Meditation & chasing the creative flow
A rant on mindfulness
Welcome to my last newsletter of the year! In this last month, I’m experimenting with personal essays in the Thoughts section. This is the second of two essays, you can read the first one here. I was also nominated for a Sprudgie in the Best Writing category - thank you for those who nominated me. You can submit your ballot votes for all the categories until January 3.
Some things to keep an eye out for:
- Unfold is releasing Bio Sites, a microsite where you can add any links that you want. This is not new (Linktree and Carrd) as a concept but what is different is that free accounts will have unlimited links. Available now on Android and in January on iOS.
- The FTC and 46 US states have filed antitrust lawsuits against Facebook. The lawsuits claim an illegal monopoly and call for at least the largest acquisitions (Instagram and WhatsApp) to be split off.
That’s it- I hope you enjoy this issue!
Meditation & chasing the creative flow
I don’t like meditation. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I hate it but I know I don’t like it. And before you start with well-meaning suggestions and tips, I need to say that I have tried the apps, the guided meditations, the “sit in silence somewhere” basics, and everything in between. The actual act of meditation? I get antsy, I tune out the voice, and my thoughts wander despite all the efforts to curb them. Meditation the act is just not for me and it’s not for everyone.
Instead, I find certain actions and rhythms meditative. The feeling that people describe when they talk about meditation is what I get when I’m an hour into a yoga class, gardening outside and listening to music, and writing all my thoughts down without stopping. The few minutes of making coffee in the morning put me in a meditative state.
Flow is hard to come by. In case you’re unfamiliar, creative flow is a state of mind where you are able to immerse yourself completely in an activity and shut out all outside distractions. If you’ve ever gone deep into research or shaken yourself out of focusing on a creative activity, that’s creative flow. It’s rare for me to get into the flow state but every time it happens, I make a note of what I was doing so I can try and replicate it again.
“Are you really a writer if you haven’t written anything recently?” asks my inner critic. There’s work writing and then there’s creative writing. Personal essays like this one can be difficult to come by for me. I sometimes need a kickstart or a limit (like today’s issue deadline) to force the words out of my head. I am not in a creative flow while I’m writing this and that’s okay.
Back when I was trying to get into running, one of the tips that worked for me was to make it as easy as possible beforehand to actually run. If I ran in the morning, it meant that I had my socks and shoes ready and my running clothes laid out. Eliminating that initial hurdle helped me get out the door.
I use the same approach with things like writing. NaNoWriMo is about writing an entire novel in one month. Fifty-thousand words in 30 days. Here, you don’t have the time to self-edit, you need to get the words out, however they come out. One of the best strategies I learned was to just start writing. That means opening up a document and literally typing out whatever comes into my head. It might just be thoughts like, “This is ridiculous, I am not writing anything, what am I going to write about,” but getting those cobwebs out of the way eventually leads me to what I wanted to write about in the first place.
Sometimes, getting through that first blocker gets me into a creative flow. Other times, I’m staring at the screen and questioning every other word. The writing takes a while but it eventually gets done. I have found that the more I write things that are challenging to me, like personal essays, the more I start to think about ideas to write about.
Mindfulness has become something that companies capitalize on. Superfoods, meditation apps, and products of all types claim to help in your quest for mindfulness. I wish that lighting a candle can put me in a flow state but I know it won’t. I guess I’ll just keep on chasing that flow with what I already have on hand.
Quick text updates & links on what's new on the networks
Instagram added several new features to Reels and Stories, including mix audio and voice-over. Shopping tags are now available on Reels.
Facebook is testing an Instagram content calendar in their Creator Studio Tool.
Twitter is testing a feature that tells you which topics you have in common with users you don’t follow. Bots & memorialized will be new account types. The company is shutting down Periscope, the live streaming company they had purchased years ago but live streaming as a feature is still on the platform. Verification is coming back on January 20! The new process is documented and it’s also important to note that de-verification of incomplete/inactive accounts also begins on the same date.
In other network news, Pinterest released their 2021 predictions for a number of different categories.
Helpful links on how to improve your digital marketing
Influencer Marketing Strategy: How to Scale a Business
Learn how to research and reach out to micro- and macro-influencers and discover what types of offers work best for influencer marketing campaigns.
www.socialmediaexaminer.com • Share
Facebook Organic and Paid Reach Strategy for Local Businesses
Discover a strategy to plan your Facebook posts, test the performance of each post, and identify successful posts you can model with organic content.
www.socialmediaexaminer.com • Share
10 Common Copywriting Templates to Use in Marketing
Take a look at these 10 copywriting templates you might use for any of your marketing efforts, including blogging, social media, or even internal memos.
Anything I've enjoyed reading recently
Texting My Mom Photos of My Dinner Is How I Tell Her I’m Okay
In China, instead of “How are you?” people often ask, “Have you eaten?" During the pandemic, sending my mom a picture of my dinner was a reassurance that I was safe.
How to Hold Your Company Accountable to Its Promise of Racial Justice
[HBR freemium] A tactical guide for employees.
Super cubes: inside the (surprisingly) big business of packaged ice
The long read: Britain’s leading ice company makes five billion cubes a year, filling everything from cocktail glasses to ice baths. Now it faces its toughest challenge – for what is ice without a party season?
An update from my container garden!
My Maranta leucomeura is one of my easiest prayer plants. It's all the same cultivar but as you can tell, the colors vary even within the same plant.
What'd you think?
Feedback, questions, or fist bumps 👊 – send them my way by hitting the reply button. Also happy with the 👍 at the end. Or find me on the social networks @thejennchen.
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By Jenn Chen
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