Doodles and drawings are swimming in my brain this morning. I spent most of the past weekend doodling. You see, I’ve started a journal where I’ll be listing 25 things for which I’m grateful on a daily basis, and doodles have become part of the process. Just to open the well of color and ideas, perhaps to comfort me into a state of grace. .

You see, I’ve fallen into the well of fear again. I worry about money. That worry turns to fear, and then fear blocks the flow of writing and goal intention. So, I’m focusing on the things I do have, instead of the things I think I could lose.  And one of the things I love about keeping a journal is the artwork I doodle to colorize the flow of creativity. It sounds so arty farty. But who am I to question the process? Beside, I was always an art class nerd, who spent free periods in high school hanging out in Mr. Bates’ art room drawing or tracing faces on an overhead projector for silk screens.   So, I bought an assortment of magic markers, and I’ve been coloring and doodling patterns, stained glass motifs of multicolored weirdness. I couldn’t stop. All weekend – through sips of morning coffee and within each listing of gratitude. I doodled the inner front cover of my journal through the Super Bowl, and through “Downton Abbey” straight until bedtime.

While my hand and brain devised magical swirly checkerboards and psychedelic patterns created by precision pens and fine point markers, I remembered this amazing segment on CBS Sunday Morning from months back regarding the art of the doodle.  There are people who sit in meetings and doodle, not because they’re bored, but because it allows them to concentrate better. This is me. I’m always doodling in meetings. Many called it a “window to clarity”, where mindless drawing opens a space that allows you to focus.  It hits an “intentional sweet spot”.  As mentioned in the segment, “It’s a visual language that can be used to provide a richer and clear cut understanding”  toward discussion points and learning various lessons.

I’m brainstorming a structure to help my clients understand the basics of writing a book with the intent of self publishing. While being currently immersed in the doodling process, there seems to be a chasm opening up, allowing me to explore a creative way to make people love to learn what I’d like to teach. It’s a visual language that helps get the point across. In fact, Kindle Direct has an introduction to self publishing that is done in doodle animation, making what can be a muddled process a little easier to understand. And as someone who has spent many hours in meetings with visually inclined digital technologists plotting SEO or DRM with drawings on whiteboards hung in geek chic conference rooms – I get it.

Here’s that CBS segment I love so much. Sign me up. I’m part of Doodle Nation:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-higher-purpose-of-doodling/