Zen Scribbling

‘When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It’s to enjoy each step along the way’. Wayne Dyer

Someone has already ‘invented’ Zentangling, Zen Doodling and Zen Painting, and I think that Zentangling is even copyrighted and you have to get certified by the originator to teach it. So I made up my own name for what I do and it really is Zen Scribbling, like a young child enjoying the pleasure of their hand moving freely across the paper, just being.

It’s relaxing and feels good, and it’s Wabi Sabi, imperfect, incomplete, and impermanent. Sometimes it is all over the paper with no visible connection, like a two year old. Other times it gets more ‘sophisticated’ and has shapes and forms that appear from the scribbles. There is no goal, no plan, no purpose, it is simply being present in the moment, right here, right now.

For 40+ years, my hands have been doing their own thing, in journals with various media (pencils/crayons/oil pastels/chalk, etc) and it can be right handed, left handed or both handed, and there’s no concern for control of the instrument and holding it the ‘right’ way or making a ‘pretty picture’. It is what it is, no more, no less and that is enough.

All sorts of amazing things begin appearing on the paper that my relaxed mind pulls from deep within. Feelings come out on the paper and are released and sometimes that’s just what I need and it continues until I can heal and move on. When meditation takes over, I move into awareness and grace guides my hand.

I like music playing in the background and sometimes I dance or drum before I begin my Zen Scribbling, and sometimes there is silence and stillness, as I stay out of routine, planning and expectations, and flow with the moment. Sometimes I find something in the scribbles and emphasize it and other times it appears on its own when I stop and look at it. Sometimes I shut my eyes and scribble, and am surprised when I open them.

It has gotten me through some tough emotional times of grief and anger, when I scribbled so hard that I tore the paper, and when I am done, the emotions are out and I am more calm, aware, and full of grace. It’s good for mad, sad and glad and when I was an art therapist, my clients found it very beneficial and healing.

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