The art and science of LEARNing how to doodle.

Have you ever let your brain wonder? Have you ever let yourself just go into a deep recess of your mind allowing yourself just to think about nothing?

It does sound beautiful, doesn’t it?! You know allowing yourself to think about absolutely nothing and just be in a state of pure solace. As you can imagine, I struggle with allowing my brain to wander. I'm always focussed. I'm always thinking. I'm always looking for opportunities to enhance myself. Does that sound like you? Well, the reality check is that we need to relax.

We need to LEARN how to relax.

To give ourself permission to take a break and sit back and allow ourselves to wander. By wandering, I don't mean sitting in front of the TV and just vegging with your favourite snack. That comes later! What I am talking about and sharing with you is the ability to allow your brain to doodle.

Doodling is both an Art and a Science.

On the art side, you're allowing your brain to share what's going on in the inside. Allowing the brain to share what is going on. On the opposite hand, the science side, you're now giving your brain a conduit to release any information or random thoughts and allowing it to spill on your sheet of paper ingratitude. For me, I try to Doodle at least once a week. At first, I will be honest; my brain would shift quickly back into thinking of my task list, my schedule, things I needed to accomplish by day's end, and who I still needed to return a call to. But then it hit me. I was not benefiting my to-do list, schedule, things I needed to accomplish, returning a phone call if I didn't allow myself the opportunity to take a step back.

There's that word again. Allowed. Permission.

When I am working with my clients, I feel like there's a guilt that's attached when you're not focussed on something that you need to do.

I once was shared a story with a client that was sharing with me that there were stressed and felt like they had nothing but anger that 'nothing isn't coming together' for them. I am sure we can all relate. I shared with them a story about two individuals that went out into the forest to cut down trees. One was consistent, never stops, never took back anytime and simply cut down every tree. The other individual cut down the same amount of trees BUT allowed themselves to have brakes. By the end, it was an equal amount of trees that both tree cutters have cut by day then.

How is this possible?

It doesn't make logical sense to have one person who is consistently taking the entire amount of time possible to cut down a tree to have the same amount of trees cut as an individual that took frequent breaks. The reality is that the individual that took the brakes with sharpening their tools in the process. Allowing themselves an ability to actually think through how they were going to do what they were going to do. It is with this sharpened Edge cutting tool that makes doodling so vital in all of our practices.

Doodling allows at that time to sharpen your sword and LEARN what it is that we are looking to do. And giving yourself a fresh perspective on how to be the best.

So I guess the next question is, how do you allow your brain to wander? How do you doodle? Well, it's going to be different for everybody. For me, I have a space that I know I go to, and that is where I can doodle. This where I allow myself the permission to take my break. For you, it may be a book that you know is specific to doodling. It may be a time of day that you protect to ensure you have time to doodle. Doodling doesn't need to happen daily, it just needs to be done.

It is the art of resetting yourself and it is the science of giving yourself an opportunity to transfer your knowledge or thought process. The other question is how will I know when I'm done doodling? There is no time. There is no ruling. There are no mistakes in doodling.

There is however permission to doodle.

I leave you with this thought BE the tree cutter that allows permission to take breaks, sharpen your sword, and have a refreshing thought of what it is to doodle. When you are done, give yourself a pat-on-the-back. Have a treat. Give yourself recognition where it is owed that now you have taken the break you needed.

Need a little more help with doodling? Need some starting pointers on how to Doodle a little bit more effectively? Join Dr. Drew's Discussion Community to discuss LEARN. LEARN is an acronym that breaks down how we can actually effectively and efficiently for those that need to, doodle and LEARN.

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