Mindfulness as a Writer

Mindfulness has been a buzzword in the self-help space for a while now. Sitting quietly. Breathing. Noticing your thoughts and returning your focus to the breath. For some, myself included, stillness like this can be akin to torture. I am predisposed to anxiety so movement is better for me.

The good news is that there are other ways to maintain a mindfulness practice. Any time you’re paying 100% attention to what you’re doing, you’re practicing mindfulness.

Paying attention to what’s happening in the present moment is all well and good. Personally, I like words. I like writing. And if you’re here reading this, I suspect you feel the same.

The Benefits of Writing

Writing, especially handwriting, does some really cool things in your brain. Before we get into that, let’s talk about neural pathways.

Each thought you have travels along a neural pathway in your brain. The more often that pathway is used, the stronger it becomes. Your brain prefers the path of least resistance, so it naturally returns to the pathways it knows best. This is how habits form.

The more you think a particular thought, the stronger that neural pathway becomes. So how does this connect to writing?

When you create a new thought, a new neural pathway. writing doesn’t just lay it down once. It goes back over it several times.

Think of it like forging a new trail in the woods. The more often you walk it, the easier it is to find again. Writing works the same way. First, you think the initial thought in order to write it down. Then your brain traces it again as you focus on the hand movements required to write. Seeing the words take shape on the page reinforces the pathway yet again. And finally, reading what you’ve written runs over that same path one more time.

Handwriting goes over the neural pathway four times, making it significantly stronger. As this new pathway strengthens, the old one weakens—use it or lose it—until eventually, it fades away.

So Journaling Is Mindfulness?

Yes, journaling can absolutely be a mindfulness practice. The strongest form of mindful journaling I’ve found is called a brain dump.

I've been doing a brain dump every day for the past year at least and some of the thoughts that come out of it still suprise me. Moments when the light bulb goes off and something clicks into place. I recently discovered why I don't like getting my picture taken because of a brain dump.

To do a brain dump, set a timer for ten minutes and write without stopping.

Anything that comes into your head goes onto the page. Don’t worry about coherence. Don’t worry about spelling. If it doesn’t make sense, that’s fine. It still goes down on paper.

You’re literally watching your thoughts come to life on the page.

Once the ten minutes are up, you can reread what you’ve written and make changes. Cross out what you don’t want. Rewrite what you do want beneath it, or directly as you go, if that’s what happens naturally. I tend to write down something I don’t like and then immediately contradict it in the next sentence, followed by evidence for the thought I want to believe instead.

If that isn’t how your brain works, don’t force it. It comes with time and practice.

The Work Doesn’t Stop On The Page

Once the hidden parts of yourself come to life on the page, once you’re aware of them, that’s when change begins. But it doesn’t end there.

In your day-to-day life, you need to notice when those old thoughts resurface so you can stop yourself from strengthening that familiar neural pathway.

Catch the thought. Stop it in its tracks. Then reinforce the new thought instead.

The more you do this, the weaker the old pathway becomes, and the stronger the new one grows.

Journal Prompt

I want you to try a brain dump. To get you started, here’s a place to begin.

Get your journal out. Set your timer. As you sit down to write, think about this question:

“What about myself would I change if I could?”

When you’re done, write about the person you want to become. Because you can be that person. With a little effort and consistency, change is possible.

Come back next week to learn about the psychology of change, why it doesn’t stick, and what you can do about it.

Source Material

This material outlines Dr. Caroline Leaf's reasearch that I got from the book Switch On Your Brain Which you can get here

Also her book Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess

You can get the book here:

These are affiliate links that I will get a small commission if you purchase through my link. This will be at no additional cost to you.