Doodle A Day Challenge Day 6

As the #DoodleADay challenge continues you may be wondering to yourself “Why doodle?”

In case you are still undecided about whether to join in with this doodling challenge, or perhaps you are needing some motivation to keep it up, here are a few reasons I have compiled off the top of my head:

10 reasons to doodle:

1. It’s quick.
2. It can be spontaneous; no planning necessary.
3. Minimal materials needed; just use a pen or pencil and whatever paper is in front of you.
4. Since doodles are spontaneous, it’s a great opportunity to connect with your intuition and “see” what’s on your mind.
5. You can do it while doing other things like during meetings, in class and so on. Which means it’s easy to fit some creative time in during your day.
6. It can be used as a meditative practice.
7. It’s a great way to release tension after a long day.
8. Doodling can help you process information a different way, visualizing your ideas.
9. From a self-exploration perspective. I believe doodles are a an easy and fairly quick way to access “unconscious” material and inner wisdom. The spontaneous nature of doodles tend to bypass censors and thus are more likely to access unconscious material since you are just doodling after all.
10. It’s fun for heaven’s sake!

If you’re not convinced. Why not give it a try? Do a doodle a day for a week (and continue for the month of October if you like).  If you want to test out the extended benefits of doodling that I mention in number 4 and  9, then after each doodle take some time to free write: basically writing what comes to mind when you look at your doodle without worrying about grammar or spelling and not censoring what you write. Or tell a story about your doodle and see if there are any messages from this that serve you.

The #DoodleADay challenge:  

Everyday for the month of October, I will make a doodle and you are invited to join me.  It can be as simple as black ink on white paper or white ink on black or coloured paper or you can do a line doodle and colour it in. It’s up to you. Work on it as little or as much as you want, but make sure you finish each doodle.

An optional part of the doodle challenge:

For those of you who would like to use the doodles for self exploration you can take it a step further by free writing about your doodle after making it. Describe what you  see and then reflect on any metaphors or symbols you notice on your written response.

Follow the Challenge and Share your #DoodleADay Journey!

I will be posting my doodle each day on the ArtTherapist.ca blog and sharing it on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram. If you would like to join in, you can share a link of your doodle from your blog or Facebook page over at https://www.facebook.com/arttherapist.ca or post it on  Twitter tagging @drawingselfout with #DoodleADay or Instagram with  #DoodleADay and tag @petreaadamidis

 Looking forward to sharing doodles with you!