Give Me A List

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“To meditate means to go home to yourself. Then you know how to take care of things that are happening inside of you, and you know how to take care of the things that happen around you.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

This post was originally published on 10/26/2022. Heads up – you may have already read this.

Have you thought about the effectiveness of lists in writing? Take a moment and think of the famous lists that come to mind like My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music or the Ten Commandments from the Bible. Even when we can’t name them all, I bet we can name a few or most.

Lists can help us as writers be concise, ordered and on topic. They also let the reader draw their own inferences. One of my favorite lists is Jack Canfora’s post, Dear Lord, Not Another Post on This Blog about Gratitude and I’m grateful it made me want to continue to write. AP2 polled the readers on the Wise & Shine blog and created 9 Pieces of Indispensable Life Advice From Your Future Self. And Dr. Gerald Stein’s list of How to Become Your Own Best Friend has so many nuggets of wisdom to mine. I can name those lists as impactful off the top of my head plus some items on them because at least I find lists are more memorable.

So, here’s a list I’ve written.

Why I Meditate

I meditate because it is the one thing that has improved the quality of my life the most.
The quality prior to meditation was only manageable if I drank a bottle of wine a day.

Meditation helps me live in my heart, not my head.
Because the voice in my head is an asshole.*
And I was sometimes an asshole when I listened to it.

Meditation has helped me to eat at the table of what IS and stopped begging at the table of what ISN’T.

I meditate to so that at least once I day I’m listening to the right things instead of the wrong things.
Right things include love, empathy, patience, wonder, awe, curiosity, grace, laughter.
Wrong things include judgment, self-flagellation, anxiety, comparison.

Meditation has helped me give up two key stories: that situations are win/lose and that choosiness leads to joy.

Instead I believe in bowing down to openness and creating porous boundaries where I try not to hang out to things as they come and go.

I meditate because it helps me exercise my grace muscle instead of my judgment reflex.

Sitting quietly in meditation has helped me to hear the heartbeat of life and trust in its timing and flow.
I almost always get this wrong and push ahead of the envelope but I’ve learned to respect it, especially in hindsight.

Meditation has helped me find internal quiet and be able to rest there.
When resting in that space, I can more easily find my way to others.

It takes repetition but meditation in five-fifteen minute daily increments has been the most gentle way of changing my life.
The other ways change has come to my life through loss, suffering and chaos have been a lot less fun.

And when I get all of the above wrong, which I do all the time, meditation helps me not judge myself too harshly, breathe and begin again.

How’s that for a list? Do you use lists in your writing? How about meditation?

*I give credit to former newsman Dan Harris, a self-described cynical but committed proponent of meditation and mindfulness for the phrase “the voice in my head is an asshole.” His podcast, Ten Percent Happier has great guests who discuss the science of mindfulness and it also has free, short 8-10 minute guided meditations. And for anyone looking for an app, Healthy Minds has 5-minute meditations. I am not affiliated with either.

** Update on 9/5: Another related post on meditation: Does Loving-Kindness Actually Matter?

Speaking of lists, I’ve compiled a list of favorite writer quotes submitted by bloggers in response to my poll of favorites on the Wise & Shine blog: Your Favorite Writer Quotes

(featured photo from Pexels)

52 thoughts on “Give Me A List”

  1. Lists are so fun and helpful. I’m reading your post in a frazzled morning as the bus schedule changed on me without warning and I’m running late for work. So I’m creating a list of why I shouldn’t gnash my teeth. 😆 All kidding aside, I love your list of why you meditate. I can see how it brings you calm and centres you at the start of your day. Hope back to school is going ok. 1 down!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. A list for why you shouldn’t gnash your teeth. I love it! So sorry about the schedule and the being late – one of the things that gets me worked up the most. I’m sure you did a great job of coming back to center (or centre as you Canadiens like to put it!). 🙂 🙂 ❤

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Oh…the ‘grace muscle’ instead of the ‘judgment reflex’. What a terrific way of describing the benefit of meditation for we, the ones who tend to leap headlong into judgment if we don’t slow ourselves down. Love that phrase, Wynne! 🥰

    Liked by 4 people

  4. Love the grace in this. I don’t think I read this before, because … I think I’d remember your opening words, and my responsive belly laughs, had I done so!

    Meditation is actually part of the daily checklist I created, some months back, to help center myself in a–to use your words–“grace muscle” instead of “judgment reflex” place. It shows up twice (once in the morning, once in the afternoon), and I’m here to say: I feel the difference, when I do the work to honestly check those boxes.

    (I treat this checklist inspirationally, and don’t–from a meditation mindset–beat myself up for the boxes I don’t check, any given day.)

    Liked by 2 people

    2. “applies to ourselves as well”–Yes! After spending most my life exempting myself and then trying to bring myself into my own grace, can confirm life is better for me and those around me when I include myself in my own “circle” of grace 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  8. I am a Lady of the List. A friend called me that once and it stuck. I use lists for all things, sometimes grocery lists, sometimes to remind me of what I value and who I want to be. Also I like to use alliteration on my lists, as a way to remember longterm and as a way of challenging my brain in the moment.

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  9. This is brilliant: “I meditate because it helps me exercise my grace muscle instead of my judgment reflex.” Your list of reasons is great, too. I fell out of my meditation habit many years ago, but this feels like just the nudge I need to start up again.

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  10. I like to use lists, also because SEO likes them! To comment on the positive effects that meditation has on you, I think that the best is having learned to be kind to oneself and stop blaming for whatever doesn’t go according to your plans or expectations.

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    1. Great point about SEO, Cristiana. Thanks for mentioning that. I love your points about meditation too – letting go of when life doesn’t go according to plan is a great one for me too!

      Liked by 1 person

  12. I use lists everyday to figure out my “to dos.” I also used listicles all the time on SwimSwam for my parenting tips. It was the perfect way to organize my thoughts and was easy for readers to get my points.

    Liked by 2 people

      1. I’d delete a point I didn’t think added to my story, and guess what? The listicle doesn’t renumber itself. Readers caught it when I’d skip a number and let me know! Fortunately I only did that twice.

        Liked by 1 person

  13. In my professional career, lists are huge. There are very few pieces where I don’t incorporate at least one. Not so much on the blog, though I did come up with that nifty 22 Things About Wisconsin post last week.

    Liked by 2 people

  18. Wow Wynne, what an incredible and awesome blog post. I fully agree with you about the power of lists. Even in today’s digital world, having a notepad helps when aiming to remember and recall things to do. It is like doing shopping and you have marked items you intend to purchase in the store. Lists overall are a lifesaver because say your phone got lost, at least you have a list with all your phone contacts in the event that your phone never gets found. Lists really do help now that I think about it.

    Thanks for this amazing blog💯🙏

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