This is the third of my blogs on Mindfulness techniques that I find helpful. This one is concentrated drawing.

You don't need to be an artist to do this, or even have ANY drawing abilities at all, as long as you can hold a pen or a pencil and make a mark on paper you can do this one.

You can do this within a set time (use a timer or an alarm on your watch/phone)or just keep going till you fill the paper, up to you.

Get a sheet of blank paper. Anything will do from the back of an envelope to a A1 sheet of drawing paper. Get something to draw with. Again anything will do. A pencil, pen, crayon whatever you can find.

Look at your paper and pick a spot, anywhere will do. Place the tip of your chosen drawing implement on it (I will assume a pen for now) and start to move the pen across the paper. Concentrate on the line and the feeling of the pen on the paper. Is it scratchy or smooth? Try to vary the line, can you make it darker or lighter?

Don't take your pen off the paper and keep making lines, shapes, pictures whatever takes your fancy but keep concentrating on the line. If your mind starts to wander bring it back firmly but kindly to the line. If you forget and take the pen off the paper, don't beat yourself up but start a new line and try to keep focused on maintaining that continuous line.

Keep going till you run out of your set time or out of paper.

I find this technique very useful when I am getting particularly anxious whilst waiting for people or if I am having a really bad spell and can't concentrate on anything.

Penny

A Moodscope member.