Finding a way to calm my brain

It's been literally decades since I last picked up a felt pen.

Yesterday I found myself standing in the stationery aisle at the supermarket, gazing at the felt pens. Something inside me said, “buy them” – so I did. One box of felt pens and one box of coloured pencils.

I'm the sort of person who finds it incredibly difficult to switch my brain off. It's racing at 10,000 miles an hour, constantly thinking about the next project, the next idea, the next thing on the list.

As I picked up those pens today, I thought of my lovely friend and artist Vanessa Narbey (Instagram: @vnarbeyart @naturallynarbey), who teaches meditative drawing workshops. Instead of trying to create something, I simply let the pens do the drawing.

Something unexpected happened. My mind became quiet.

I wasn't thinking about work, deadlines or tomorrow's to-do list. I was completely absorbed in the flow of the pen, the colours and the patterns. I should have discovered this years ago.

Sometimes creativity is simply about giving yourself permission to create, just for the joy of it, without an end-game. And guess what? It was fun too!

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