How I over came writers block

How I over came writers block using my Melodic Meditation Method.

This playlist consists of about 100 pieces of music I composed and played on a solo upright Piano. They are taken from my 'Melodic Meditations 500 Day Challenge'. Each piece of Music was written during a 30 minute meditation and recorded on an iphone.

I found this project to be useful for overcoming writers block, which I discovered to be my fear of judgement. This judgement was nothing more than my own opinion. However I still found this hard to over come as I have such high standards. I usually spend months (sometimes years) on composing & recording songs. At that stage I am so sick of the tune that I am more likely to press delete when I should really press release.

So instead of letting my fears get in the way I thought I would let others get to enjoy my daily writing and see what happened. Well, I still have very high standards but I also now have an appreciation that my art is not just for my own enjoyment. I cannot control what others will think of my work and I am constantly surprised that what I think is rubbish others love and vice versa.

So in conclusion, I am glad I did this exercise, I still get fearful that others may laugh at my compositions. Yet I now know it is far worse to delete a piece of art that someone else may love just because of my own insecurities.

If you are interested in trying what I did here is my own personal exercise that I followed.

This challenge is called 'Melodic meditations' its about being pro active while recharging the batteries.

My personal challenge is to write 500 melodies in 500 days.

Each new melody is written during a 30 minute meditation.

Why you ask?

While writing I find there is an excess of negative self talk such as, these ideas are no good, maybe I have lost my inspiration, do I have writers block etc... Which is stressful and does not have a positive outcome, especially when I'm tired. All of my best ideas have come from my subconscious and I have found the best time to let my subconscious come through is when I am meditating.

By combining writing and meditation I have found I am able to tap into my creative subconscious with greater ease. And even if a brilliant idea does not always come through at least I've had a chance to recharge my batteries.

In a nutshell, 'meditation is the goal and writing is the side effect'.

If you are interested try it yourself!

Here are the rules:

1. Choose a task that needs to be completed.

2. Create a short cycle movement that can be easily repeated with little effort.

3. Find a quite space, turn off mobile phone & any other distractions.

4. Meditation should last between 20-30 minutes without break.

5. Focus your mind on the task at hand & let go of all distracting thoughts such as judgement, this is most important.

6. No stimulants (Caffeine, alcohol etc…)

7. (Optional) Practice movement to a metronome set between 52 bpm & 80 bpm counting quietly.