For anyone who develops a meditation practice, a question that often eventually arises is, “Should I have a pad of paper next to me in order to write down good ideas that come up when I meditate?”
In general, the standard advice for meditating is to sit still and not move. If you’ve ever gotten a massage, perhaps you’ve noticed that once you’re deeply settled and relaxed, even a small motion can tighten everything up again. Similarly, generally, anytime we move when we meditate — to blow our noses, to check our phones, to adjust our posture, and yes, to write something down — we’re usually disturbing our meditation, physically and mentally.
Pretty much all monasteries and retreat centers that I have practiced in over the decades have enforced a rule of “no writing anything down inside the meditation hall.” 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 — “I should remember to pay that bill,” “Here is a thoughtful email I could write” — to not grab on and instead to just let the inspiration float past like a cloud in the sky. I’ve 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’s one way to go.
But I’ve also heard it said that when it was founded decades ago, one of the most hardcore monasteries that I’ve done retreats in — one that now enforces a strict no-writing policy — 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’ve been in private and write things down. I’m not claiming that I am certain that that has been the right choice, but that’s the one that I have often made.
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.
Amanda Palmer, an indie rock songwriter and musician, wrote a famous essay about being on a meditation retreat when inspiration for a new song arose for her. She wrote vividly about the choice she faced: to value the creative spark and go write down her ideas, or to honor the spirit and container of the retreat and not write it down.
I think the bottom line is that I see and value both sides of this equation, and that it is indeed an understandable dilemma. I think there are times when writing down the ideas that pop up while meditating preserves something valuable, but it is also helpful to know that any time we do, we are taking away from our meditation. The trade off is worth seeing clearly.