Unleash the Right Side of Your Brain and Relax!

Color yourself happy.

Lately, I’ve been coloring and doodling for relaxation. I started out buying nice markers and adult coloring books. The finished product is always satisfying, and I’m putting them in inexpensive plain black frames to display. The colors and designs make me happy.

It reminds me of being a little girl. Before a camping trip, my mom would always buy one of those big groovy posters and a pack of pens. My mom and dad and my sister and I would spend hours coloring if we happened to be stuck in the camper because of a rainy day.

I also really enjoy sketching and coloring digitally. I’ve been using the Sketchbook app on my iPad for drawing, and for digital journaling I use the Notability app. I include lots of doodles and drawings of my own, along with stickers created by others, in my planner pages, notes and journals.

More than you probably want or need to know about my very exciting daily life, but here’s an example from my planner:

Still haven’t made that pendant, but I will. Someday. Sigh.

I started creating intricate doodles of my own, similar to, but nowhere near as good as the adult coloring books you can buy. Still, I find it relaxing and a bit meditative to just start drawing patterns and textures to color in without really knowing where I’m headed with it.

A couple weeks ago I came across this post written by Suzanna Leigh, and I was inspired to draw a mandala for the first time. Drawing it digitally was easier than it might have been on paper. It’s nice to be able to click undo when I don’t like how something has turned out, but that ability really fires up the perfectionist in me and piques my inner critic’s interest. I still enjoyed the process and ultimately had to let go of perfection because, well, I couldn’t do it perfectly.

While I’m doodling, I either sit with my thoughts and doodle in silence, which is calming, or I listen to a podcast or audiobook. I find that my focus is improved while I’m drawing or doodling, and I don’t have to rewind over and over to catch something important I missed while my mind was wandering.

Another therapeutic artistic practice I’ve played with a little is non-dominant hand drawing and writing. It is impossible for me to judge the work harshly or even at all for some reason. Maybe because I have no expectation of mastery or perfection when I use my non-dominant hand. Many believe it increases creativity and reduces stress. I want to read more about it and keep playing. I find the results rather charming.

I tried this quick little exercise a few minutes ago. Watch the video, and give it a try yourself. I’d love to see your drawings!

Finally, here is another doodling resource I ran across online, and I will soon be trying some doodles using Carol Edmonston’s process. It looks really fun. Check out her gallery. It’s relaxing just looking at the different doodles.

The Doodle Lady