The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

Trust :  one in which confidence is placed

Every time I teach a class, I am asking students to trust me to teach them something new. More importantly I am asking them to trust themselves, and their ability to focus and relax.

Seeing completed Zentangle artwork can be intimidating. All the beautiful patterns and compositions appear complicated.  Through the first tile of every class I teach, students hold their breath, tense their grip and fight with their own bodies to get ink onto their tile. They tell me they can’t draw or they aren’t creative.

As children we know we can do anything! We will grow up to rule the world and be the best at everything.  When we are young, we have not had years’ of negative talk telling ourselves, or someone else telling us, that we aren’t good at something, we aren’t artists, we shouldn’t take the time to be creative.

For adults, having a creative outlet where practice is a key part in the activity – where you regularly participate in the art or craft – can help you break those negative voices. Regularly spending time on an activity and learning something new each time you do so can little by little help your confidence come to the surface.

Recently I tried the following variation of a tangling exercise when I was having a busy time in life, and lots of trouble focusing day after day.  I felt like I could not draw a straight line. For days I was frustrated with my ability and taking it back to the basics allowed me to enjoy this creative journey again.

If you regularly tangle, sketch or draw, and find yourself in a rut, or if you haven’t picked up a pen in a while, try this exercise.  It takes us back to childhood a little bit, we did this a lot as kids using crayons, and it definitely shares some characteristics with Zentangle.

Try This

On a clean piece of paper, draw a curvy squiggly line that overlaps and intersects.  Within those spaces rather than coloring within the lines, as you may have when a child, fill the space with straight parallel lines.  Rotate the paper as you want, to change the direction of the lines, but keep drawing the lines in the same repetitive pattern, the same directional motion each time. Keeping the same motion is key to helping you relax into a pattern.

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire

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The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

Focus :  a state or condition permitting clear perception or understanding

My focused thinking time happens in the morning.  No creatures are stirring in the house, the coffee is hot and everything is quiet. I keep my daily journal open so that while I am working any thoughts that come to me can be quickly jotted down.

Primarily I use this time to do some focused creative work, occasionally I need to organize my to-do list or maybe I need to get some thoughts out on a new project idea, but after I get that on paper I am back to something creative.

Allowing myself a few minutes to forget everything else in the world and pay attention to the ink flowing from my pen when I am tangling often brings to the surface of my mind solutions to problems I have been puzzling through or new ideas that I haven’t quite been able to put some framework around. By not directly trying to solve a problem, it feels like all the information I have gathered sorts its self out and new solutions and ideas form. This only happens when I give myself the mental space to sort and organize.

This type of focus can come from any easily repeatable activity. Swimming can be good for that, counting the strokes, or running and focusing on the cadence rather than tv or music. Knitting is another activity that has a cadence, repeatable steps – watching the needles work and focusing on each knit and pearl.

When I learned about Zentangle. I was initially attracted by the designs that caught my eye – but very quickly the finished artwork became a bonus as I practiced and understood how to use the steps of Zentangle to focus.  It is the clarity I get by focusing that keeps me coming back again and again.

It isn’t as easy to show a picture online of how lovely the focused time is, what makes a beautiful tile on paper, doesn’t necessarily reflect the impact on your mind.

Over the course of this year, I hope to inspire you to pick up a pen, and practice finding that focus for yourself.

Try This

My focus time often is spent tangling,  or using tangling with found poetry.  Sometimes it might involve sketching or a coloring book. I also go through periods of getting hooked on sudoku or crossword books which use my brain in a totally different way.  The common factor is pen and paper and quiet focus. 

Where can you find a little time each day to focus?

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire

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The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

Quiet :  free from noise or uproar

Last summer we were deep in the mountains, camped away from any campground and in the woods with only the creatures around us – and there was still an echo of highway noise, the ambient flow of jet engines overhead and the occasional motor vehicle on the trails in the miles of dirt roads.

It is very hard to find quiet.

Every once in a while I need the sound of silence – the music off, t.v. dark.  And yet there are still fans, dishwashers, clocks ticking. During these times, I am really looking for the noise in my head to go quiet.  The constantly growing list, wondering what is next, doubt about something left undone, nagging thoughts that won’t stop.

Sometimes quiet can be uncomfortable because we are afraid of what might come to mind if we turn off the noise of daily living.  Constant stimulation and distraction allow us to not go too deep.  Uncomfortable silence is a real thing – even with ourselves. We get so used to focusing on external influences, it can be much easier to not stop and look internally, yet it is important for our well being.

The other day I was waiting to pick someone up, waiting in the parked car which was insulated against road noise, but in the suburban parking lot, watching the traffic go by I could barely hear a thing. I resisted the urge to turn on the news, check my phone or edit my list of to-dos. I just listened, fascinated that in the middle of all this activity there was nearly no noise.

Giving my mind a chance to just be in those few minutes, was refreshing. Even with the busyness of people coming and going, really listening to… nothing… gave me a sense of calm. Just as giving a body a rest by being still, is important find a way to give your other senses a break.  Its all part of the bigger picture to learn to be calm, slow down and focus.

Try This

What do you do you in your week that invites you to give the noise a rest?

How can you silence your space, turn off distractions and actively appreciate some quiet in your day?

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire

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The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

Appreciate :  to grasp the nature, worth, quality, or significance of 

Appreciate. Such a nice word. We do a lot of appreciating others, but not ourselves, or our own work.  Especially the work that might only benefit our immediate family or even just our personal sense of peace.

Even the mundane tasks of our day can be gratifying and lovely if we take a moment to appreciate that we made our world a little better. A little smile and nice acknowledgement that a task is complete, a little nod to the time you took. Appreciate yourself.

Starting each of my classes with a nice, lovely deep breath, and a conscious appreciation helps bring focus in on my intention. Appreciation for the time students will spend learning a new art form.  Starting each tile or tangle in a journal with a lovely breath and appreciation also helps me ground myself to being here in the present – paying attention to what I am about to do, and helps me let go and focus.

I am my own worst critic, why not try to be my biggest fan?

Try This

Whether you are tangling, or with a chore that you begin – try a breath of appreciation, help yourself focus and mentally appreciate in advance the time you will spend to make your world better.

“I appreciate the time I will take to tangle/journal/sketch.”

“I appreciate that I am folding the laundry and care taking of my home”

“I appreciate the ability to walk the dog on this chilly day”

It might sound a little silly, but from a cleaning chore, to taking time out of your day to tangle a tile, or before going for a walk or swim – appreciate yourself, give yourself a mental high five and savor the time you will spend on your task.

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire

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The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

Stillness   :  devoid of or abstaining from motion    :  free from noise or turbulence

The world runs at a frenetic pace, especially the online, constantly connected side of our lives.  Constant notifications, texts, emails, social media updates.  As we learn to live at this new speed it seems even more important to find a balance by being still.

Allowing your mind to be still takes practice. Allowing your body to truly rest takes practice. Not a lot of new skill or explanation required, just reminders and practice.

You might naturally find when you journal or draw, or in the  middle of other focused activities that you pause for a moment and capture a bit of stillness, where the silence envelops you like a bubble.  We need these moments in our day like a breath of fresh air for our minds.

Try This

Sit quietly for a few moments with all your screens and sounds off. Watch the raindrops fall outside the window, or the flames flicker by the fire.  Sit still with yourself physically. Feet flat on the floor, hands gently resting on your legs. Take five minutes, two minutes or one minute to sit gently.

Close your eyes or focus on the distance and just sit.

Breathe and be still.

Sit still with your mind. When your mind wanders, bring it back quietly reminding yourself that you are still. It is a practice to be still for even a moment when you are used to constant stimulation.

Breathe evenly. Let your eyes relax or gently close them. When you start looking around remind yourself, take a breath and be still.

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire

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The Quiet Side

Exploring the unseen benefits of creative focus.

Deliberate  :  slow, unhurried, and steady as though allowing time for decision on each individual action involved

Slowing down, and focusing on a single thing at a time can be hard to do.  We are coming away from a time where multitasking was rewarded, and we are learning more and more that the benefit of mindfulness and focus on your health is great.  You can’t truly focus on many things at once, and it is a great break for your brain and good for your well-being to take time to do something deliberately. Just a small amount of complete attention to an activity will bring better results.

In Zentangle practice, a deliberate stroke can help you enjoy and benefit from the process even more than the thrill of a beautifully drawn tile. Taking time to focus on the ink coming from your pen onto the paper, taking a deep breath and focusing on the time to get from one point to another helps you relax into the process, and brings a calm to what you are doing in that moment.

Learning tangles in a specific, repeatable order also helps to make sure that you are drawing deliberately.  This isn’t an absentminded doodle.  You want to take this time for yourself.

Whether you have completed a hundred tiles, just taken a class or are just beginning to explore Zentangle, give this exercise a try. Think about each stroke as you make it, allow yourself a few moments to focus.

Try This

Bales is one of my favorite tangles because of the repeatable, deliberate steps taken to create a fun design. Give yourself a little time to follow these steps, go slowly and relax with your pen.

Start by drawing parallel lines one direction. Make each stroke deliberate, focus on your pen and paper. Go slowly, this is not a race.

Now rotate your tile or paper to make parallel lines the other direction, perpendicular to the first collection of lines to create a grid. Notice that by rotating your paper, you are keeping the same motion as you create a grid, keep focusing on the stroke as you go.

Next we are going to add some curved lines from point to point within the grid. If you make the strokes vertically like in the picture above when drawing Bales, there is a tendency to make curves quickly down the column, never lifting your pen, never stopping to breathe at each intersection.

If you make the little rice shapes across a row, like in the picture below, then proceed to the next row, it forces you to slow down and pay attention.

Stopping at each intersection, taking a breath and lifting your pen creates more even strokes, deliberately helping you to slow down, calm down and relax into the process. Deliberately draw one curve then pick your pen up and move to the next.

After your grid is filled with little curves in one direction, turn your tile and continue in the same manner, the same stroke filling in the other direction.

Continue with the curved shape across the rows in the other direction. By rotating your tile you keep the same stroke which helps you find a relaxing rhythm. Moving your pen in a methodical motion across your tile in this specific deliberate way, you can help make the stroke a soothing and relaxing motion.

This simple exercise is an example of how the practice of deliberate strokes can help you relax and find focus with the Zentangle method. I hope you take some time to try this pretty little tangle, and keep practicing these strokes as a way to calm your mind and find focus in your day.

deliberate – still – appreciate – quiet – focus – trust – deconstruct – beautiful – reflect – relax – discover – create – comfort – shade – breathe – inspire – be bold – embellish – savor – slow – calm – admire

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Over the holidays, I had so much fun sharing my tiles and tangles during the 12 days challenge, yet I found myself really wanting to share more about how creating those tiles made such a difference in my day. I am a big fan of slowing down, focusing and taking time for stillness in my heart and mind, and often find myself helping others do the same.

Throughout  2017 I have a series planned highlighting The Quiet Side of having a creative, contemplative practice. The series is filled with encouragement to find quiet moments to revitalize yourself. I highlight some of the benefits that you can’t see of a regular creative practice and include ideas and simple exercises you can try.

To get a regular dose of inspiration throughout 2017, sign up for my blog  and notification will be delivered straight to your inbox.

Look for this box on www.soundtangle.com to sign up!

I hope you’ll join me on this creative journey.

Kellie