Doodling, A Mindful Practice

It was the first few days of 2019. I was in a bit of a funk – restless and upset with myself – while Anth was blissfully doodling away. He watches a lot of artists on YouTube and they all described doodling as an intuitive and relaxing activity.

I thought, what the hell, I’ll give it a try. Instead of failing miserably at it, I found myself with a new hobby. Like I needed a new hobby! What I needed was a job or a skill!

That said, I would recommend doodling to everyone. It was a good exercise for me, being stuck in a rut and not feeling like I can complete anything. Doodling made me realize that it is possible to complete something even if I don’t know what’s unfolding, as long as I keep at it.

Keep in mind though, expectation almost always stunts a doodle, the way it affects self-worth. So, steer clear of expectation.

When the paper gets filled, you find yourself with such an unexpected piece of “work”.

Isn’t it a lot like life?

Following my experience about eating mindfully, I’ve come to see that mindfulness can be applied to every action in our lives, including doodling. It’s just a matter of putting your focus on what you’re doing at that moment. A simple action, but increasingly challenging as we become more attached to our phones.

I’m glad I found another fun way to practice mindfulness. All you need is pen and paper. You don’t need concepts or skills, only simple shapes – just look at my examples. Then you put pen on paper and keep working at it, not caring how it turns out, until the paper is filled.

It is satisfying.