Drawing to Music: A Mindfulness Activity

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Mindfulness

Background Information

What is mindfulness? 

Mindfulness is about being present in the moment and having awareness of what is occurring internally and externally, without value-judgements.

What is a value-judgement?

A value-judgement is the act of subjectively evaluating something to be “good” or “bad”. We might evaluate certain experiences, feelings, behaviours, etc. as being good, right, or worthwhile and others as being bad, wrong, or not worthwhile.

For example, if we have been taught that some feelings are “okay” to have, but others are “not okay”, we may try to push away any feelings we have that are “not okay”. We may also judge ourselves or others when we express “not okay” feelings.

Working with mindfulness, we can acknowledge that a feeling or experience is uncomfortable or painful, without labelling it as “bad” or “not okay”. We can try to find ways to examine experiences without using value judgement terms. For example, instead of a day being “good” or “bad”, can we describe the experiences we had within the day that we enjoyed or that we did not enjoy or found challenging.

For further reading on mindfulness, visit: www.mindfulnessinstitute.ca

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Draw to Music

Activity Details

Details:

  1. Pick a song that fits your mood.

  2. Grab drawing utensils and paper.

  3. Set up your space with all of the drawing material you think you will need before you start the exercise.

  4. Draw during the song. You can draw or doodle whatever you feel like - there are no rules.

  5. Stop drawing when the song ends, then look over what you have done. 

Journal/thinking prompts:

  • How did this activity make you feel?

  • How did it feel to work so quickly?

  • How did it feel to work during the time frame of the song?

  • Try your best to describe the image without using value-judgement words. For example: Is it colourful? Is it dynamic? What type of feelings does it evoke? Are the lines sharp or soft?

  • How did it feel to focus on the process rather than the end product?

  • Did you have any thoughts or feelings while creating your image?

  • How easy or difficult was the activity for you?

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