How I carve out creative white space

After the kids go to school, I meditate for 10 minutes in the morning.

I use a series of guided lessons from the app The Way.

It’s by American Zen Master Henry Shukman.

(Headspace and Waking Up are both good meditation apps, too.)

When I’ve more time, I meditate without an app for 20 minutes.

I do this after dinner, too.

For these sessions, I use a mantra. I picked up this mantra on a Transcendental Meditation course I took a few years ago.

My TM teacher taught me how to use this mantra when practising TM.

I’d tell you what the mantra is, but the first rule of TM is… don’t talk about TM!

Also, the mantra is nonsensical to everyone but me.

Now, sitting cross-legged, rubbing my thumbs together, and humming into the great unknown won’t do the work for me.

I still have to power up my laptop and write, create a course lesson, code, or help a client.

Meditating alone won’t top up my bank account or find time to help my daughter with her homework either.

But meditation is a nice way of silencing the noise. And, my life is noisy lately.

Even when things go to hell, meditation is a nice way of stepping back from events outside of my control. I can usually approach a creative problem with a fresh insight as well.

Creative work becomes much easier if you set aside time every day for your version of meditation.

Or as American spiritual teacher Ram Dass said:

If you need help creating consistently, I’m launching a new challenge called the Creator’s White Space. Reply “GURU” to this email to learn more.