When life gets a little too overwhelming and I'm feeling cranky or stressed out, I know it is time for me to get a little R&R by spending 30 minutes or so in an active meditation. This kind of relaxing-while-doing is very common - walking, taking a bath, reading, driving and just chilling out while we occupy ourselves with a an undemanding activity. One of my favorites is doodling. Deliberately doodling by creating repetitive marks and lines with a pen on paper for a short time can refresh the spirit and fire-up creativity, This activity has become the latest craze among artists and non-artists alike. The various methods of producing these mini artworks have even got their own names: There are 'Zentangles' (R), a term coined by Rick and Maria Roberts and based on their teaching, 'zendalas', which are round and 'zen doodles', which seem to encompass all shapes and sizes. This is how it's done. All you need is an inexpensive black pen, such as a Sakura Pigma Micron, an HB pencil and decent cartridge or watercolor paper. Oh and your favorite gentle music or perhaps a radio play or audio book. Some people like to 'deliberately doodle' with the TV on. You begin your doodle by marking out the corners of a 3.5 inch square with your pencil, an approximation will do, Place a dot at each corner then join up the dots to form a border. This is your working space. Have your soothing music playing in the background. Draw a simple random, swirly line, again with pencil. Maybe make it loop around a couple of times. Don't make it too complicated. Alternatively you could create a loose grid with intersecting lines. Begin to fill in the spaces between the lines with dots, circles, dashes, curved lines, straight lines and anything else you like. Allow you mind to wander as your drawing hand takes care of the patterns. It doesn't matter whether it is pretty or not. The important part is the actual process. If you get too hung-up on making it look nice, then you are missing the point of it being a meditation. In any case, you will be impressed by the end result. Everyone who can hold a pen can create a lovely doodle-drawing. Children love to do this and if you given them each a pre-cut 3.5 inch square, they are amazed at the effect when they put them all together at the end. You will also be surprised at the way you begin to see patterns in everything as you move through your daily life - you'll see them in nature, around the house, in your backyard, on TV and literally everywhere! It makes sense to carry a teeny notebook around with you where you can quickly jot down the patterns for later use. Another wonderful thing about this technique, is that you need so few materials that you can doodle any time you have a few minutes to spare. If you'd like to try doodling as an active meditation, you can take a look at my step-by-step instructions, together with several examples of patterns to use as 'filling', on my page, The Doodle. After the first go, you'll be hooked!
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Bev Gee has been drawing (badly) since she was a child. Then she discovered the power of doodling. See some of her doodles on her webpage: Zen & Ink. Bev earns her living by writing online content, primarily for Squidoo.