A Creative Journal

Doodle Journal

by Heather Goldsmith on July 3rd, 2006

When Shai Coggins of Self Help Diva, blogged about doodling recently I realised I doodle a lot. The corners of the notebook I write phone message on are swarming with images and faces, boxes and swirling curls, lines and other squiggles. Anytime I have to wait on the phone I keep my pen and hand busy, scribbling away. I doodle while in conversation or listening to a sermon or presentation. I’d doodle while watching TV, but I’m usually involved in some pen less activity these days.

There’s something satisfying about doodling, even though I tend to doodle mostly outside of my journal. The mindlessness of scribbling, as if in distraction, with your mind clearly elsewhere just feels right. Of course, it could just be that I need to have something to do with my hands.

I love the word Jim Six created to describe his form of doodling in an article for Moleskinerie:

“It took me a while to be able to write in my first Moleskine notebook. Often I jottle — that’s a word I made up to describe the kind of doodling I do, a sort of stream-of-consciousness doodling with words instead of images. At first, I thought perhaps the Moleskine was just too good for jottling. Now, I am able to scribble away without reserve.”

There’s plenty to suggest doodling can help access our creative minds. Read this article on Doodling as a Creative Process. Also, researchers believe doodling may be the way to help trouble youth - Doodling Away the Teenage Blues.

Why not keep a doodle journal? I think I might need to, just to keep track of what it is I’m really doodling on those page corners.

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