Every year that I run Doodle Journey (and this is its fourth year) I am reminded of the power of simplicity.  We are coming up to the beginning of the third week of this year’s journey and still the doodle does not get boring for me.  Though I had hoped to post sooner about the journey I have decided to post what we have been up to so far in the free Doodle Journey course.

In the first week I really wanted participants to loosen, up let go and play to start, as there is often a tendency when we have an “art  prompt” to perform.  When we focus too much on outcome we end up doing it for the outside world rather than connecting with our inner world. We put too much emphasis on how it looks.  Believe me when I say I have fallen into this trap too.  Once of my doodles for instance, which I did not like, almost did not get posted.  I have heard from others who struggled at first with feeling that they did not do their doodle “right”, as if there were a right way to doodle.  A doodle is suppose to be loose, even messy, when we try too hard to make it look right it no longer is a doodle but becomes a drawing, which to me has different implications. Drawings often have the intention to look a certain way, to convey something in particular, usually something planed out.  With doodles we discover by letting go, loosening our grips of control.  This practice for me is paramount to the benefits of doodling.  Too often we hold the reigns tight to keep control. Control becomes a commodity that when lost makes us feel lost.  Letting go in the process of doodling can help us let go of the need to control things in our lives, especially the things that we have no real control over.  It can lessen your anxieties if we can allow ourselves to flow with the current, ride the waves of life rather than push against them.  Not in a passive way but an active participatory way.

Doodle’s are all about process. While we may get a product we like in the end, that is not the intention.  This is why I like doodles so much, they allow us to pull back from the part of us who wants to appear a certain way, because we can step back and say, it’s just a doodle. A doodle is a bunch of points in time captured in lines, form, perhaps crudely so.  A doodle can express emotion, thoughts, responses to our life. A doodle can help us relax, distilling tension we may be feeling. A doodle can bring us into the present moment and maintain our gaze in the here and now as we continue to doodle.  Doodles are play, exploration, experimentation.  They may be ugly and beautiful at the same time.

Below I have included a summary of the prompts we have done so far. But if you want to full experience (I ponder the themes a little more and give some optional questions to think about), please be sure to sign-up to get the prompts e-mailed directly to you.

Week One: Letting Go

Day 1 Repeat circular lines to make a doodle.  To begin we will focus on doodling mindfully.   Throughout this course, you can use your doodling as an anchor to the present moment in this way.

Day 2 Loosening up with scribbling.  Do a quick scribble and find a form or image in it, then draw it out.

Day 3 Give up control: Close your eyes and do a doodle, slow it down, no peeking.

Day 4 Give up control continued: Eyes open. Use your non-dominant hand- if you want to get really silly and give up control to the process you might even try to make a doodle with your feet!

Day 5 Finding Flow:  You will make a doodle of your choosing in one constant line/scribble/doodle without lifting your pen from paper until you feel the doodle is done.

Day 6 Stay with the Process: Today when you sit down (or stand) to doodle, remember to stay with the process.  Don’t worry about how your doodle turns out. Just begin and see what unfolds, no planning.

Week Two: Connection

Day 7 Connect with nature: Take your doodling outside today and connect with nature.  You can interpret this in any way that makes sense to you.

Day 8 Connect with your feelings: Put music on that reflects your mood. Connect with how you are feeling and start to doodle.

Day 9 Open the doors to your imagination: Close your eyes and watch the array of shapes, forms perhaps even colours that arise in your mind’s eye.  Take it all in, all the gifts from your imagination.  Doodle what you saw in your mind’s eye.

Day 10  Connect with your environment: Make random doodles throughout the day. Take your doodle journal with you today where ever you go and work on your doodle at random times during the day whenever you think of it.

Day 11 Connect with Others: Choose a doodle partner; family, friend, co-worker, neighbour, any age will do.   You each take turns making a line on the paper, joining it to each other’s line and watching as an image or form appears. Continue to do this until you are both satisfied that the doodle is done.

Day 12 Connect with the universe, the now. Draw a freehand doodle mandala. starting with a seed in the centre and spiraling out repeated hand drawn designs. There is no need to make it exact, its more about the process. As you focus on each addition of a mark, repeated around the centre, a state of flow opens up. Draw, turn repeat, draw, turn repeat . . .

Note: If you haven’t signed up already you are welcome to jump in anytime. Once signed up you will receive the remaining days prompts sent straight to your in box.  We also have a closed Facebook group called Virtual Art Circle for you to share your doodles in community.  sign up via this link http://arttherapist.ca/free-doodle-journey-november-2016/.