Ever since I moved to Denver in 1991 people have been counseling me to meditate. I scoffed, saying that I can’t sit still. I was in my 20s then and that was true. Sit still? HA!
Then I came across Frederick Franck’s work, specifically Zen Seeing, Zen Drawing. This hand-written, illustrated book introduced me to the concept of drawing as a way to meditate.
Here’s Franck’s premise: when we slow down enough to see, to truly see, we can draw what’s there and also experience a sense of calm. This marriage of art and mediation appealed to me. So I experimented and guess what? It was true: I felt calm, present and engaged. I noticed my thoughts about how good/bad my drawing was and I was able to savor the simple pleasure of drawing.
But it wasn’t until 2005 that I began drawing more. Simple doodles and drawings. Not trying to be good or be an artist. I was focused on writing and wasn’t looking for another medium. But I did feel the relaxing influence of sitting, looking and sketching. The calm was almost immediate. A gathering of my client note doodles circa 2003
I also noticed that the notes I took while coaching my clients were decorated with doodles. Inking these mindless scribbles helped me focus on what my clients were saying. Somehow, they gave the over-active part of my mind a place to rest.
While this wasn’t my main focus in life or work, this powerful practice became something I wanted to share. So I began leading creativity workshops in France with this kind of gentle creative practice as a focus.
The people who came on these excursions experienced their own simple, calming joy. With this presence came insights about other parts of their lives. I came to see the value of meditation. Like many creative people, I rebel against what I’m ‘supposed’ to do, so this new way to meditate resonated with me.
I adopted Franck’s drawing meditation and added other creative awareness practices. I’ve taught this method in many ways and the results are always the same: people feel relaxed, energized and happy.
Notice how it feels to create
It’s easy to get caught up in all the things we need to be creatively successful:
doing the work
managing our lives so we can do the work
improving our craft
sharing, showing and selling our work.
With so much to manage, the immediate and original joys of creating can get lost. I always invite my clients to notice the simple but profound impact creating has on them. This awareness offers a way to come back to our deepest selves, the part of us that loves to play. The part of us that can’t be touched by the world’s busyness. To our sweet, pure, original impulse.
When is the last time you noticed how it feels to put a sentence down, to add a line or a dash of color? Aside from the many anxieties that can be present in art-making, do you feel this sense of calm and grounding when you make art?
I’d love to know. Share your experience in a comment below.
Oh Cynthia… this message is so timely! I too experienced what you speak of when I would spontaneously draw with colored markers inside a circle aka creating mandalas (free form).. and I loved it so much I did it for 3 years! It WAS very relaxing and I was effortlessly focused..and amazed since I never knew what was going to show up inside the circle! It was like a dance between me and my markers, not giving muchthought to which one I picked (and often it turned out to be a different color than expected…and I just rolled with it).
When I started blogging them, the words flowed with ease. You and your article are a catalyst for me to begin making my “mandala medicine” as I called it…again! You’ve offered a new point of view for me to see my creative process through.
I love seeing your client note doodles! Adding creativity to note taking, what a unique idea! Thank you Cynthia..for inspiring…and sharing! Oh.. if interested you can peek at my mandalas, here: http://mandalaoasis.blogspot.com/
Cheryl,
I’m so glad you’re. Going back to your mandalas! ‘Effortlessly focused’…how great is that!
I will check out your site!
The doodles happened without effort, too. I love it when our creativity shows up to add spice and zest to life. 🙂
I’ve long been aware of the sense of calm I get from creating. Writing – definitely. Drawing – not so much, but then I tend to draw from my imagination. The times that I have sketched what was in front of me, which was back in Uni biology classes where we drew everything, I found it calming and I learned more than if I’d just look at a picture in text book. My Uni was strong on the idea of the old-fashioned biologist journal, so we drew flowers, leaves, invertebrates, animal internal organs and systems. I wasn’t very good, so I also made a lot of notes to accompany my drawings, but the effect was the same. Calm.
However, the greatest sense of calm for me comes from playing an instrument. Over the years, I’ve played classical and acoustic guitar, oboe, four types of recorder, shawms, crumhorns, and all give me that old zen feeling. I’ve reconnected with that feeling over the past week, and despite some frustration from being so out of practice, it has been a joy to experience the calm and centredness playing music brings to me.
Karen.. How wonderful that you still experience that calm and joy …and centeredness from playing music. Sounds heavenly! — And, thanks for the idea of drawing what’s in front of us. I tend to draw intuitively, so the idea of attempting to capture my impression of what’s in front of me..through drawing is interesting. Thank you!
Karen,
I’m so glad you are back to playing music! These kinds of creative practices may not lead to fame and money, but for the sake of our own creative pleasure and satisfaction.
I also love how your studies emphasized the drawing practice and how it was calming AND helped you learn better.
Thanks for sharing this; it’s inspiring.
I have always doodled while listening to lectures in classes, during business staff meetings and while on the phone. I agree, if gives our busy minds of place to land and helps us focus. I recently read something about a study on this. I even got fired from one of my first jobs for doodling, believe it or not! The boss thought I wasn’t paying attention!
I have found that in the last couple years, my attention span has shrunk. I can’t seem to settle down with a book or read for a length of time without feeling like there is something else I should be doing or reading. I blame the internet, honestly. (Not that I personally do not figure into the equation :-). I wonder if I should “consciously ” doodle as a way to refocus myself… It’s a thought.
BJ,
Doodling is just part of the way you process. I hope you still do it!
You are right that our attention spans are dwindling. It’s not just you. And it’s a real threat to our creativity.
Try this: when you get antsy, do some doodles. Stay with your book, but switch to doodling. See how it impacts you and if it helps you stay with the book or whatever activity you’re doing.
This is a big issue…thanks for bringing it up. I’ve Ben meaning to write about this, so I’ll do it sooner.
Thanks for commenting!
Hi BJ and Cynthia,
I am experiencing the same thing re: shrinking attention span – I am sure for me, it is all the time online where I multitask in a really erratic fashion, jumping between articles, email, social media etc etc…..and it is something that I have noticed has, is, having a very negative impact on my creativity and productivity as Cynthia said!
So I am endeavouring to be more intentional in my online activities. The first thing i’m aiming to implement is a type of online time ‘chunking’ and then turning off rather than leaving it constantly running in the background so every email ping or social media post grabs my attention or it is easy to just scroll through a bunch of pages if i hit a ‘tough’ point in whatever i’m doing.
Hopefully the effort involved with powering back on may be that ‘breathing’ space to question ‘Do i need to go online? what am I avoiding in my work? Why?’
But I do find myself getting ‘antsy’ – so will try the conscious doodle thing also – great suggestion thanks.
Hi Michelle,
I think it’s a ‘benign’ epidemic – this shrinking attention span. You are so right that we bounce over to a social media site or email when things feel difficult in our creative work. I see myself doing that.
I love the doodle practice as a way to stay present with ourselves and also soothe ourselves past the discomfort.
Try it for a week and come back here to let us know how it goes!
Thanks for experimenting with it and thanks for commenting here. 🙂
Oh Cynthia… this message is so timely! I too experienced what you speak of when I would spontaneously draw with colored markers inside a circle aka creating mandalas (free form).. and I loved it so much I did it for 3 years! It WAS very relaxing and I was effortlessly focused..and amazed since I never knew what was going to show up inside the circle! It was like a dance between me and my markers, not giving muchthought to which one I picked (and often it turned out to be a different color than expected…and I just rolled with it).
When I started blogging them, the words flowed with ease. You and your article are a catalyst for me to begin making my “mandala medicine” as I called it…again! You’ve offered a new point of view for me to see my creative process through.
I love seeing your client note doodles! Adding creativity to note taking, what a unique idea! Thank you Cynthia..for inspiring…and sharing! Oh.. if interested you can peek at my mandalas, here: http://mandalaoasis.blogspot.com/
Cheryl,
I’m so glad you’re. Going back to your mandalas! ‘Effortlessly focused’…how great is that!
I will check out your site!
The doodles happened without effort, too. I love it when our creativity shows up to add spice and zest to life. 🙂
I’ve long been aware of the sense of calm I get from creating. Writing – definitely. Drawing – not so much, but then I tend to draw from my imagination. The times that I have sketched what was in front of me, which was back in Uni biology classes where we drew everything, I found it calming and I learned more than if I’d just look at a picture in text book. My Uni was strong on the idea of the old-fashioned biologist journal, so we drew flowers, leaves, invertebrates, animal internal organs and systems. I wasn’t very good, so I also made a lot of notes to accompany my drawings, but the effect was the same. Calm.
However, the greatest sense of calm for me comes from playing an instrument. Over the years, I’ve played classical and acoustic guitar, oboe, four types of recorder, shawms, crumhorns, and all give me that old zen feeling. I’ve reconnected with that feeling over the past week, and despite some frustration from being so out of practice, it has been a joy to experience the calm and centredness playing music brings to me.
Karen.. How wonderful that you still experience that calm and joy …and centeredness from playing music. Sounds heavenly! — And, thanks for the idea of drawing what’s in front of us. I tend to draw intuitively, so the idea of attempting to capture my impression of what’s in front of me..through drawing is interesting. Thank you!
Thank you, Cheryl!
Karen,
I’m so glad you are back to playing music! These kinds of creative practices may not lead to fame and money, but for the sake of our own creative pleasure and satisfaction.
I also love how your studies emphasized the drawing practice and how it was calming AND helped you learn better.
Thanks for sharing this; it’s inspiring.
I have always doodled while listening to lectures in classes, during business staff meetings and while on the phone. I agree, if gives our busy minds of place to land and helps us focus. I recently read something about a study on this. I even got fired from one of my first jobs for doodling, believe it or not! The boss thought I wasn’t paying attention!
I have found that in the last couple years, my attention span has shrunk. I can’t seem to settle down with a book or read for a length of time without feeling like there is something else I should be doing or reading. I blame the internet, honestly. (Not that I personally do not figure into the equation :-). I wonder if I should “consciously ” doodle as a way to refocus myself… It’s a thought.
BJ,
Doodling is just part of the way you process. I hope you still do it!
You are right that our attention spans are dwindling. It’s not just you. And it’s a real threat to our creativity.
Try this: when you get antsy, do some doodles. Stay with your book, but switch to doodling. See how it impacts you and if it helps you stay with the book or whatever activity you’re doing.
This is a big issue…thanks for bringing it up. I’ve Ben meaning to write about this, so I’ll do it sooner.
Thanks for commenting!
Hi BJ and Cynthia,
I am experiencing the same thing re: shrinking attention span – I am sure for me, it is all the time online where I multitask in a really erratic fashion, jumping between articles, email, social media etc etc…..and it is something that I have noticed has, is, having a very negative impact on my creativity and productivity as Cynthia said!
So I am endeavouring to be more intentional in my online activities. The first thing i’m aiming to implement is a type of online time ‘chunking’ and then turning off rather than leaving it constantly running in the background so every email ping or social media post grabs my attention or it is easy to just scroll through a bunch of pages if i hit a ‘tough’ point in whatever i’m doing.
Hopefully the effort involved with powering back on may be that ‘breathing’ space to question ‘Do i need to go online? what am I avoiding in my work? Why?’
But I do find myself getting ‘antsy’ – so will try the conscious doodle thing also – great suggestion thanks.
Hi Michelle,
I think it’s a ‘benign’ epidemic – this shrinking attention span. You are so right that we bounce over to a social media site or email when things feel difficult in our creative work. I see myself doing that.
I love the doodle practice as a way to stay present with ourselves and also soothe ourselves past the discomfort.
Try it for a week and come back here to let us know how it goes!
Thanks for experimenting with it and thanks for commenting here. 🙂