"Breathe in experience, breathe out poetry." ~ Muriel Rukeyser
Whether my clients want to focus on their writing or their lives, they are seeking my support in creating something new, be it a new article, book, career, home or romance. And all change–positive as much as negative–causes everyone anxiety and stress of the unknown, uncontrollable elements involved in fulfilling their dreams.
To help my clients feel as calm as possible in the face of these (very normal) fears, I recommend they develop an introspective practice such as journaling, prayer, solo exercise, or meditation. Since the dawn of humankind, people have recognized the power of the mind to transform one's life. Nobody can control his circumstances, but everybody can control his experience of those circumstances. For those who have the most hyper-intellectual minds (I'm in this camp), I have seen physical-based introspective activities be remarkably effective. Becoming re-grounded in the body provides enormous relief to the anxious mind and gives it permission to allow this great new change to happen rather than continuing an assault of self-sabotaging thoughts.
Since my mind wanders easily, I prefer to sit or lie down and meditate using a mala (a strand of beads for meditation). If I'm feeling mopey and self-pitying, I reconnect to my gratitude by cycling through the strand, naming a different wonderful thing in my life with every bead. If I'm trying to instill a new habit or shift a belief, I will go through the whole necklace repeating an affirmation or a mantra.
But something I can do inconspicuously any time anywhere–with or without a mala–is to focus on my breath, inhaling and exhaling being such powerful metaphors. Sometimes I concentrate on what I want to take in and what I want to let go of: such as breathing in perseverance and exhaling impatience. Or, like Rukeyser suggests in the above quote, the inhale could be considered an opportunity for sustenance for creation and the exhale could be the opportunity to concentrate on what to gift back to the world.