Flushing the Psyche
I’ve been doodling. Nothing planned out or precisely executed, just whatever lines come out onto the paper in whatever fashion they choose to reveal themselves. Sometimes I get tied of thinking. Doodling is actually good for cognitive function. Doodling helps to find things we’ve lost along the way, cognitively, through the process of subconscious memory recall. Don’t take it from me, there’s a nifty little article by the Harvard Medical School about the thinking benefits of doodling.
“Spontaneous drawings may also relieve psychological distress, making it easier to attend to things. We like to make sense of our lives by making up coherent stories, but sometimes there are gaps that cannot be filled, no matter how hard we try. Doodles fill these gaps…”
I think I’m trying to tell myself something that I’m not yet aware of, searching for a key that’s dangling on edge of my understanding. Doodles are like dreams unfolding as they call up strange markings from seemingly out of nowhere. It’s such a relieving activity that the feeling itself is indicative of undergoing a cleansing process, shifting what’s not necessary out of the way as the ink deposits the marks on the paper. The flushing leaves more room for better cognitive functioning. Even the doodle itself doesn’t contain the answer, it’s only the path, acting as a bridge to something unknown.
The Process of Exploration
Plus it’s just enjoyable. It’s like giving yourself permission to not care about the outcome, not care about whether the entire doodle comes out or doesn’t in the end. The benefit isn’t in the final product, it’s in the process of making it. The existence of the doodle, though fascinating, doesn’t hold as much weight as the benefits of the action to bring it into existence.
No matter what it makes in the end, it always speaks. Like flushing out all the gunk before getting to what you’re really trying to find, lost in the recesses of the subconscious.
What I really enjoy experiencing is when the doodle upgrades, through no preplanned initiative of my own, and becomes a mature drawing. It transforms and surprises. As if I am connecting to a reservoir of language that’s finally forming a coherent structure.
When that happens, (and you have to be listening to the lines), you slow down, become more deliberate with your application and arrangement, and help the doodle move into the greater state it’s telling you it’s ready to mature into.