Last week, I doodled the last page in my very FIRST art journal.

It happened to be my birthday doodle that I wrote about last week, too.

After looking back through my lovely moleskin, I was just in awe.

You see, never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd be doodling in art journal.

If you'd asked me if I colored, drew or painted last year at this time, I would have said, "Um, no! I'm not an artist".

Well, enter mommyhood, and so many things change, for the good, too!

There are many things that I've done in the past to help calm my mind; yoga, mediation, walks in nature, jogging, menu planning, detoxing (ha, who am I kidding. I always said I wanted to try a detox, but NEVER, ever did one, and I'm not even sure if I ever will).

And, yes, I absolutely love all of those things, but it always seemed SO hard to do them on a consistent basis.

I could hear those inner thoughts (hello right brain), "Do more yoga. Sit still. Calm down. Slow down. Take it easy. Focus on the positive", all the time, and I knew I was very passionate about all those thoughts and needed greatly, but my external thoughts (um, yeah, hello left brain) kept getting the way.

Thoughts like, "I don't have time. I have so much to do. I'll do it after I do some serious cardio, etc, etc".

But, once I became a Mommy, I had some serious "inner creative itches" calling out to me.

One of those callings was coloring.

I started this journal toward the end of my 10 weeks as a single mommy.

During that time, I was learning from Whitney Ferré and her Creatively Fit program. I was thrilled to have found this connection for my Holistic Health Coaching business, and mainly, just super duper thrilled to have finally listened to what my inner voice had been trying to tell me for years...

"To reconnect and STAY connected to your inner creative child through mindless, creative activity".

There were many times in my life, when I look back, that right brain, mindless, creative activity tried to make it's place in my world (or, really , just trying to come back into my world again).

When I flew to Europe after college, I bought a kids coloring book so I could color instead of focusing on my fear of flying. I started coloring on my first connection flight and a flight attendant said to me in a very interested voice, "Now that looks fun. I should do that". But, my left brain voice took it as, "OMG! I look like an idiot coloring in a "kids" coloring book (I was 24 at the time). I put it away right after that moment and never opened it again, but I kept it for years.
One of my father's co-workers was a smoker. I told her that I had bought a coloring book for my Europe trip to help ease my fear of flying. She started to color at night to help her not smoke.
While living at home with my parents after college, I bought an "adult" coloring book filled with flowers. I colored some of them in with markers, but never finished, and ended up giving it to my "artistic" mother.
When I lived on Guam with my husband, I was a substitute teacher. I had lots of free time, and I went to the craft store for some reason. I can't remember what for, but I did buy a paint with numbers kit. I started it, but never finished.
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I bought a kids sketch pad at Target and doodled the first two pages, and never opened it again, until recently.

So, yeah, I'm sure there were other times before this, too, but I can't really remember.

But now that I know WHY it's SO important to keep doodling in my life (to give my left brain, the to-do list/worry side, a much needed break and let my right brain speak up more and help me create stillness and calm in the present moment), and now that I've seen the benefits of it (daily yoga practice, more meditation, calmer mind, more innergy, more menu planning!), I'm hooked.

I'm SO hooked that I became a Creatively Fit Coach so I could not only add this amazing, colorful, creative, inspirational message to my nutrition business (a message that I believe is a major missing link in the nutrition field and one that I feel I'm called to bring), but so I could share it with you.

And with that, I couldn't be more thrilled that I finished my art journal and have already started a new one (all while being on 24/7 mommy and wife duty!).

Woohoo!

When I flip back through the pages, I can't help but *smile* and feel oh, SO bright from looking at all the color I created.

It's the most amazing feeling, and it innergizes me SO much.

If I'm having an off moment or an off day, I'll open it up and just soak up all the color inside.

The internal, calming shifts that occur from just looking at the colorful doodles is amazing!

So with that, I wanted to share some of my colorful inspiration with you.

Now, I just want to say, I'm not sharing this with you to say, "Look at me! I'm an artist! I can draw! Look at what I can do"!

I'm sharing it because I hope it'll inspire you to connect within to your inner, creative self again so you can create some inner calm and balance in this busy, busy world we live in. So you can connect with your inner kindergartner again. The one who would color, for fun, mindlessly and without judgement.

Because when you open that world up again, it creates magical, calming innergizing shifts that you can take with you into your overwhelmed, long to-do list day.

Also, I'm showing you this from "end" to "beginning".

As you can see, my doodles blossomed. I started with crayola crayons and colored pencils and then, when I felt ready and guided internally, I switched to craft store quality colored pencils.

This is what happens when you let your left brain take a much needed nap for a little bit and you tap into your inner creative juices again.

Your right brain comes out in full force and guides you to create the most awesome stuff. You might have an intention to doodle a certain something, but when you finish, it's most likely not what you first pictured.

And , it not only looks amazing, but you'll notice positive shifts occuring in all areas of your life, too.

And, lastly, all of my doodles in my art journal were done to help calm my mind after a long and stressful day.

The colors, the patterns, were all what my inner guide was helping me to do to create calm.

So take a look and color yourself inspired. And, after you scroll all the way down, scroll back up to get a glimpse of how I started out and evovled.

Cool stuff! :)

If you'd like to learn more, make sure you sign up for my newsletter.

I'm working behind the scenes on some awesome programs that'll help you create calming innergy through colorful doodles, fun photos and savoring foods.

And if you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! :)

When's the last time you doodled, mindlessly? How did it feel? Fun? Calming? Inspiring? Craving more? I'd love to hear about it.

Until next time...

{life IS a doodle}