The intro post to this series is here, journaling for mental clarity is here, journaling through fear is here. Journaling to clear your mind is here. Journaling to work out choices is here. The 5 year diary is here. Travel journaling is here.

There are times when there are no words, or words are not enough, but you still want to put marks on paper, because pens are a comfort, pencils are a comfort, paper is a comfort, just the sound they make as they meet is a comfort. Beyond doodling mindlessly, copying down a passage from a favourite book or a poem, or just practicing your handwriting or repeatedly writing down a mantra, here are some things you can try doing:

1. Pick an object or a photo and draw it without looking at the paper, and without picking up your pen (blind contour drawing). You need zero artistic skills for this, and the result doesn’t matter, just your focus on your subject and the movement of the pen or pencil on the paper.

2. Pick up a pen and then list 10 things that you see around you in that pen’s colour/the ink’s colour. This is a variant of a stress reducing exercise that I do regularly (find 10 objects in a certain colour in the area around you), and it helps ground you in the moment and take your mind off things. It’s best to choose an unusual colour for this (not black, blue or brown, but pink, purple, yellow, etc) – something that’s a bit more challenging to find. You can also do this with a pencil and then just pick 10 things in/with a certain shape (triangle, zigzag, hexagon, etc).

3. Pick a pencil, a pen and an eraser, and sketch them. It doesn’t have to be accurate, and nobody cares if you don’t get it anywhere near “right”. These are simple objects to sketch (basically rectangles and triangles smooshed together), they are readily available and usually don’t carry too much emotional baggage with them.

4. Put on some music with no lyrics, grab a piece of paper and some pens, and just sketch the piece. Go abstract, vary lines and shapes and colours with the change of tempo, instrument, etc. I love using Oscar Peterson or Thelonious Monk tracks for this, but it’s best to do it with tracks you already know and love.

I’ve been using a combination of all of these lately. Sometimes they help, sometimes they don’t.