What Happened When A Traditional Mormon Took a Creative Mindfulness Class

I’ve done enough mindfulness training—and enough praying—to wonder about the difference between a religious practice and a mindful one. I recently had the chance to take some creative mindfulness training. It was too intriguing to pass up.

The course made me think a lot about the mental space I enter when I pray, and how it compares to that of a mindfulness exercise, or to entering a “flow” state as I write. I believe all three of those spaces intersect. I don’t believe they are exactly the same. 

But prayer, mindfulness and creative flow all involve a wiliness to tap into something larger than myself, keeping open to whatever happens there. All three spaces demand honesty. Authenticity is tricky in all three spaces, but for different reasons. 

Creative-me wants to be marketable, and constantly worries how her true self will hit when publishers are deciding whether she is worth the risk. 

Mindful me is never sure she is doing the exercises right. Usually she has a relaxing experience, even slips into mini-dreams that are somehow more colorful and sparkly than her nighttime dreams. Once or twice she ended up crying. It’s a mixed bag. 

Prayer can be like that, too. Sometimes it is wonderful, enveloping, comforting. Sometimes it forces me to confront the worst parts of myself. It is the most fulfilling when faithful-me stops pretending to be anyone but who she is.

There is so much more that I want to write, but I keep deleting it as soon as it is on the page. This is a blog post and I keep trying to turn it into a journal entry.

But if I were to sum it up, here is what I think: Faith is tapping into the divine outside of myself. Mindfulness is recognizing my inner divine potential. And creativity is telling the world about the experience.