When my mama life gets CRRRRAAAAZZZZYYYYY (and yes, it gets CRAZY everyday!!) I find myself saying..."I am calm...I am calm...I am calm" over and over again.

I especially say this during the times my 4-year-old daughter is asking me, "Mom, can we go on the stroller ride? Mom, can I cut paper? Mom, can I go outside on the patio? Mom, what's this? Mom, can I have a cookie. Mom, can we go the zoo?" all in matter of 5 seconds and all while I'm in the middle of making her and her lil' bro lunch and we can't do anything she's asking in the moment. :)

Yeah, talk about outta-control-thoughts going on for me in that moment. I can't keep up with my answers to her so I try to stay quiet and not say anything back to her while I get her plate ready with food and so I don't cut my finger off while cutting up grapes for her and baby bro. But...then she yells out, "MOOOM!!! You're NOT listening to me!!"

So I acknowledge her last question, "No, we can't go to the zoo right now, we're eating lunch now." Then she responds with, "What?"

Then I have to repeat my answer over and over again because she keeps saying, "What?" I know she's heard my answer, but she's just doing what her Daddy and I do, because we've said "What? What? What?" to her a lot these past few years because there's been SO many times that we can't understand what she's saying so we say, "What? What? What? OH, you wanna go for a car ride!!" Ha! :)

Even though I find myself saying the words, "I am calm" in moments like this during the day, it's when I DOODLE the words, "I am calm" that an even bigger, positive and CALMING shift happens within me.

When I get a few moments to myself, meaning, the kids are happily playing together for a few seconds or they've just gone to bed for the evening, I'll grab my colored pencils (or crayons) and my little sketchbook and I'll sit down and slowly doodle the word calm.

I choose to write the word in cursive, because when I write in cursive, my body and mind begin to slow down. The more I trace over the word again and again, the more calm I feel. A.MAZ.ING! I could trace over it for hours!! :)

Here's the coolest part of all. Because I've doodle this word SO much (and other words, too!), when my mama brain is about to explode because of all the multi-tasking demands that coming my way, and I can't get a moment to alone to sit down and doodle, I end up SEEING one of my CALMING doodles in my mind.

I SEE the colors and the CALM words in my head, and because of this, I suddenly feel a sense of aaaaaahhhhhhh come over me. Then, I'm reminded that when I get a moment, I need to sit down and doodle, so I can really FEEL this calm even more and keep it flowing within me throughout my busy days.

Because, yes, when how you wanna FEEL is doodled on paper in this way, it has a very, very powerful affect on helping you feel just a little bit more calm in a moment that doesn't feel anywhere near calm. Hence, a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old needing help with everything little thing at the same exact time. Uh, so NOT calming! ;)

When I first started doodling, did I doodle those CALM words like that? Heck no!

Here's my very first words that I doodle, after YEARS of NOT doodling. When I sat down to doodle, "I am the Artist of my life," I immediately remembered how I used to draw block letters, or bubble letters, in high school.

So that's what I did.

Like the shading to really make those letters stand out?? Awwww yeah!! I did that SO much in high school. Ha! :)

The more I doodled, the more I connected with what kind of doodling helps calm me in a quick, EASY and fun way.

The more I calmed my mind with doodling, the more I connected with the FEELING of how cursive writing doodling made me feel. It's this type of doodle that calms me the most.

I'll add other calming shapes and lines sometimes, but when I just need some instant calm, I always doodle the first thing that I know will get my calm-on quickly.

So yeah, if you wanna get your creative, calm on in this way, try doodling a word or words that you wanna FEEL.

I've done SO many.

It doesn't always have to be CALM for me. There's lots of RELAX in there, too. ;) These are a collection of doodles from 2011 until now.

Lots of changes and lots that have stayed the same...all because I connected with what doodles, shapes, words and colors FEEL good to me.

Because for me, when it comes to doodling, the only thing that matters is what FEELS good...not the outcome...not if it's artistic/creative looking...and not that it's professional looking.

No rules! Just calming fun! If you wanna do lots of words, instead of just one...you can do this, too! Because, don't we all need these reminders? I do! ;)

Wanna FEEL more relaxed? Doodle it!

Wanna FEEL more inner happiness? Doodle it!

Wanna SMILE more? Doodle it!

When you do, I promise you'll be feeling more of it than you could ever imagine. Because, yes, doodling is that powerful! :)

Some people say affirmations over and over again to themselves, I doodle the words that I wanna FEEL. Every time I doodle them, my thoughts become more positive and I handle the stress in my life with more ease.

Yes, I get stressed everyday, but I handle it way better than I ever have since I reconnected with my inner doodler and learned and experienced the powerful benefits of having my inner, creative self alive and well again!

Wanna get your doodle word calm on like this?

Use mine as guide. Pick colors and words that FEEL GOOD to YOU! Write it in a way that FEELS GOOD to you!!

You'll know if it FEELS GOOD by the way your body feels and what your thoughts are saying...open, at ease, flowing and "YEAH, this is FUN!! I'm LOVING this!!"

The more you do it, the more YOU'LL connect with YOUR inner, creative sparks and the more you'll doodle what YOU love and what FEELS GOOD to YOU! :)

Happy Doodling!

Oh, and yeah. When you add the "I AM" to your words, an even MORE powerful, positive and CALMING shift happens. ;)

If you wanna learn more on this topic and how to get your creative calm on even more...be sure to get my FREE ebook on how to easily go from FRAZZLED to CALM (in < 10) so you can BE more of the happy + present mama you're meant to BE (and something your family will benefit from and can do, too!!). Until next time... Life IS creatively, awesome...SAVOR it up!