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Ever since I was little, I’ve loved to draw. Patterns emerge, pictures develop with a few swipes of an ink pen or pencil in motion.

I loved it when the teacher would pull out the paints, or better yet, when I got to pull them out at home.

I had sketch books, pencils and pens that I loved to pull out and fill with various drawings. Taking art class in junior high school and high school was the highlight of my day, a time to relax between core classes doing something I loved.

I took an art class at GTCC a few years ago on the Greensboro campus shortly after it opened. It was a basic drawing class where we explored various materials to draw with and on. It was an extremely enjoyable seven or eight weeks where I got to pursue a beloved hobby.

I wasn’t tremendously talented in the area of art, but I did enjoy trying to get something to look like it was supposed to.

While I loved drawing and painting purposefully, I enjoyed the results most when I doodled on the side of my school notebook or church bulletin.

Perhaps I enjoyed it most because there was little expectation to “get it just right.” No one was going to see it but me. Something about working with lines, shades and shapes as I tried to get them to resemble what I intended appealed to me.

As adults, we take notebooks to church write down verses and sermon notes.

As our pastor expounds between points, I find my pen making sketches of a pattern that has been going through my mind recently. All the while, I am listening, jotting notes between the doodles.

Sometimes the doodles are about the pastor’s topic. One time, he was discussing how Peter, the disciple, constantly put his “foot in his mouth” when he spoke to Jesus. I drew a picture of a mouth with a foot in it in my notebook.

Other times, I’ve doodled things I see in the sanctuary — guitars on the stage, plants surrounding the podium or the dove that hangs on the back wall. I especially enjoy doodling the poinsettias at Christmastime. I even designed our Christmas card artwork one Sunday morning a few years ago during the pastor’s message.
In my doodles, I retain a good deal of what is said.

A few months ago, I read an article that suggested doodling can help memory recall. The results of the study were published in the Applied Cognitive Psychology Journal earlier this year.

I have long observed the benefits of doodling. The study, done in England, showed doodlers remembered 29 percent more than non-doodlers when tested.

I can recall my father sitting on the telephone with a pen in hand talking to someone while doodling on a napkin. Perhaps he too knew what these researchers have shown: Doodling improves recall of a lecture or phone conversation.

Perhaps what’s interpreted as an extension of daydreaming is a way of processing the information as they listen. My mind will wander if I am not doodling.

I have at times had mixed feelings when doodling at church during the sermon or when someone is giving a lecture because I did not want anyone to think I was not paying attention or uninterested in the topic.

Now, with this study, I have some justification that all my doodling is worthwhile and, in fact, may be good for me.

Contact Linda Vestal at lindavestal@triad.rr.com.