Self-Care: Meditation

Have you ever meditated? Has it been as a group or individually? Have you ever fallen asleep while meditating it? Has your mind wandered down paths that are difficult to follow?

I've done a little of both (group and individual meditation), although I still lack the mindfulness that comes with it. It's difficult to sit with your own thoughts for several minutes at a time and try to let them go. Letting them go is probably the hardest part. Even now I'm always thinking about the future and what I should be doing. Then, I spend too much time ruminating on the past when there is nothing I can do to change it. The present moment is difficult to stay in because it is change. The present moment is gone in an instant and if we are truly in it, then we should be flexible and understanding across any situation (at least, that's how I imagine it to be when you achieve complete awareness of your present self).

When I think about meditation and mindfulness, I always seem to think of something like this:

A peaceful, isolated spot which is out in nature, where you can hear the birds and the bees and every creature that swims, crawls, or flies. A spot like this is wonderful and calming, but it also makes me feel sleepy. When I'm out in nature, I try to be mindful and present with the moment. I want to enjoy it, but sometimes my attention drifts and I slip away...

Photos from the Book Signing

What a beautiful summer day. The sun was shining and B&N was bustling with readers. It was nerve-wracking to be standing there, waiting for someone to approach or (when the time came) knowing what message I wanted to write. Most of the messages were spontaneous and suited to the person who purchased the book, because a lot of them were my family and friends. I did go into the book signing with preconceived messages in mind, but I didn't really stick with it. I was also writing with a sharpie so I wanted to write fast so it didn't bleed through the page. 

Here I am signing a book. I don't know if y'all notice this, but how do other authors sign books? I tended to write at an angle, but my fellow author, Trevor D'Silva, was writing horizontally across the page. Is there a "correct" way to sign a book? I'm not sure, but I signed about 17 copies so hopefully those turned out alright.

Somnambulism - Sleepwalking and Somniloquy - Sleeptalking

How I wish I was getting more sleep. Ah well, my schedule will even out soon enough and I'll get to at least 7 hours again.

I'm not much of a sleepwalker, although I've strolled about the house during the night. It has been a long while; I'm not a wanderer in the residence halls, but they're also a lot smaller in comparison. (And the bed is higher off the ground). However, I've known some sleepwalkers and it's pretty amazing how well they move about while asleep. Apparently it can occur during Stage 3 or 4, for different reasons, although more children than adults are sleepwalkers.

Walking up and down the stairs, in and out of rooms, making food or some other motor action, a lot can go on when we're not conscious. It is the unconscious part that makes a sleepwalker unaware of their actions. In most cases, they don't remember anything that they did at all.

I've never included it in a story before, but it's an interesting idea. Depending on the world, the person could be seen as possessed or maybe (like dolphins) half of their brain is active at a time so that they're never fully asleep - as if they're some type of new human. That's the fun part about writing and writers, anything can be changed or imagined differently. The rules and laws of this world are subject to whatever inclination comes our way and it's much more fun too.

I'm a sleeptalker, although I'm not chatty during the night. There are times when I apparently just say things aloud. Unfortunately, I have no clue what I'm dreaming at the time or what it means. I'm just a sentence-gal, not a whole conversation. That's another interesting part about sleepers - they can still be coherent, even if it doesn't make sense.

"Let me linger in my dreams, for it's only there that I can fly and never fear to fall."

A Detailed Discourse on the Divisions in Books

In Other Words, Chapter Titles and Why They can be as Plain as Porridge or as Detailed as a Dictionary

Chapter titles are interesting, if an author chooses to use them. They can be hints at what is to come or fun jumbles of words with some metaphorical association.

For Island Whispers, there are chapters and subchapters. All of the main chapters are dates (eg. June 1). Then, the subchapters are the names of the character who the story is following at the time (Angelica, Grant, Adam, or Monica).

Likewise, Trevor D'Silva uses numbers (Chapter 1) with subheading dates (January 03, 1946). Find out more about his book on http://trevordsilva.com/

I've never really written a chapter that has a name, but J.K. Rowling had chapter titles that focused on the key point of the chapter. The first chapter in the Sorcerer's Stone is "The Boy Who Lived",  focused on the main point of the first chapter - the introduction of Harry Potter, 'the boy who lived'.