In this mindful order and chaos exercise, we’ll discover how relaxing a bit of chaos can be.
This might sound like an oxymoron, but hear me out.
What if you let your expectations go about how your drawing should look? What if you forget about perfectionism for a while and just let go? You just let your hand draw lines, squiggles, or doodles. It doesn’t have to be pretty, it doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, I dare you to be messy. Doesn’t that sound freeing? No expectations, just creating to create. For no one but yourself.
I dare you to experiment and see what it feels like to do this and forget about the outcome. Just draw.
Are you up for the challenge?
I hope you have some well-deserved creative me-time with this exercise!
Have fun with this mindful order and chaos exercise! Please let me know if you’ve tried this one, I would love to see it.
You can find a small video of this exercise on my Instagram @thecreativecooldown
Supplies used:
Bristol paper 300gr (Hahnemuhle), alcohol makers (Ohuhu), fineliner 0.05 (Winsor & Newton), circle template (M+R), washi tape.
Alternative supply suggestions:
You can use whatever material you have for this exercise, such as colored pencils, crayons, watercolors, etc.
You don’t need a circle template to do this exercise. Any round object will do. If you want to draw circles in multiple sizes, try to find round things which differ in size; a teacup, a shot glass, a shampoo bottle, mascara, etc.
Instructions:
Step 1
Before you start, slowly breathe in and out a few times to clear your head. If you like, add washi tape around the borders to create a frame around your drawing.
Grab a circle template or a round object and fill your page with circles. If you like, you can draw smaller circles within a larger one as I did.
Step 2
Now, it’s time to pick your colors. Choose ones that calm you or make you feel good. Fill your circles with these colors.
Step 3
Steps 1 and 2 are the orderly part of this exercise; draw perfect circles and color between the lines. The next two steps are all about chaos. Fill the rest of your page with doodles or squiggles. It doesn’t have to look pretty. Just put your pen on your paper and see what comes out. Don’t overthink it. There’s no wrong way to do this. As for you perfectionists out there: this is a chance to let go of that perfectionism for a while. I dare you to be messy!
Step 4
After your page is filled you can add some extra details if you like. I decided to add some hashes and other stuff to my squiggles. Do what feels good. Feel free to experiment. The outcome is not important. You’re doing this for yourself and no one else. Do what feels good and is fun.
Slowly remove your washi tape (if you used any). Keep it parallel to your paper when you remove it.
Now this mindful order and chaos exercise is done! I hope you had fun.
If you liked this exercise, you might like my mindful spiraling exercise as well.
