Seek Mindfulness: An Interview with Emily Maroutian

Emily Maroutian is an award-winning author, teacher, inspirer and creator. Her works are very powerful as she beautifuly explores unfamiliar ideas. In 2009 she founded Maroutian Entertainment.  We had the opportunity to catch up with Emily.

Q) Emily, can you tell us a little about your background and when you started writing?

A) I was born in Yerevan, Armenia but we moved to the states when I was about five years old. I don’t remember much about Armenia. I have fragmented memories of our apartment and the park nearby. Most of my life has been in Los Angeles. I began writing stories around the age of eleven and screenplays around the age of twelve. I didn’t start writing books until I was about seventeen. By then I was fascinated with philosophy and I wanted to be a philosopher. I even majored in philosophy and religious studies in college. I was a seeker from very early on. My mother frequently tells the story of when she took me to the doctor because I wouldn’t stop asking questions. She said I asked about 200 questions in one day and she became worried.

Q) You recently won a bronze medal for one of your books. Can you tell us about the book and the medal?

A) The award is called the Living Now Book Awards. They celebrate and honor books that help people live better lives. The Book of Relief teaches people how to work with their nervous system to relieve stress. It’s full of passages, affirmations, and exercises. It’s a book about stress relief, mindfulness, and emotional management.

Q) What guidance would you give people who find meditation and mindfulness difficult? 

A) Traditional meditation can be difficult for some. It’s not easy to sit still and pay attention to your breath. There are other forms of meditation, including walking meditation. If you can take a 10-15 minute walk around your neighborhood then you can practice walking meditation. Look at the flowers on the way. Become present to the walk. Don’t argue in your mind, don’t think about the next day, don’t “go” somewhere else. Stay where you are. Stay inside your body. Feel the concrete below your feet. Smell the fresh air. Engage your senses.

There is also creative meditation like painting, dancing, writing. They’re all different forms of meditation. If you can sit just for a few minutes and focus on your breath, that will change your body’s response to stress. It’s been proven that 15-20 minutes of meditation 3-4- times a week greatly reduces stress and has positive effects on the body. It helps our nervous system rebalance and recharge. If you can’t start there, start with 5 minutes, start with mindfulness. Mindfulness is simply living life in the moment as it happens, not in your head, not in yesterday or tomorrow. But here, now, today, in this moment. You stay with what’s happening as it’s happening. The Book of Relief has several exercises that can help people stay mindful and grounded on a daily basis. I think it’s essential for a healthy and balanced life.

Q) What do you think the most important thing is to living a positive life?

A) I would say not denying the negative. Don’t pretend it’s not there. Don’t fight it. Life is up and down, left and right, inside and outside, happiness and sadness, pleasure and pain. It’s not just one way or one side. We create additional problems when we fight one side and try to live only the other. There is a balance that should be respected. The key is to remain hopeful when the pendulum of life swings to the other side. You have to keep in mind that it’s going to swing back. It always does. Stay hopeful and enjoy the swing in the meantime.

Q) You have a great way of simplifying complex things, in a world with so much noise what advice would you have for the “technology generation”?

A) Technology is beneficial in many ways. It can simplify our lives and connect us with loved ones who live at a great distance. But it can also take us out of ourselves. It can help us disassociate, numb out, or grow distant from those around us. Social media has been proven to cause depression. It creates the illusion of a false life by cropping the best bits and pieces of a person’s experience into a timeline. It gives the illusion that someone’s life is all happy moments, or partying, or vacations. It makes others feel as though their own lives aren’t good enough because it doesn’t mirror what they see on social media. My suggestion would be to not to buy into the illusion of it. Know it’s an illusion. Keep your social media accounts, communicate with others, share yourself, network, but don’t take it to mean more than it is. Social media is a tool for communication and expression. It’s not where life is lived. It’s simply one additional place life is expressed.

Q) What’s your life philosophy?

A) I wouldn’t say that I have a life’s philosophy because most of my life has been spent studying it. It’s changed over and over again as I grew and expanded my understandings. I don’t think I would be able to fit my understandings in a few lines. I’ve written several books on the subject. I recently finished my 10th book Adventures in Thinking. It’s a
philosophical book on metacognition. It explores how the mind becomes limited through conditioned thinking and unconscious patterns of behavior. It’s a book about opening the mind, embracing diversity, and turning to more solution-oriented thinking. I invite anyone with an open and inquisitive mind to step into its pages.

Q) Where do you get the inspiration for your writings?

A) I find myself inspired by many things. But mostly I don’t control or dictate what I write. I allow it to flow through me as it comes. I might be in a grocery store shopping for food and then inspiration will come on suddenly and randomly. I never know what I’m going to write until it reveals itself to me. Most people consider themselves the creators of their work. I like to think of myself as the pen. I am the tool through which creative energy flows. That may sound strange to most people but over the years I’ve learned that it works best when I don’t try to insert my own will onto it.

Q) Where can people purchase your books if they’re interested?

A) Most of my books are available in about 20 countries or so, including the states, Canada, and Europe. My distributer is Amazon but they make sure it’s also available in other stores as well. They’re also on the kindle for a quick and easy download. You can visit amazon.com/author/emilymaroutianfor a list of available books.

Q) Before we end this interview, can you share one of your poems with us?

A) My most recent poem was inspired by the genocide.

Birthed 

by Emily Maroutian

I am the light my ancestors dreamed of in the dark.

The hope clung to the last beat of their dying hearts.

I flowed with the floods pouring into the desert graveyards,

and I washed the decaying bodies, burned and scarred.

I was birthed in the fire and pit they were thrown into,

and I rose from their ashes, miraculous and new.

I was made manifest from their prayer-filled cries.

I am the spirit in them that did not die.

I am courage embarking on life’s journey again,

and I walk with the spirit of a million women and men.

I’m made flesh through this deathless and prevailing idea,

that there is no end in me, I am Armenia.

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About Emily:

Emily Maroutian is an award-winning writer, poet, and philosopher. In 2009, she formed Maroutian Entertainment, a multimedia company that produces empowering material in the form of books, courses, movies, and TV shows.

She has been studying philosophy and personal development for more than a decade and combines her experiences from both fields in her works. She has written several books, including her 2015 metaphysical release, The Energy of Emotions, which became an Amazon.com bestseller.

 She has a notable ability of simplifying complicated philosophical concepts and turning them into useful resources for self-development. The focus of her work is to reframe common understandings to encourage personal transformation. Her philosophies center on the idea that we all have the power to better the world through bettering ourselves.

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AIWA-SF is an affiliate chapter of the Armenian International Women’s Association,  the EIN #: 04-3113182. Donations marked for AIWA-SF are routed to the affiliate chapter.

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About AIWA-SF:

The Armenian International Women’s Association is a dynamic global 501(c)3 dedicated to empowerment, education and enrichment. Through many projects and initiatives,  AIWA is dedicated to inspiring, empowering and connecting Armenian women worldwide. To learn more about AIWA, please visit http://www.aiwainternational.org.

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