Today in class we had a two session BDS. The first session was 15 minutes, and the second was 15-20 minutes (not sure, I didn't pay attention to the time for the second round!). During the first one, I accomplished very little. I felt incredibly distracted and could not focus at all on my story. I would type and then realize I have a hang nail, so I would stop and try to tear it off. Or, I would realize that I was cold in the room, which I guess led me to fidget a lot.
The second session was much more productive compared to the first. I'm not sure if it was having two meditations and a break, but during the second session, I was able to better focus on my story. There was still some distractions, but I did not fidget as much and my mind did not wander as much.
I think that for the next BDS I should stop and do some prewriting activities and evaluate where I am, and where I want to go.
Thanks for going along with us on the 2-BDS-2-meditations.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you got a lot out of the second session. It's funny, because I was LESS productive during the second session.
Just goes to show you...
I also think your point about doing some additional activities during BDSs is a good one. Sometimes when I've got a project to do and I give myself a timelimit, I rush through and make sure I get that project done. It's almost the anti-mindfulness. I think the pre-writing and evaluation phases are equally important and I'd like to find a way to incorporate them more.
How are you going to mindfully plan and evaluate? I'd love to hear more :)
What I ended up doing today for mindfully planning was to look at my outline and evaluate how well I was following it and if I was on the right track. It helped me refocus because I felt I was starting to wander a bit, even though I knew the general outline of the story.
DeleteHere's to hoping for more productive BDS's!