The Secret Language of Doodles

What Doodling and Handwriting Reveal About You

Doodling can be defined as drawing or writing that is done without conscious thought. Doodles are usually made while the person is doing something else, like talking on the telephone or participating in a business meeting. Some people doodle at lot; others never do it.

Many people who doodle may seem like they're not paying attention to what's going on around them. Actually, they're very focused, but not on the doodling—they *are* paying attention, and the doodling is helping them do that. They may not even realize they're doodling until someone points it out to them.

Doodles are full of symbols, with meanings that may be known only to the writer; in fact, they can be thought of as a kind of "secret language" from the writer to him- or herself.

Doodling seems to have two purposes. The first is to help the writer express emotions that may otherwise be stifled because of the situation; for example, it's usually inappropriate in a business meeting to show what you think of your boss's new proposal. But you can doodle all you want, saying how you really feel without anyone's knowing!

And doodling can also be a great way to boost your creativity. When used for this purpose it can be a really good tool for problem-solving—although you may not know how you managed to come up with that perfect solution.

Because doodling is so unconscious, it can reflect a person's inner thoughts, feelings, and dreams in the same way that handwriting can. And it can be analyzed with some of the same techniques used in handwriting analysis, like size, pressure, rhythm, location on the page, and form. Since handwriting analysis is a very complex field, it's not possible here to go into everything it covers. But if you're interested in knowing about some of the basic forms of doodles, here are some very general interpretations: