Doodle Escapes

We need doodling & drawing now more than ever.
Doodling helps us to slow down and connect with ourselves on a very deep and core level. Drawing is a way that we as humans
can explore and develop a deeper connection to our senses and the world around us.

While you are listening right now what I want you to do is just pick up a pencil or pen and  start to doodle. Don’t think about it, just start. If you are driving or listening on a walk think about the last time you doodled. What did you doodle? When you get somewhere that you can doodle give yourself 2 minutes and doodle away. And if you are taking a walk you could just doodle on your walk sit on a bench or a tree stump and take out a pencil and doodle on a scrap piece of paper in your pocket or take a stick and doodle in the dirt.

Some people when they doodle like to make webs or concentric circles. Triangles or looping lines. There does not have to be any rhyme or reason. Just let your hand wander and see where it takes you.

Even artists might draw a certain way when they make their art but when they are doodling they go back to what is comfortable and the way they have doodled for years or maybe even decades. I make cubes that overlap or networks of circles and lines. It is calming to always come back to this. I doodle on the back of envelopes or paper bags or whatever is near me when I need to zone out or listen carefully. Sometimes I will add a sporadic word if I am listening to a lecture or on a call and then doodle around the word. There is a back and forth with doodles and text and back to doodles and I like to see where my hand takes me.

And that is the thing about doodling if you need a brain break and need to unfocus for a bit because you have been concentrating too hard then doodling is the perfect thing. Like students who are studying for too long or when you are on a zoom call for 8 hours!

Or if you need to concentrate on something then doodling can help. Sometimes in my hardest classes in college it was the doodling that helped me to focus.

Did you know based on research that…?

Students who doodle before an exam do better.

That Doodling can prompt an immediate calming effect

Picking up and using a pencil is critical for your eyes, hand and brain.

Doodling can help you focus better while listening.

Some people believe that doodles can reveal what is going on in our unconscious.

I have always been fascinated by doodling and doodles. I even love saying the word.

Doodling

Doodle your noodle.

Doodle time.

Try saying the word. Isn't it fun to say?

At least 26 of the 44 American Presidents doodled,

If you think about your day I would guess that you may not even be picking up a pen or a pencil. We are so mediated through our phones and computers that we can go days or weeks where we don’t write anything on paper. But we need to. We need to pick up a drawing or writing tool and doodle. Connecting our hand, eyes, and brain is important for us as humans. So a 5 minute doodle every day allows us to feel the drag of the pen across the paper. It is kinesthetic and tactile. Doodling has a texture. It is a sensory experience. And as we walk through this world as a human being we are multi-sensory. We see, hear, smell, taste, touch. Doodling grounds us.

I am pushing everyone right now to take some Doodle Breaks or Escapes as I like to call them. These five minute doodle downtime sessions can be just what you need. Whether you’re at your desk for 10 hours on virtual calls or a student feeling stressed out or parent who is looking for ways to engage your kids—these creative exercises give you a different way to change your mood, de-stress, challenge your brain and just relax in a new way.

Discover what doodles can do for you! They allow you to escape your doldrums or escape your current reality.

Throw away everything you think you know about drawing and doodling and get ready to draw in new and unusual ways. Don’t worry if your drawings look like “scribbles” you are using drawing as a catalyst to relax and renew. When you doodle there are no mistakes!

Do you doodle?

What do you like to doodle?

When do you like to doodle?

Share your doodles with me in my Facebook Group called: "Your Drawing Mind." It is incredible to see the infinite ways that we can doodle. Each one of our doodles will be different and that is the incredible thing about drawing and bring a bit of creativity into your day.