Discovering Mindful Writers: Niall McGivern
Wisdom and reflections from Niall's writing journey
Welcome to the July “Discovering Mindful Writers Q&A”. Each month, a guest writer answers the same seven questions about their writing life.
I am delighted to welcome
this month. Niall writes Live Free, which is a weekly newsletter about curiosity, conscious living, and challenging the status quo. And has just launched An Ode to the Writers — a place for every writer to feel at home.I hope you enjoy his answers to my questions. I love his answer about what mindful writing means for him, and about doing what you love in this life, and it pretty much sums up what I believe, and try to live like, too. What about you?
The series has proven very popular and I have guests booked in up until April 2025 now so I am not taking on anyone else at the moment. I will let everyone know in the new year when I’m opening up again for future interviews.
With love,
What does mindful writing mean to you?
To me, mindful writing is about presence. It is being fully engaged in the writing process. In that way, the word following ‘mindful’ is interchangeable. Whether that be ‘mindful running’ or ‘mindful eating’. Completely involved in what you are doing.
In his book “A New Earth”, one of my favourite writers, Eckhart Tolle shares a perspective that sums it up for me:
“You are present when what you are doing is not primarily a means to an end (money, prestige, winning) but fulfilling in itself, when there is joy and aliveness in what you do.
When I read that line, I think of a recent poem I wrote titled “Am I writing for me?”, where I describe my relationship with writing:
You don’t write to be rewarded.
You write because writing is the reward.
You don’t write to escape.
You write to feel present.
For a long period, my life lacked an activity where I could fully immerse myself so I am grateful writing came along.
How does a mindful writing practice fit into your wider mindfulness journey?
Writing is central to my mindfulness journey.
Growing up my life revolved around sports. In my teenage years, I began to suffer from exercise-induced migraines. They became so persistent that I completely stopped engaging in sports by my late teens. From that moment, I struggled to find presence, fulfilment, and enthusiasm.
Come to my mid-twenties, and while externally things may have looked fine, internally I was full of angst, stress, and unfulfillment.
Throughout 2019 and 2020, a prolonged inflammatory digestive issue propelled me to reevaluate how I was living my life. I learned the hard way that the accumulation of your choices decides the state of your well-being. That’s when writing came along.
Writing became a vehicle for me to self-assess. A way of consciously measuring how aligned my choices are with my values. It doesn’t mean I always live accordingly but it makes me more mindful of how I live.
The more time went on, the deeper my reflections became. Writing provided a blank canvas to process my thoughts, beliefs, fears, past experiences, and emotions. It empowered me to envision how I wanted my future to look. Writing has been key in helping me understand that I am not my thoughts, fears, or beliefs. It created space to understand my true self and with that came a real sense of freedom.
It’s an ongoing practice. I may not journal every day but I write regularly. The beauty of journaling is that you can approach it however you like. Mostly I reflect on how I lived that day. Others I’ll ponder on bigger life questions. At a minimum, I’ll jot down a few pieces of gratitude.
Outside of writing, movement is another cornerstone of my mindfulness journey. After neglecting it for several years, I reconnected with exercise and I’m glad I did. The physical and mental benefits are invaluable to me. My two main outlets are the gym and running. Walking is amazing too.
What do you write? Essays, poetry, fiction, plays?
The theme of my writing revolves around the ethos of “Live Free”. In short, what that means to me is living aligned with your true self. The style of writing I publish online has evolved. Starting out, I mainly shared personal experiences and reflections with questions for the reader to ponder. After a while, I began incorporating deep-dive articles on career satisfaction, fitness, and community.
Some months ago, as I was out running, an idea for a weekly newsletter came to mind. That idea turned into ‘Curious.Conscious.Change.’, a weekly newsletter delivered each Friday. It’s a concise newsletter about curiosity, intentional living, and challenging the status quo. The goal of every edition is to inspire reflection and help empower you to live true to who you are.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers. Writing is a vehicle to explore my curiosity and each edition is addressed to myself. When a reader visits my writing I want them to leave feeling empowered, rather than inadequate.
Recently, I launched a creative project titled ‘An Ode To The Writers’. In a nutshell — I write poetic reflections about writers experiences. It’s a vehicle to connect shared experiences no matter where you are in your writing journey. Each poem is curated from a personal writing experience or a writer I have met.
What drives you to write?
Joy, fulfillment, and purpose are at the core of why I write.
Steve Jobs delivered a speech at a Stanford University commencement ceremony, and among the wonderful nuggets of wisdom he shared, there was one message that stood out for me:
“You’ve got to find what you love. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work and the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
That is what drives me to write. Writing not only helps me connect with my true self, but it also gives me clarity on the direction I want to take my life. The maps are not clearly defined, nor do I have an end destination in mind, but I have found work I love doing.
Currently, I don’t make money from my writing but I believe the right avenue will eventually open up. After working hard to build a career in sales leadership, I decided to leave the conventional path and step into the unknown six months ago to follow my instincts. 2024 is a year to explore my creativity and see where it takes me. I don’t expect to have it all figured out come the end of this year. Adjustments will be needed to sustain my creative pursuit for the long term, and I’ll do my best to let intuition guide the way.
What stops you from writing?
My phone is the number one distraction. While I pretty much always have it on ‘Do not disturb’ mode, I still regularly check notifications or my social media feeds.
I do my best work in the morning, so I aim to make the most of the first two hours of my day. Most mornings, I’ll make a coffee, head to my desk, pull out my journal, and write a few lines. This simple routine primes my focus and gets me in the mood to write. I’d like to say this is how it goes every day but sometimes I check my phone first thing in the morning.
After working for a few hours, my mind can wander, or perhaps I’m struggling to find my flow with what I want to write. In that case, I’ll head out for a short walk along the local river. There hasn’t been a time when I’ve regretted going for that walk. Moving and being in nature helps me disconnect from work and reset.
My creativity and idea generation dry up when I’m not reading enough, discovering inspirational stories, or living within my comfort zone. Inspiration is everywhere but when I’m not curious enough to notice it, my writing takes a hit. There’s a fine line when it comes to consumption and creation. I’ve yet to find the sweet spot but it’s clear when I’m under-consuming.
What do you hope to achieve with your writing?
To continue developing my self-awareness and express curiosity. To use writing as a vehicle to explore the unconventional path in my own life. The path inward.
Having gone from unfulfilled, unhappy, and unhealthy, I am now on a mission to help countless people feel empowered to align their lives with what is true to them. Not for extrinsic egoic motivations. Instead, serving the wider community in a way that is true to me.
I aim to help people realize that they have the answers within. To look inward beyond conditioning and connect with what feels true. To challenge the status quo in their lives where the status quo isn’t serving them. Rather than tell people what they should be doing, I want to equip them with questions and resources that can be used to gain clarity, overcome limitations, and live intentionally.
Turning this vision into a reality is a work in progress. I am grateful for the people who tune in each week to read my work. Readers often reach out directly with their reflections on the questions I pose. Receiving those messages fills me with joy and enthusiasm to continue what feels like a calling.
Jen Hitze shared a quote by Viktor Frankl that hits the nail on the head in her article titled “Quitting, Sabbaticals, and Meaningful Work”:
“Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.”
This feels like my assignment.
How do you write? Are you a planner or do you just start writing from an idea and let it lead you?
Currently, I write week to week. So far, I haven’t run into trouble with maintaining my schedule. All of the content I consume is through the lens of curiosity, conscious living, and challenging the status quo. I store quotes, ideas, and my reflections on Notion. Sometimes I’ll have a burning topic I want to write about but more often than not, on Mondays, I’ll open up my library and aim to find a core theme for each post.
My commitment to readers is a weekly newsletter so I want to show up for them week in and week out. That said, I don’t want to do this at the expense of my satisfaction with the final product. Finding a simple format for my weekly newsletter was a game-changer. It means I can spend as much time as needed on longer essays like this piece on community.
Poetry is where I let creativity flow. I let emotion guide the way. Sometimes it results in a poem I’m happy to publish. Other times it ends up being an enjoyable creative experience but the poem stays in my drafts.
Ultimately I’m not fixated on one way of approaching writing. Whatever ensures I maintain consistency while enjoying the process to the fullest is what I aim for.
Thanks so much for your time and sharing your insights and inspirations, Niall.
Next month’s guest is who writes Stacking Stones.
Read previous interviews in the series here.
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"Currently, I don’t make money from my writing but I believe the right avenue will eventually open up." it's so nice to see someone else say that. I write because I feel compelled to, the words have to come out of me and I feel relieved when they are on the page. I fully believe that I am being guided in the right direction, even if I cannot see the outcome yet.
"You don’t write to be rewarded.
You write because writing is the reward."
If a man wanted to reach the top of a mountain, and a helicopter offered him a lift - he'd take it in a heartbeat.
But if you offered a mountain climber the same ride, he'd politely decline.
Sounds like you're the mountain climber, Niall - you're succeeding already :)