Journal in the morning, meditate at night

I tried meditating in the morning, but it wasn’t going well.

I wake up with ideas.

If I sit down to meditate right after I get out of bed, the ideas want me to break from the meditation to work on them, or at least to write them down so that I don’t forget them.

Journaling allows me to get all the ideas down.

At night, my mind wants to keep going. It has momentum.

Meditation helps to slow down my thoughts.

They don’t stop right away.

When I sit down and close my eyes, I immediately start to think of everything I was working on.

Gradually, the rate of new thoughts decreases, like pressing the down arrow on a treadmill.

If I work right up until I fall asleep, I don’t sleep well. My mind continues working on the unsolved problems in my subconscious.

My ideal day is stopping work in the afternoon, doing something else like cooking, going for a walk, or going to the gym, then showering, then meditating for as long as it takes until I get to a clear mind, and then falling asleep.

Most of my creative work happens while I’m asleep.

My mind goes somewhere to find new ideas.

When I wake up, I have more ideas than I can think of at once.

This is another reason why journaling is helpful in the morning.

The first idea that pops into my mind might not be the idea that I should work on.

When I journal, it gives each of my ideas an opportunity to step into the spotlight of my consciousness.

It’s like all my ideas that were created during sleep are on a conveyor belt that runs from my subconscious to my consciousness.

Once I have all the ideas down on paper, I can choose the one or two that are the top priorities.

Then I fill a 24-ounce mason jar with water and sit down at my computer.