Tree of Life

This miniPractice is designed to be completed in tiny little chunks (5-10 minutes) over seven days, but as with everything in Doodle & Flow, complete it at your pace on your timeline.  Feel free to string it out over seven weeks or binge it in seventy minutes.  It is your practice. Do as you wish.

Day 1: Your & Doodle Your Life
Brainstorm major events from your life (in words). You can write a list, paragraphs, or just keywords - don't worry about spelling or grammar.  Now, draw quick, rough sketches / doodles to represent each of the events from your life (you'll use these later)

Day 2: Doodle Your Tree
Draw the trunk, roots, and branches of a wild and rambling tree. Leave lots of room on the page (between branches / roots) to add more details. Use permanent black ink.

Day 3: Decorate Your Tree
Add the items from your life to the branches and roots of the tree in permanent black ink. Consider where these items fit:

• Are they peak experiences near the top of the tree?
• Things that shaped who you are so they live in the foundation / roots?

Day 4: Color Your Tree
Color the tree and the items you added. Consider the distribution of color across the page. Sometimes when coloring the objects, I step back and fill in all of the yellow bits at once so I have yellow distributed across the page not all clumped together. Other times, I just color from one side to the other and see what falls out.  Don't overthink it - just follow your intuition.

Day 5: Add Flair
Go back into your doodle and add flair to the items from your life. Flair means color, sparkle lines, shadows, patterns.  Also add things outside the tree that you aspire to experience, achieve, attain. Just doodle the essence of these items... maybe a heart for love or the sketch of a map for a place you'd like to visit.

Day 6: Observe Your Tree & Yourself
Take time to sit with your tree of life. Hang it on the wall. Look at it with a relaxed mind for 5 minutes or so. Hold your blankbook and a marker in your hand while you look. Reflect on the highs and lows. Make notes of what you observe in your tree of life.  Ask yourself questions that you will answer tomorrow.

Day 7: Reflect on the Process

• What have you learned about yourself during this challenge? During this life?
• What stands out in your tree?
• Where did you choose to put bright colors? Somber colors?
• Where do you see the most detail?
• Does this tell you what you value in your life - or what you pay attention to?

Share a photo of your doodle on social media and in the Doodle & Flow online community! 
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