First Thing In The Morning

I know you’ve got a lot on your plate.

I also know that almost every single person has some opinion about what should happen every morning when we first wake up. Some say exercise. Some say pray. Some say eat breakfast, drink water, or write three pages of whatever comes to mind. Some say meditate. I also say meditate.

You probably already know that meditation has been proven in about 20 million studies to make you happier and healthier in various complicated ways. Consider also what it doesn’t do:

• It doesn’t cost any money (unless you want it to)
• It doesn’t take any talent
• It doesn’t take a lot of time (unless you want it to)
• It doesn’t require much intelligence
• It doesn’t require much knowledge (unless you want it to)
• It doesn’t do any harm
• It’s not a team effort. It doesn’t take uniforms or coordinated schedules

Wonderful, right?

But I still haven’t told you why I really do it and why I think you also should consider it. Before I do, let me just clarify what I mean by meditation. Here is my four step guide:

1. Sit relatively still

2. Notice that you are breathing

3. Notice again that you are breathing

4. Keep at this awhile

Feel free to vary this (I often have). Feel free to seek other guidance (I’m not exactly known for my equanimity nor am I a religious person).

Okay, now that you know how to meditate, here’s why.

When you meditate, you arrive in the place you can make art from. Namely, here.

Also.

When you meditate every day, you demonstrate to yourself that you are capable of returning to the place you make art from. You show yourself and your muse that you are a person who shows up.

Also.

Meditation is a perfect expression of wholeness. As artists, this is a wonderful ability to cultivate. Many of us are not capable of recognizing this state, let alone expressing it and because of our ineptitude, we avoid it in our art. The art suffers. (I know first-hand. The working title of my attempt at writing a happy song is Strange). It’s not entirely our fault–we lack examples. Models of other modes abound. Broken-heartedness is as close as your car radio. Leonard Cohen and long-distance phone commercials can both be relied upon to evoke longing. And as I write this, Paris is plastered with posters of giraffes, leopards, and doe sporting long eyelashes, ample bosoms, stilettos and Orangina, clearly expressing some specialized, carbonated state of perversion. But try to find a few models of perfect wholeness and you may come up empty handed. So we have to be our own models here. We have to be our own guides.

Finally, most importantly, here’s why not to meditate. Don’t meditate because it’s going to make you more peaceful. Don’t meditate to improve your temper or your marriage or your client retention rate. Don’t meditate because it makes you feel smug to get out of bed before the rest of the world and do something esoteric. Don’t meditate to improve yourself. Don’t meditate to get somewhere. Stay here.

If it’s not the right time for you to try this practice, for whatever reason, don’t worry about it. It’s okay. Simply go back to bed. If you have a lover, stay in bed as long as possible. And if you don’t–when you are properly bored of sleeping–you can maybe try your hand at writing a little country tune, after the necessary brooding and caffeine.