Writing as meditation: How a mom finds flow

My name is Trisha Enriquez and I run a blog called No Tummy Mommy. A lot of people don’t know that I also work a full-time job, so I’m doing the true mom hustle. I’m on maternity leave now (I had my daughter, Noa, in March), but my life is about balancing the mom life with my day-to-day job and the blog.

No Tummy Mommy started when I was on mat leave with my first daughter, Harper. I had joined a few mom groups. The other moms saw what I was eating, and would ask me questions about health and fitness. I’ve always been certified as a personal trainer; I’d just never really used it. So I started putting that passion into a reality with the blog, and it carried on from there. I’ve always loved writing and fitness. So it’s almost like a combination of the two, and now that I’m a mother, it’s a nice blend of all three worlds.

Writing and meditation are two things that get me in the flow. I swear by meditation. It’s what got me through my first labor and delivery. But even before I started meditating, writing for me had always been a form of meditation. I started writing in a diary when I was in grade three, and I wrote every day until I was in university.

Now I have a massive box of all these old journals, which is kind of embarrassing, because I don’t even know what to do with them! But for me, it was a very mindful practice, being alone and writing my thoughts. Obviously in elementary school it was more of, what I did today, but as I got older, I’d write what I was feeling, and that was very meditative. I remember reading a lot of Deepak Chopra and that introduced me to what it meant to meditate, as well as being more mindful.

For me, being in a flow state is when you are just really truly focused. You have your eye on the prize, you’re driven, you’re unstoppable — that’s how I would describe being in the flow.

Being in flow come in waves. There are some weeks when I can do it for longer, and other weeks when one minute feels like years. But it has helped me, and I think that’s a big piece of the whole “being in the flow” puzzle. It’s about being focused, able to calm your mind, understanding your thoughts, knowing what you want and being clear about what you want.

Right now I can’t say I’m a pro at it, as the new baby has really been a whirlwind! But that’s OK, too. The second pregnancy was a tough journey. Now, when I look at my baby — despite all the craziness I went through even just trying to get pregnant, and the ups and downs of the pregnancy itself — I realize it was all worth it. I look at my family and regardless of how unsettled I feel — we recently moved, so my mattress is on the floor and I don’t have a couch — but it’s OK. I know it sounds so cliché, but I look at my family and that’s what makes me feel most fulfilled.

This goes hand-in-hand with the meditation piece, but I believe in the power of the mind. I’ve seen this happen in so many aspects of my life. I came across an old vision board I had five years ago, and there was a picture of a villa in Italy that I had put there; it looked exactly like the villa I stayed at in Italy last summer. It made me realize that the intention and the power of your thoughts is incredible. My advice would be to watch what you think, because it can become a reality. I remind myself of that daily. I’m stressed out every day and there’s moments of being ungrateful, and I have to stop and think and be positive. I have a house, I’m happy, I’m healthy. And those things really do come to life and show in your actions, your words and what you put out there.