Published in November 2018.
The Mindful Ledger, created by Steven Verrilli, is a personalized meditation journal that you can use for at least one year (I haven’t actually counted the number of pages).
It’s pretty beautiful and, since I started meditating recently, I remembered that I’d worked on the project.
So what did you do, punk?
The Mindful Ledger is split into three parts:
- Introduction and methodology
- Monthly meditation diary
- Daily meditation diary
I edited the 30-page introduction, working directly with Steven to enhance his message and bring a high level of clarity to his prose.
Wanna read it? You’ll have to buy the journal.
Meditation, standing up
When Steve first asked me to edit the book, we had a few calls about meditation generally.
On those calls, he addressed one of the prejudices that had kept me away from trying it myself: the whole cross-legged, fingers in the air thing.
That was one of the misconceptions he wanted to address with the Ledger, in fact: you can meditate anywhere, in basically any position.
As far as Steve’s concerned, if you’re a busy person but want to carve out the time, you could do it sitting on the toilet.
From the introduction:
For many of us, when we imagine meditation we picture crossed legs and an upright posture, with hands laid over the knees. While this may be the most common image, it is not the only way to meditate. Meditation can be done successfully just as well while sitting in a chair or even standing upright.
Being seated is a popular choice due to its convenience, s well as its comfort and overall simplicity. Sitting up straight with your hands on your lap or knees is an effective and easy position for getting through a meditation practice.
After talking with Steve and editing the book, I realized that I come pretty close to meditation all the time. I often lay on the floor, listening to a piece of instrumental music, and try to let my thoughts slide away; I love sitting in an armchair and listening to the constant quiet roar of the wind.
Now, I’m trying to meditate daily. I’m using Headspace to maintain the lesson lengths but I record everything in The Mindful Ledger, precisely because it’s a discrete printed object.
There’s something terribly self-defeating about using your phone to meditate and then having to pick it up to close a meditation app, often to find a stressful text message that sets you right back where you were before meditating and the thing you were escaping from in the first place.
There are no text messages in the Ledger. Which is nice.
I wish to meditate with you on the subject of commercial writing practices
Nice, I love doing that. Email me.
chriswoolfrey.com 