Aimless Doodling and Mindfulness

In our blog post on Intro to Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), we introduced the concept of mindfulness: experiencing the present, noticing without judging. Let's incorporate this concept into leisure.

Maybe you're a crafty person or someone who likes to experience new things around you. Consider how much you allow yourself to do things for the sake of doing them, even in your fun. Here are some examples:

• Knitting a long, endless panel, just to knit.

• Stretching your body, not following an exercise video or specific guide.

• Going to the park to just sit down on a bench, not wearing or bringing anything special.

A lot of times, activities like these can feel like a "waste of time." This might be because you only have a little bit of time to spare throughout the week or yarn might be expensive. When these barriers come up, how often do you then turn to your phone or feel paralyzed by the "I should do something productive" thought?

In comes mindful doodling. Doodling is one of the most accessible activities available. You can use a free app on your phone, a pen and paper, a whiteboard, or anything else that you might have at home. You can do doodle on the bus, you can doodle in bed, and you can doodle outside.

To incorporate mindfulness, consider doodling for the sake of doodling. This means that there's no end goal, no judgment. Releasing the idea of "mistakes" and "imperfection" while focusing on the physical sensations of doodling like the pen on the paper, the pressure on your hand, and the sounds around you.

Regulate as needed, and combine doodling with any other tools in your toolkit for slowing down!