“It was when I just started doodling and jotting my ideas down that all the other racing thoughts just faded away. I started to dream again.”
–Holly Murphy, Portland, ME
Bell & Beacon Society is a social mission established to encourage you to reconnect with yourself and live a better life through creativity.
Want change?
Need less screen time?
Explore, write, sketch, journal more, and scroll less.
We created the Bell & Beacon Society to encourage you to do these things. Want to be in a better mood? Think clearer? Put down your phone, go outside. Listen to the birds. Breathe. Do some doodling, write your thoughts.
Brain self love
The profound mental and physical health benefits of putting pen or pencil to paper and writing, sketching, journaling, planning, doodling and dreaming, even just scribbling have been proven to significantly improve how we think, and more importantly how we feel – vastly greater than any device can do – and when feel better, we become healthier, more focused, and essentially smarter. We can control how we feel. It’s part of our fundamental human structure, it’s in our DNA, and has been since cave writing times. We believe practicing these creative habits is how we can change ourselves and our world; make a better community, and ultimately a better society.
Your world has changed, you can change your world. Bell & Beacon Society was created to encourage you to get away from your screen, explore your world, and express your thoughts and ideas through hand-writing, journaling, note-taking, and sketching with actual pencil and paper. It’s about reconnecting with yourself, with others, and your environment. It’s about taking your life to a new level through personal, positive change of daily habits.
It’s also about sharing your thoughts and sentiments on paper, or notecard (the old-fashioned way), putting it in an envelope, and sending it to your friend, colleague, or loved one. They will appreciate it more than you know, and your message will last far longer than any text or email.
Change the way you feel
We wish to encourage you to explore and observe your world and what’s around you, no matter where you are, or how dark your world may seem, and put pencil-to-paper. Use your imagination. Draw what you see. Write what you think. Or just scribble- you can change the way you feel by just scribbling- it’s proven. It’s simple and powerful.
Sketching/journaling/doodling can be more than creative expression, your thoughts on paper can be a powerful organizational tool for making your dreams a reality – start by writing and/or drawing them out roughly, any way you want and it doesn’t need to be perfect – just start.
Anywhere can be your place to stop and observe and explore and write or sketch. At home, at work, or an open space near you.
Anyone can write and draw. The things you jot down or make don’t need to be ‘perfect’ to work and be effective. The rawest ideas on paper are usually the most powerful expressions – especially for inspiring you to create more.
We sketch/journal/doodle daily; from writing all our ideas to practicing hand-lettering and calligraphy; escaping from reality with doodling the weather and drawing trees, clouds, and birds; draw new ideas for things we can make and things that inspire us, write down random thoughts, poetic verses, and non-sensical word streams that pop into our heads; sketch what we see when we explore. We also journal our thoughts, too – good or bad.)
Doing something different changes your brain.
We become younger.
When we stop and observe what’s around us, no matter where we are, we open our minds to new thoughts, and without trying, we tend to become more aware of ourselves and our surroundings. To physically write or sketch or doodle or scribble on paper can create novel thoughts and awareness that can become new ideas, unlike using an electronic device. New ideas can create more new ideas. Our brains work differently – we think differently – when we physically write or draw, experience the feel of the tactile quality of the paper and see how a pencil or writing tool mark can be made. Once you do this, you’ve made change for your life. If you keep doing it, your life will change. Your brain will go back it it’s younger, clearer self.
Simple.
Try scribbling, It works.
Our minds start to rewire to focus better and calm down.
We become smarter.
It’s been widely proven that even just doodling or scribbling helps people focus and feel better; that scribbling helps many relieve frustration and anxiety and that regular practice of sketching or writing can change how your brain works, and be the beginning of something meaningful. When we do put pencil to paper, the ideas or images we record leave a deeper, longer impression and become more committed to our memory and experience than any kind of digital interaction or creation.
This also is how we can physically change and expand our minds. Science has proven that when we have a novel experience; when we learn something new, when we are being creative, we literally expand our brain’s neural capacity–we re-wire our brain. We literally become smarter. Our brains wake up and go back to a version of its younger, sharper self. We focus easier. We feel more relaxed. This makes us feel better, and when we feel better, we feel happier. And through regular practice of writing and sketching – or stopping and scribbling – and feeling happier as a result, we become healthier. Happy people are healthier people, both mentally and physically. We are all born knowing how to be creative in our own ways and to express our thoughts in physical, creative forms.
Try this:
Scribble on paper for 2 minutes. Then, jot down what popped into your head while you were scribbling. This entire action alone started changing how your brain works, for the better. Your brain started thinking differently than before since you chose a different action than the usual chain of habits in your day. You decided to do something different, and your brain loved it.
Some proof:
Read this article from invaluable.com about the enormous benefits of sketching
and this one from forbes.com about the game-changing benefits of being creative
or this interview with Dr. Joe Dispenza, about evolving your own brain
Social media and news feeds have their place, but don’t let them own you. When you write or sketch something on paper, it’s real and it’s yours. Keep it or share it, either way it will last if you choose. There’s no need for the cloud, algorithms, or bots. You just need to make it first, and keep making- it will change you and become more natural the more you make. You will start to become happier by simply deciding to change.
Bell & Beacon Society was made to encourage you to get back to using pencil and paper instead of a device to express your thoughts and ideas and can change the way you think and feel. This can change the way you live and fulfill your dreams. It’s an opportunity to (re)connect with yourself and do some exploring, sketching and writing. Or to reach out and stay in touch with someone you know by sending them a hand-written note to say ‘Hi’, or ‘Thank you’. Maybe send them a drawing. They will keep it.
Trust change. Change is inevitable, but you can choose your change, your life. Start simple.
