could write\u201d \u2014 to not grab on and instead to just let the inspiration float past like a cloud in the sky. I\u2019ve heard it described this way: take the beautiful flowers that grow in your mind and use them as fertilizer for the one main strong flower of your presence, of your mindfulness practice. So that\u2019s one way to go.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019ve also heard it said that when it was founded decades ago, one of the most hardcore monasteries that I\u2019ve done retreats in \u2014 one that now enforces a strict no-writing policy \u2014 actually had pads of paper and pencils next to the sitting cushions, because they understood the calming power of writing down good ideas. A thriving strategy that I learned decades ago for ADHD is to always have a pad of paper and pen with me, and to write down any thoughts that cross my mind so as to feel calmer and more focused with the content out of my head and, eventually, into a calendar, to-do list, document, or whatever. On retreats, the choice that I personally have made is usually to sneak off once I\u2019ve been in private and write things down. I\u2019m not claiming that I am certain that that has been the right choice, but that\u2019s the one that I have often made.<\/p>\n
Sometimes when meditation has helped dissolve the barriers between my conscious and subconscious mind, the creative ideas or to-do items that have popped up for me and that I have written down have turned out, in the end, to be genuinely important and useful. I have also, however, noticed that many of the items that have seemed important at the time I have eventually found were already on my to-do list, or that they were otherwise relatively forgettable.<\/p>\n