why do you take notes? (information, speculation, visualization, mark time and thought, etc.)

Usually, I am not a note-taking person academically. I am more visual than anything else and this means that I prefer drawings or photographs to recall on information. Written notes do help me recall my thoughts when it comes to my mental and emotional health, but for art I never thought of note-taking to be a valuable tool to use to create. I am now in the process of using this tool in my everyday life. I use it when I journal about my day, or recall experiences that my have made me feel indifferent about myself or the environment around me.

What do you take notes about/on? (subjects, interests, dreams, memories, etc.)

Currently, I take notes about me. I think many people at my age do not know themselves or how to treat themselves. We are growing up in a world where most of our focus is on the internet or social media, and we are constantly battling ourselves. During the year 2020, I was caught up in a web of not knowing who I was and I felt like I was losing my mind. I realized that I was not “losing it” but I just did not take the time to take care of my mental health. Now, I take notes about my experiences with meditation and I found a significant change in myself. I am sleeping better, and my anxieties are no longer as apparent as they were before. Lastly, I am gaining a better clarity of my self confidence and I think that is the best part.

How do you take notes? (forms of experimentation; conventions of discipline followed or broken; primarily text or image; primarily digital)

During this class term my note-taking skills were centered around collage elements such as taking photographs and creating a new piece with my notes. These notes represented reminders for myself. What it means to be who I am but also my purpose for this course. This course is a continuation into my life. It was the boost that helped me find out so much information about different mediation techniques and also better my whole self.  Right now, my note-taking method is collage, photography and written reminders in my personal journal.

The Way my mind works: 

By Simone Robinson

What was this past month of Note-taking about?

This past month and even earlier, I was focused on what it meant to be an artist as well as a meditator. I also wanted to know what it meant to combine these two realms together? I started my journey of mindfulness and meditation even before this class started, and my journey is still continuing. However, I did take stronger notes on my experiences of meditation, mindfulness and creativity. 

First steps of the process:

The first step during my note-taking process was to look into artist who not only created art, but included meditation within their practice, I found two artist that really stood out to me.These two artist were, David Lynch and Marina Abramovic. I picked these two because they had the strongest ties to mediation and the creative mind. However, I really developed a strong interest into David Lynch and his work. I decided to read his book Catching a Big Fish. This book taught me many things and valuable lessons. 

Marina’s Meditation Method:

https://www.theartstory.org/blog/become-your-inner-superhuman-via-art-exercises-and-the-help-of-marina-abramovic/

David’s Method:

https://www.davidlynchfoundation.org/

Notes of: Catching A Big Fish

I have taken pictures of the pages that resonated the most with me and my practice.

Second steps of the process:

After reading the book Catching A Big Fish I decided to focus on the ways I could incorporate meditation into my work and note-taking process. I decided to focus on T.M meditation and practice it for thirty days, however I am still practicing but I created notes on how I felt each day. These notes included the strength of my mental health, and physical health.

I wrote almost everyday about the process of what I was going through mentally. I kept writing about my classes and the impact they had on my mental health. I did not include every sheet because some things are too personal to add on to the site. I also took some notes purely on T.M meditation which are shown beneath these diary entries.

T.M meditation notes:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LC2V7mjYTy0yF4-ZbaUqWAJ9DUwlOudWmypYkjO77go/edit?usp=sharing

Third Step in process: 

Next, I decided to understand and explore other ways of creating a better sense of mindfulness that went beyond T.M meditation and into other realms of consciousness. I decided to take part in a three day retreat called SKY retreat and meet other people who went to OSU and were also wanting to explore mindfulness too. During this retreat I learned different breathing techniques that would help aid in my research for not only this class, but also help my creative practice. I wanted more clarity during my process of note-taking. Below I have listed the different techniques that I have learned as well as a video of me practicing these techniques. I also decided to incorporate breathing techniques into my artwork. Below I have an image I drew while doing the Sudarshan “Kriya”. This technique includes me repeating the term “Shi-home” in my head and I breath in (through my nose only) and out during the repetition of the term.

Breathing Techniques:

Daily_Practice_SKY

Image I drew during breathing technique:

4th Step in process:

My fourth step included me starting to use the techniques I learned (both T.M meditation and breathing techniques) in my creativity. I wanted to create a collage that illustrated my process of note-taking along with my study of mindfulness. My creation included taking photographs and cutting up different diary entries and gluing them to my pictures. I also incorporated color to emphasize the mood I was in while creating. This process was also therapeutic because it forced me to look through my entries and pick pieces to cut up and reassemble into my collage. Also it allowed to let go of the things that were holding me back creatively. All of my anxieties and stressors are slowing coming to an end and the majority of this is because of the time I took to really dive into this course and include my life into my note-taking process.