Doodling for Stress Relief- How to Start a Doodle Journal

What Is Doodling?

To get us on the same page (heh,) I want to be clear with what I'm talking about when it comes to doodling. My favorite definition, and the one I'm using, is from Doodle extraordinaire Sunni Brown, author of The Doodle Revolution. According to Brown, doodling is “making spontaneous marks (with your mind and body) to help yourself think.” While Brown's book is all about doodling to record and express information, in a doodle journal we're doodling for personal expression.

Benefits of Doodling

Doodling is perfect for those of us who want to be creative but don’t necessarily consider ourselves “artists.” All you need is a pen, paper, and a willingness to play.

Doodling is also a great addition to traditional journaling practices. You can experiment with adding visual aspects to written journal pages. If you feel awkward using art to express yourself (and many of us do at first), adding little stars, faces, or abstract doodles can help you give yourself permission to play in this way.

Better Focus and Emotional Well-Being Through Doodling

• Blood Flow to the Prefrontal Cortex – A 2017 study found that “visual self-expression helps with attention and improves health and well-being.” Of the three types of visual expression studied (freehand drawing, coloring, and doodling), doodling resulted in the strongest activation of the prefrontal cortex.
  
  Increased blood flow to the prefrontal cortex is important for stress relief and focus because the prefrontal cortex is the home of our executive function. Executive function gives us the ability to regulate cognitive and social behavior, personality and decision-making. When we improve executive function, we can better align our actions with our values. (Banks, 2023)
• A Way to Check-In with Yourself – Life gets busy, and it's easy to lose track of what's going on inside of ourselves. Keeping a journal is a helpful way to check-in. A doodle journal gives you the opportunity to tune in to your creative self and helps you remember who you are.

Stress Relief and Relaxation Through Doodling

• Perspective – Doodling in your journal can help you get past the more literal part of your mind to see new perspectives and possibilities. Seeing your own story on the page in images rather than words sometimes helps you see different patterns and ways to interpret what's going on.
• Self-Compassion – Another benefit to doodling about your experiences is that it gives a bit of distance between yourself and your thoughts or emotions. That distance lets you notice your own humanity. When you can see yourself as simply another human doing the best they can it makes way for self-compassion.
• Sometimes, we just don't have words – Emotions can come in herds. They can be confusing, unreasonable, and surprising. Doodling allows you to be less literal and gives you a way to express what you're feeling without having to know exactly what or why you're feeling it.
  
  This is extremely valuable, especially if you're just getting to know your emotions better. The link between your feelings and the page doesn't require words, and it still lets your body process what you're feeling.
• Fun! Last but definitely not least, doodling is fun. Playing around with squiggles, relaxing into the way it feels to repeat a line and fill in a doodled shape – doodling is a great way to open your mind to delight.

How to Start a Doodling Journal

A journal is a great place to embrace creative self expression. Not only does it give you freedom to play with a bunch of different ideas, you also have the freedom to close it up and tuck it away. This can help keep your inner critic at bay. Grab your favorite pen, pencil, brush, or markers and a journal of your choosing.

I offer the following as one way to get started. Over time, you’ll find your own helpful practices. It is my hope that some of the exercises you try make their way beyond journal pages, evolving into your own tools you can use easily to check in with yourself. I’ve had many a doodled post-it note conversation with confusing parts of myself during a work day, for instance!

In my Quick Start Guide I recommend that journalers who are just getting started with this type of creative self-expression take the time to give themselves permission to play. I include the following “permission slip.” Feel free to use this or write your own if it feels helpful!

Permission slip for journal doodling:

I ____________________________ give myself permission to play around with drawing and doodling in my journal entries, however much or little I like. Creativity is my birthright and self expression is a core human need.

• I’m allowed to make any kind of drawings: ugly or pretty ones, scribbly or specific ones. 
• I can tear things out and throw them away if I want. 
• I do not have to show my drawings to anyone if I don’t wish to. 
• I can be gentle with myself through any awkwardness or shame that comes up.
• I am allowed to go slow.

 I give myself access to this creative form of self expression.

Signed __________________________

And now, on to the doodling!

A Few Doodling Journal Tips:

• It can be helpful to date your pages- future you may be curious when you made a particular journal entry.
• Some journal entries are too tender to look back on right away. No rush. I have things that took years before they became something I was ok with looking at.
• Experiment with what paper you like. Some people like a grid or dots to give a feeling of structure, while some people vastly prefer blank paper.

3 Journal Prompts to Try out Doodling for Self Expression

Doodle a Feeling Without Words

Good for when you don't have words to express how you feel, processing emotions that are big or many-layered, learning to feel your feelings in your body

Draw a shape on the page (I like to start with a large square)–this will act as a frame. Then fill this shape with marks and colors that go with your feelings.

Let yourself make whatever marks or squiggles that come to you when you tune into what you're feeling. Explore the lines you feel like making, the actions of your hand across the page, the colors you want to pick up next. This is a good exercise to practice feeling something without having to put words or an explanation to your feelings.

Doodle Your Joys

One way to deepen your connection with yourself and really affirm who you are is to get in touch with what brings you joy. Can you list ten things that bring you joy? This is also a fun drawing prompt. There is no need to draw perfectly. Just try doodling your answers.

Doodle Your Monster

Do you have a repeating voice or narrative in your head that makes you feel afraid of expressing yourself? This might be your inner critic, your sense of doom, or something someone told you that you just can't shake loose.

It can be helpful to draw these “monsters.” It may help you be more aware when they come up. And when you put them out on paper, you may discover things you'd like to say back to them.