Wordtangles to untangle the mind
Isn’t it odd. We can only see our outsides, but nearly everything happens on the inside. ―Charlie Mackesy
👥 Serves: 1 person
🎚 Difficulty: Medium
⏳ Total time: 11-30 minutes
🥣 Ingredients: 1 sheet of paper, coloured pens/pencils, calming music
🤓 Wholebeing Domains: Awareness, Positive Emotion, Rest, Ritualising
💪 Wholebeing Skills: Calm, Clarity, Hosting yourself, Journaling, Mindfulness, Reflection, Self-awareness, Serenity, Slowing down
Wordtangles to untangle the mind
📝 Description
A visual journaling process to bring clarity and peace of mind.
If you are experiencing a particularly busy week, this is an activity to slow down. It helps you become present to your current thoughts and emotions, without the pressure of feeling articulate or aesthetic. This visual journaling process helps build clarity and be at peace with the many thoughts and emotions you might be experiencing. You might also be interested in these additional recipes to help you process your thoughts and emotions: Catharsis through clay, Colourful confusions, Cycle of emotions, and STOPP framework.
This recipe has been kindly donated by Angela Mathew Verma, Simple Education Foundation and it is a reflective practice that has been kind to Angela through many overwhelming times.
👣 Steps
Step 1 – Breathe (5’)
Play some calming music, here is one of Angela’s favourites for your reference. Sit or stand in a comfortable position with both your feet touching the ground. Close your eyes or lower your gaze. Observe gently the natural flow of your breath without judging or changing it. Continue in this state for as long as you like.
As you begin to feel settled and ready to come back, open your eyes. To anchor yourself in the present moment, pause for a moment, smile, and take in your surroundings. Look around and identify things that help you feel calm.
Kindness Tip: Trust your body to find and do what makes it feel present and calm.
Step 2 – Scribble (5’)
Continue to play the calming music. Now choose a pen/pencil of the colour that you feel drawn towards. Take a blank piece of paper and begin to scribble on it from any starting point, letting your hand move freely in any direction. As thoughts arise in your mind, immediately write the words down amidst the scribbles. Don’t interrupt the flow by lifting your pen; instead, continue scribbling and jotting down the words that spontaneously come to you, without overthinking them.
Step 3 – Scribble again (5’)
Now, it is time to add a second colour. Choose a different pen/pencil and continue the process, starting from where you left off in the initial scribbles.
Step 4 – Scribble some more (5’)
If you feel inclined, repeat the process once more with a third colour, or until you feel you have exhausted your stream of words. At the end of step 4 you will see a worldtangle looking like an endless web of words much like your mind.
Step 5 – Me time (5’)
Take a moment to reflect on the colours you used during the process and identify the predominant themes associated with each colour. For example: first colour: red – Family, love, relationships, distance, self-care, acceptance. These themes could fall under the category of self and relationships, possibly representing the aspects most prevalent in your life at this particular moment. Engage in a similar reflection for all three colours you used.
Step 6 – Put down your reflections (5’)
Finally, take a few minutes to write a note to yourself or draw about your reflections.
- What is the most present for you right now and what are the themes that come up later?
- What is something that surprised you?
- What is something you already knew?