IDEAS WE EXPLORED:

ANCHORS:

Our minds will always wander and get busy,
we need something to return to.

• Try thinking of the tip of your pencil, pen
  or brush touching the paper, as your anchor.

COLLECTING ‘ELEVATED MOMENTS’

Start a dedicated journal for ‘collecting’ the beautiful, poignant, delicious, elevated moments that are always there for noticing, and add to it each evening.

Look back on it every once in a while and put yourself back into those moments, notice how it can change your state.

The very act of noticing and savouring these moments is a mindful creative act, as you bring them into existence in your appreciation of them.

• Fresh Sheets (esp. if they’ve just been hung outside)

• Quiet at night after kids have gone to bed

• First sip of wine/coffee

• Watching sleeping children

• Sweetness of bedtime cuddles

• Emotional contrasts in a piece of music

• Warmth of the sun on your face

• First sound of the cardinals early in the morning

• The quiet after or during a heavy snowfall

• Bird Murmuration 

PRACTICES:

SCRIBBLE YOUR DAY

Use a pencil, pen or brush to express either the movements or internal state of your day from waking till now.

DRAWING A BREATH

“One line one breath”/Drawing shapes, waves, spirals.

- Dominant hand/Non-dominant hand/ Both hands

- Eyes open/Eyes closed

DRAWING MUSIC

Use sounds or different kinds of music to guide you in mark-making, shifting your attention to different anchors in the music. Attention on tip of pencil touching paper. Remembering to breathe.

MINDFUL WRITING

Choose any word, perhaps a word that describes the state that you want to be in. Play with writing it in cursive repeatedly, very slowly, covering your page. Sync the writing with the rhythm of your breath.

SUPPLIES TO EXPLORE:

• Any black fine tipped pen - I’m a fan of Pilot V5 hi-techpoint or Muji fineline pens

• Pencils (Blackwing brand is fancy and fun but a regular pencil is fine too)

• Dry erase markers/board

• India Ink - most basic art supply stores will carry

• Watercolour paper

• Small sketchbook or notebook in your bag

• Larger sketchbook/paper (play with scale and how it feels in your body to work bigger or smaller)

• White Pens - Uni-ball Signo Broad - You can draw on dark paper or over ink.

BONUS ACTIVITY

Try writing a word and placing it around your physical space as a visual cue of mindfulness.

• BEAUTY OF IMPERFECTION  (or simply WABI SABI)

• JUST THIS

• SAVOUR

• PAUSE

• ALLOW

STAY IN TOUCH!