Doodlin' Well

For us creative's, doodling is like our coffee break...well atleast for me it is. When boredom comes knocking or when I'm caught up in too much thought, I enjoy turning to pen and paper to release some tension and keep my brain alert.

Little did I realize doodling had a higher meaning so I went searching for some answers. Here is what I found:

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Doodling allows the unconscious to render in symbolic expression. Symbols have universal as well as personal meaning. When you are stuck for an answer to a problem or looking for creative innovation, the technique of doodling will unleash the hidden symbolic powers of the unconscious mind.

Your subconscious mind is attempting to contact you all the time. It is usually blocked by habitual conscious thought patterns or emotions. It can also be drowned out by the mundane mental trivia that we repeatedly hash over. Learn to allow its conscious expression, preferably every day.

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The function of doodling, according to Andrade, who recently published a study on doodling in Applied Cognitive Psychology, is to provide just enough cognitive stimulation during an otherwise boring task to prevent the mind from taking the more radical step of totally opting out of the situation and running off into a fantasy world.

Andrade tested her theory by playing a lengthy and boring tape of a telephone message to a collection of people, only half of whom had been given a doodling task. After the tape ended she quizzed them on what they had retained and found that the doodlers remembered much more than the non-doodlers.

"They remembered about 29 percent more information from the tape than the people who were just listening to the tape," Andrade says.

In other words, doodling doesn't detract from concentration; it can help by diminishing the need to resort to daydreams.
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Well ain't that interesting! All this time I spent doodling in class while I should have been paying attention. Turns out I was paying attention 29% more than everyone else :)