What do you think of when you hear the word “meditation”? Do you picture monks sitting serenely in a Buddhist temple high in the Himalayas, or a yoga class seated cross-legged on their yoga mats? Do you hear echoes of “oms” and singing bowls or the slow dripping of water into a clear mountain pool?
Meditation has skyrocketed in popularity among Americans in recent years, with the United States now ranking second in the world for meditation practitioners, after India. That’s 37.9 million Americans; — over 14% of the population has meditated at least once in their lives.
Experts believe that this trend comes from the fact that modern life is overloaded with distractions and pressures from every direction. Even in childhood, we start feeling the weight of it all: 45% of high school students self-report being stressed on a daily basis. At least 64% of adults up to age 49 have high stress levels, and at least 50% of them are worried.
Why? Any number of reasons. The demands of school and career, negative thoughts about ourselves, relational issues, health scares, trying to meet high expectations, financial problems — you name it. Society puts pressure on us to be successful, beautiful, and talented. Social media tells us we should have it all together and that even our “being real” moments should be aesthetic.
We are more connected by our own devices and the internet than ever before and yet we’ve never been so isolated as individuals — over half of Americans and roughly 80% of young people are lonely. We are losing our traditional forms of community support, new relational phenomena such as “ghosting” are running rampant, and the traditional family structure is breaking down. Let’s not even mention the pandemic or other world events that may have us wondering if the end is near.
The point is, we’re under a lot of stress from all sides. Quite possibly as a direct result of this, meditation has become one of the fastest-growing trends in America. There are many different types of meditation, but the one most prevalent in the United States is called “mindfulness meditation.”
This practice derives from Buddhism and is all about being mindful of your thoughts as they come to your mind. Instead of actively thinking thoughts, mindfulness encourages us to simply let them be without judgment or any other type of interaction. Just observe and take mental note of the patterns.
To practice mindfulness, you pay attention to your bodily sensations, thoughts, and feelings, trying to be fully aware of them without actually interacting with them. You can practice this while in a meditative seated position, but you can also practice this meditative practice while doing normal tasks throughout your day, such as eating dinner or brushing your teeth.
It may not seem like it at first glance, but meditation actually has a lot in common with the practice of note-taking. It requires a similar degree of concentration and awareness. If you don’t have enough time in your day for a meditation practice, you can get some of the same benefits by taking notes. But you probably want a more specific answer than that, don’t you? Excellent, then let’s discuss this in more detail.
Exploring the Overlap Between Meditation and Note-Taking
Let’s embark on an intriguing journey — a deep exploration into two seemingly disparate practices, note-taking and meditation. Diving into this fascinating connection, we’ll realize that both practices hold the ability to enhance our concentration and productivity, becoming invaluable tools in our everyday lives. But let’s begin at the beginning, understanding each practice separately before unveiling the second nature of their enchanting connection.
Note-taking, an art steeped in history dating back to the time of the Ancient Greeks, is a widely practiced method to consolidate information, brainstorm ideas, and recognize patterns. The writing process that note-taking involves helps us engage with the material at hand in a more involved manner. It requires us to pay attention, transforming frequently repeated notes and ideas into a stronger understanding of the material.
The act of writing, whether it’s jotting down new ideas in a journal or detailing complex concepts on paper, demands focus. It’s an exercise in mindfulness that leads to a better understanding of the information at hand, allowing us to solve problems more effectively. This is just one of the many functions of note-taking, but there are many more possibilities.
On the other hand, meditation, an ancient form of mental exercise, demands self-awareness and a deep connection to the present moment. It’s a practice that encourages us to be fully present and to notice our physical sensations and emotional reactions without judgment.
When we practice meditation, it becomes easier to acknowledge the busy mind, the obsessive thinking, the strong emotions, and even the anxiety that might plague us. Guided meditation sessions often encourage the practice of mental noting — noting our breath, feelings, and thoughts as they arise without getting caught up in or lost in them. This practice helps to still our mind, paving the way for a sense of calm, self-awareness, and clarity.
Intriguingly, the connection between note-taking and meditation is found at this intersection of self-awareness and mindfulness.
While the practice of note-taking helps us externalize thoughts and make sense of the information around us, meditation, especially the practice of noting, allows us to internalize that awareness, recognize patterns in our own mental states, and develop greater precision in understanding our thoughts and emotions. This combination of external and internal cognition can dramatically enhance our well-being and productivity.
When we apply the principles of mindfulness meditation to the act of note-taking, we find that we’re not just writing words on a piece of paper but actively paying attention to our thoughts and feelings in that moment. We become self-aware, observing our inner voice and mental state as we write.
This mindful engagement with the writing process can lead to a more profound comprehension of the material and a deeper insight into our thought patterns. Moreover, it trains our mind to stay present, a skill that is immensely beneficial in our fast-paced, distraction-prone world.
As we explore further in this blog, we’ll share techniques on how to take notes mindfully and how to meditate for better concentration. We’ll explore apps and tools that can support your practice and delve into scientific evidence backing up these claims. We’ll look at how mindfulness, through note-taking and meditation, can lead to improved self-awareness, a sense of calm amid a world filled with distractions, and enhanced productivity.
So let’s begin this journey together and expand your concentration today towards a future that holds a better understanding of your own mind and the world around you.
Types of Meditation Practices
There are nine popular types of meditation practices, including mindfulness. They each focus on a different type of concentration and awareness, yet each fosters strength in these skills. In addition to sharpening focus and attention, these meditative traditions have also been shown to help practitioners connect with their bodies and breath, process and accept difficult emotions, and even alter their states of consciousness.
Meditation has been shown to quite literally change the brain by creating new ways of relating to one’s thoughts and emotions. It lowers stress and can improve your immunity, in addition to a number of other physical and psychological benefits.
Even though practicing meditation still has some general benefits regardless of the type, each meditation style requires different skills and mindsets. Individuals interested in meditation should try several styles to see what works best for them. Mindfulness, as we’ve already mentioned, combines concentration with self-awareness as the practitioner focuses on observing their internal experience. It can be practiced alone without guidance, making it ideal for anyone who doesn’t have a meditation teacher.
Meditation doesn’t have to be spiritual, but many spiritual traditions use meditation as part of their practice. This meditation technique focuses on developing a deeper understanding of and connection with the divine or a higher power.
For example, Christianity has a mystic tradition that embraces contemplative prayer. This is a meditative practice in which the individual focuses on a key word or phrase that describes an object of their devotion or an aspect of God’s character, such as “love,” “grace,” or “Jesus.” Through this type of mantra prayer, the practitioner lets go of their own experience of self and ego in order to concentrate entirely on God’s goodness.
Many other religions have similar spiritual meditation practices, such as the Jewish kabbalistic practices and Islam’s sufi dhikr.
In focused meditation, the individual concentrates on any of the five senses. If you’ve ever stared meditatively into a candle flame or bonfire, you’ve dabbled in this practice. You could focus on your breath, gaze at the moon, or listen to a gong.
Movement meditation can be done while doing any sort of gentle movement, be it walking, swimming, gardening, yoga, or tai chi. Focusing on your physical movements helps you connect more deeply with your body, strengthening your body awareness. Your awareness of and connection with the present moment will also deepen.
Mantra meditation is the practice you think of when you hear the word “om.” It uses a repetitive sound such as om to clear the mind. By chanting the mantra throughout the meditation session, you’ll gradually become more alert and in tune with your environment, which will pull you into a deeper sense of awareness. This practice is good for those of us who struggle to sit in silence. It also adds a physical element that some of the other styles of meditation lack because your voice causes a vibration in your body that can be very poignant when deep in meditation.
Transcendental meditation (TM) was designed specifically to quiet the mind and induce a state of calm and peace. It also uses a mantra, which is spoken until you reach a state of inner peace. It’s taught by certified teachers and has been the subject of numerous scientific studies.
Not to be confused with movement meditation, body scan meditation focuses on the inward experience of the body. It’s also called progressive relaxation because it aims to reduce tension in the body and promote relaxation, typically by slowly contracting and relaxing one muscle group at a time.
Loving-kindness meditation concentrates on opening the mind to receive and give love. By routinely sending mental well wishes to loved ones and all living creatures, you can strengthen your compassion, kindness, and acceptance towards others and yourself. This meditative style of noting practice has been proven useful for those holding feelings of anger, bitterness, or resentment.
The ninth type of meditation is visualization meditation. By visualizing positive scenes, images, or beloved figures with as much detail as the five senses can muster, the practitioner can relax and lean into feelings of peace and calmness. You can also visualize yourself accomplishing something significant to enhance your focus and motivation.
Types of Note-Taking Methods
What is the purpose of taking notes? For serious note-takers, it comes down to a fierce desire to learn the subject material and to learn it well. It’s a means of taking control of your own learning journey and embracing intentionality and discipline as you build your knowledge base.
Some note-takers aspire for mastery over the subject, which includes not only knowledge but the ability to apply it outside of the classroom. Just as with meditation styles, there are a number of note-taking techniques and templates. We sadly don’t have the time or space to go into all of them in depth, but let’s discuss just a few possibilities.
The Cornell method is a classic style of taking notes, dating back to the 1940s and still widely popular today. To use this template, divide your paper into three sections: a narrow column on the left for keywords and clues, a larger section to the right for the bulk of your notes, and a section across the bottom of the page for you to summarize the themes and main concepts after the session ends. This style of organization keeps your notes orderly and clean. Studies have shown that students who use this method absorb information at a faster rate than their peers and also tend to remember it better.
Mind mapping is a method that’s been around for over a hundred years. If you’ve ever seen or participated in a brainstorming session around a white board, then you already have an inkling of what this looks like.
You start by drawing a circle in the center of the page and labeling it with the main topic. Draw lines branching outward from the circle to connect with other circles, each of which is either supporting data or a heading leading to even smaller details. This visual style of taking notes is associated with increased creativity, brainstorming, and the ability to see more connections between the material.
The outlining method may be the style of note-taking that you are most familiar with. It’s been around since ancient times and still proves useful today for students of all kinds. To use this method, order headings, subheadings, and supporting bullet points in a descending hierarchical order. The outlining method offers logical sequencing that is orderly and easy to follow. Each bullet point directly relates to the subheading or heading under which it is placed.
Since its development in 1968, the charting method has used charts, columns, and tables to organize vast amounts of data in a way that is easy to navigate. Identify the categories or differences and similarities that will be discussed in the session, and then input each piece of data into the correct column. This method organizes information by way of comparisons, making the relationships between facts and ideas obvious.
The boxing method uses boxes and frames to group information into topics and subtopics. You can box off the entire page, half of a page, or sections of the page. You can create interconnected boxes or nestle smaller boxes into larger boxes for subtopics. This method offers a visual representation of information and is easy to review.
The Zettelkasten method involves writing ideas onto notecards. Those notecards are organized with links that connect them to each other, which helps the note-taker see patterns between them. As these patterns emerge, the note-taker can then organize them into categories, adding notecards to the stack to create a hierarchy. The end result looks something like a Twitter thread and allows the note-taker to form new ideas and insights that wouldn’t normally cross their mind.
What Note-Taking and Meditation Have in Common
Now that you have an idea of what meditation and note-taking can look like in all of their flavors, I’m very excited to tell you about all of the cross-over characteristics that they share. It’s really quite remarkable how two completely different mental processes can elicit the same cognitive benefits and utilize the same ways of thinking.
Attention and Focus
Taking notes is all about honing your thinking to be more clear. The notes are the tool that helps organize your thoughts, while the review is the vehicle that helps make it all stick in your memory. But what it really comes down to, at least for serious note-takers, is a desire to truly understand the material. Note-taking helps in this worthy endeavor by helping the learner listen more actively to the speaker’s presentation.
“Active listening” refers to not only hearing the words of the speaker but also engaging in an effort to understand what is being said to the best of your ability. This is the beginning and the crux of good note-taking, because from this point, the learner can begin to prioritize which information is relevant and needs to be recorded while discarding information that’s only going to clutter the page and the mind. It also prompts the learner to ask questions for clarity, to think more creatively about the topic, and to own the topic as their own.
Meditation has a similar focus on attention and focus, as we’ve mentioned. The entire purpose of most meditative practices is to train the mind to cultivate better awareness without being distracted or making snap judgments. This can look like observing one’s own thoughts to the exclusion of everything else, or it could look like being able to let go of thoughts that don’t serve you. Remove the clutter from your mind, all of those voices clamoring to be heard throughout the day — and find a precision of thought and mental clarity that can be carried into every situation.
Closing Loops
As we just mentioned, taking notes helps the learner prioritize information and declutter their mind and paper. In other words, the process of taking notes is a matter of organizing information.
Making sense of information allows us to better understand the topic and our thoughts on it. Because of this, we can clarify our thinking and begin to identify patterns or recurring themes in the subject material. We can come to conclusions, develop new insights, or suggest solutions to problems. Essentially, the act of taking notes invites us to clarify our thinking, which then sets us up to close the loops in our thinking.
Meditation is all about the thinking mind and learning to observe your own thoughts rather than be controlled by them, which may lead you to ask how meditation helps practitioners to close loops.
Excellent question! Here’s how it works: by decluttering the mind and releasing the need to make judgments on everything, meditation gives the practitioner a sharpened clarity and awareness of every thought that crosses their mind. They begin to observe patterns of where thoughts come from and where they’re going, all of which gives a sense of everything belonging and everything fitting into reality just so.
Creating Mental Space
Writing things down allows you to release them from your mind. This is why to-do lists can be so effective at taking the pressure off when you’re feeling overwhelmed, and why journals are so effective at helping you work through a large amount of emotion and information. You may feel like there are a million thoughts racing through your mind, creating a vortex of confusion, but once you put them into writing, you learn that there actually isn’t as much as you thought there was after all.
Note-taking has the same effect. It cuts down and simplifies the data you’re working with into clear essentials, which frees up your mental space. In a way, you can look at it as a way to make your thinking more efficient because you can take all the thoughts in your head, organize them onto a piece of paper, and then work to remember only the thoughts that are important.
As mentioned, meditation declutters the mind very effectively. It also greatly reduces our compulsion to ruminate on our thoughts and emotions. As a result, we become more present in our daily lives and are better able to fully engage in whatever we are doing and with whomever we are interacting with. Not only is there increased enjoyment in even the simplest tasks, but we are able to be more aware of what is directly in front of us and less aware of what is unimportant, which together lead to a greater capacity for productivity — and also peace.
Building Mental Models
By using one of the organizational note-taking methods that we discussed earlier, you build a structure for your information. Everything then fits within the structure, typically with some kind of information hierarchy due to the use of headings and subheadings.
We can then use this information to create principles, ideas, and frameworks for larger mental models about reality and how the world works. And the more mental models that we build, the easier it is to integrate new information into them or adapt those models to new contexts and subject matter.
The word that comes to mind when thinking about meditation and mental models is this: worldview. By observing and identifying each thought that comes to mind and then releasing its power over you, you put yourself in a neutral position in which to identify patterns. It sharpens your ability to see cause and effect, what to prioritize, and how to reframe common assumptions into a more intentional way of seeing reality. In a way, meditation helps you build mental models through the act of seeing information more clearly.
Linking Your Thinking
For every thought that you have, multiple regions of your brain are involved in the process. Note-taking is a whole-brain experience that activates not only the areas related to thought but also emotions, motor control, spatial awareness, and creativity. Many of the visual note-taking methods are designed specifically to encourage learners to identify deeper connections and associations between ideas, principles, and concepts.
Not only does this link your thinking and create a more intricate network of how you understand information, but it also boosts creative thinking. And the more you practice this, the more creative and intricate your insights can become. Seeing patterns and thinking outside the box are cognitive habits that can be built over time with practice.
Meditation also encourages the practitioner to identify patterns and pull connections out of the information they are observing. Everything fits together in one way or another; in the words of contemplative mystic Richard Rohr, “Everything belongs.”
There are links between all living things, because everything is connected in one way or another. Meditation can help you see those links and build a more holistic type of thinking that sees the big picture and how each of the moving parts is related to each other.
Solving Problems
Note-taking can be used in more settings than just the traditional classroom or lecture hall. It can also be applied to daily life and any plans or projects you want to accomplish. This is where the combination of organized thinking and fostered creativity can really shine; you can actually leverage this critical, creative thinking to make your everyday life much easier and improve your productivity.
Over time, you’ll learn how to think about problems differently, and then you’ll become faster and better at solving them. Because, if you think about it, working with information in general is a form of problem solving — we are trying to make sense of and troubleshoot data for problems and potential applications.
Meditation can also be adept at problem-solving. For one, it gets you in the right frame of mind to make clearer decisions. By calming yourself, breathing deeply, and detaching your ego from the causes and results of problems in your life, you put yourself in a better position to think clearly about them.
For example, if you’re having an issue within a relationship, be it romantic, familiar, or otherwise, meditation can help you let go of any hurt feelings that you have that are blinding you to simple solutions. Maybe you don’t want to have that conversation because it triggers your insecurities or hurts your pride; meditation will help you bring awareness to those emotions and let them go so that you can go and mend that relationship.
Combining Note-Taking and Meditation for a Hybrid Synergy
One takeaway that you could walk away with after reading this post is that you only need to do one of these two practices — either note-taking or meditation — because they have similar benefits, so you don’t have to do both. And while you could certainly make that decision if it works best for your current schedule, I would suggest that you consider the benefits you might accrue from practicing both. They have similar characteristics, but as you can see, they still approach thinking quite differently.
By using both practices, you can fuse their advantages together into a single synergy that will revolutionize the way that you think about yourself, your subject matter, and the world at large.
A hybrid approach adds even more significance to the information because you can look at it through multiple lenses and understand that nothing is a completely isolated or random fact or event. They can each help you relate more deeply to the information you’re working with, be it a learning objective or a path to self-awareness, but together they create a resonance that builds with each contribution.
They both streamline your cognitive processes and encourage you to create new ones; a fresh mindset is a core part of the equation. And together, you can create a holistic impact on your mental state. Note-taking will help you to hone your cognitive abilities and think about the world on a deeper level, giving you the space to learn, reflect, question, and strive for answers.
Meanwhile, meditation will help you to hone your self-awareness and to take this learning inward so that you can see exactly how you are prone to interpret and use the information that you’re learning, which will help you to identify any blindspots or biases that you might have. And perhaps even more importantly, it will boost your mental health and rejuvenate you.
Conclusion
In conclusion, my friends, there’s more overlap between note-taking and meditation than you may have realized. They both bring mental and physical health benefits, regardless of which of the many styles you decide to practice. They help to sharpen your attention and focus, which aids you in closing loops on information instead of having a bunch of open tabs in your mind. By deprioritizing and decluttering all unnecessary information, you can use either practice to create more mental space for information that is truly important to you.
They both naturally help you build better mental models and frameworks, which is a foundation for critical thinking and for creating an informed, mature worldview. They help you identify links and associations between information and think more deeply about how everything relates. They give you the tools for better problem solving and the ability to move from contemplation into action.
Yet, they are even better when used together rather than separately. I would encourage you to try a hybrid approach and integrate both effective note-taking and meditation into your lifestyle. Try a couple of different methods of each to see what really suits you and your needs.
Luckily, both of these can be self-taught to a large extent if you just find some helpful resources in books or online, such as this blog post. I wish you well in your learning and self growth journey and hope that you will find wellbeing, clarity, and peace.