Buddhist Writing Prompt: Don’t Wobble

Don’t wobble is about being consistent with your mind training practice and not getting sidetracked by other things in your life or doubts about what you’re doing.

The original lojong slogan is: Don’t vacillate, which draws your attention to the way your mind tends to get caught up in its own vortex, running in circles and generally driving you crazy. If you follow your mind, you’ll end up running in circles too. But this is the point of practising mind training – to stop the mind from vacillating.

This slogan encourages you to stay with your practice through all its ups and downs, the successes and the failures. You won’t feel the same way about it all the time – your energy levels and enthusiasm will change, just as with the rest of your life. But when you practice consistently it helps your mind to settle into positive habits that support your practice, and this can become a virtuous cycle.

Make a decision – either meditate or don’t, but if you decide to do it, then get on with it and let go of the doubt. Your energy and enthusiasm will return when you get on with doing what you know, deep down, you need to do.

Apply this slogan to your writing practice by being consistent and writing every day.

Doubt is a way of life for writers. Writing well takes time and energy and there will be days when you just can’t face it. But too much doubt can be destructive, and if you let your doubts take over, your writing will suffer as much as you do.

When you do something consistently it trains your mind to fall into a pattern. So if you consistently doubt your ability to write, you’ll be more likely to continue doing so, and less likely to write anything.

So if you’re struggling with doubt, you only need to make sure you write for a minimum of ten minutes every day, and you must do this consistently regardless how you feel about it. At first you might think it’s pointless, but gradually, if you keep trying to write at the allotted time, it will get easier. Before you know it, your enthusiasm will return and you’ll be writing for longer and longer and you won’t be able to stop.

So be consistent and keep writing, but above all, don’t wobble.

Your writing prompt this weekend: If you don’t already have one, make a realistic writing schedule and stick to it. Make sure you write for at least 10 minutes every day.