The etymology of “mindfulness” is to “remember to remember.” Meditators use a variety of techniques to
remember-to-remember, including meditation bells and mantra, or a verbal saying that is repeated or becomes
the object of reflection. Ideally, a mantra should be paired with breath-watching, with mindful breathing
encoded in the mantra, for example, “Breathing in, I know I am here; breathing out, I know I am here now.”
Here’s one of my mantra: “Your Ability to Write is Already Present.” Here’s another, “Present moment,
breathing moment, writing moment.”
A mindful writing mantra draws our attention back to the present moment. Resultant changes in our outlook
and emotional state can happen within seconds of repeating a mantra, in part because the mantra steers our
internal talk, which probably up until that moment had been free-ranging, widely discursive, its self-pathos
rhetoric goading us into all sorts of additional mental formations and storylines about our writing.
This project involves designing your own mindful writing mantra in the context of an extended exploration of
mindful writing theory and practice. The intent is to make your mantra something you would actually display on
your desk or wherever you tend to write—as an object, as a sign, possibly as jewelry—and build that mantra on
sound mindful writing concepts.
Stages:
Rough draft (2-3 pages), Thursday, 4/22/2021: emailed to by class time to receive credit (graded as
Complete/Incomplete). No late drafts will be accepted for credit to discourage procrastination (manage that
through mindful writing!).
Second draft (4-5 pages), Thursday, 4/29/2021: by class time to receive credit (graded as
Complete/Incomplete). No late drafts will be accepted for credit.
Final draft (at least 7 pages), by noon on Saturday, 5/8/2021. Double check that I received your project: if you
don’t see an email from me on the evening of May 8 indicating that the document was received, it’s your
responsibility to contact me immediately to prevent grade point deduction. No projects will be accepted after
Monday, May 10. Look for emailed feedback and a grade by Tuesday, May 11.
Parts of Project:
Design of a mindful writing mantra
Design the rhetoric of your mantra
Design a visual appearance for your mantra. The examples of mindful calligraphy (from Thich Nhat Hanh) at
the top of this exercise sheet are each inside an almost-closed circle. It’s called an ensō:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ens%C5%8D (Links to an external site.) Take a picture of the drawing (or visual
elements) or describe how you would design its visual appearance; if the former, email me the picture along
with the project.
7+ page exploration of mindful writing, connecting your mantra to concepts from the course covering all of the
following, drawing multiple links to assigned readings. How does your mantra connect to:
Intrapersonal rhetoric
Role in content development (accessing monkey mind to come up with ideas)
Role in self-pathos (preconceptions about writing ability, storylines, mind waves and mind weeds, basic
goodness)
Role in creating audience ghosts/reader demons
Impermanence
Role in content development (coming up with ideas)
Ability to track change in content and writing ability
Groundlessness
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Embodiment
How does your mantra help you become more aware of your physical self as you write?
Mindlessness
General problems in your writing life
How you plan to use your writing mantra to chip away at mindlessness
Specific phases in a writing process (Starting? Drafting? Revising? Receiving Feedback? Finishing?) when you
might use the mantra.
Helpful Hints:
Use multiple examples from your writing life (brief or extended)
Use multiple examples from assigned readings
Talk about your process of creating your mantra
Include material from your “Start Where You Are” exercises
Possibly talk about using the mantra TO COMPLETE this final project or another writing assignment at the end
of this semester: show your mantra in action
Sample Solution
