Art journaling to quiet the monkey mind

Buddha described the human mind as being filled with drunken monkeys clamoring about. He said that our brains jump from thought to thought like monkeys jump from tree to tree. 

My monkey mind really kicks in at night, when I really should be getting to bed. But I start thinking about things I want to do, things I'm stressed about, things I'm excited about. 

Meditation is key...I learned how to practice zazen meditation and it takes a lot of practice to get the hang of it, but I like trying. The sleep experts say to avoid staring at the light of the TV or computer before bed, but my monkeys don't seem to care much about that. 

What I've found to work well for me right before lights-out is art journaling. Sometimes it's just doodling and jotting down words in non-sequitur fashion, sometimes it's more earnest or heartfelt drawing and writing. 

I don't necessarily try to be creative or artistic. I just try to empty my mind by extracting one or two thoughts from the jumble and thinking about how these thoughts makes me feel, how important are they? What words are forming these thoughts? What imagery comes to mind? 

The process of getting some of those monkeys out of the trees and down on to the paper feels good. The rest of my thoughts subside and my mind really quiets down. All I'm focused on for a nice, long stretch is just the letters, lines and colors coming from my pen, pencil or paintbrush. Then my mind is clear, I am relaxed, and I fall asleep quickly.