Coloring Therapy

Sometimes you just need to find a way to feel good and for me that most often means creating something. (Although sometimes it's just simple silence ... ahhh). Sometimes it's getting lost in a good book. Don't you just love a good adventure novel that allows you to travel to places you may never see in this lifetime? Especially if the author is a skilled and "tuned-in to emotions" writer? Sometimes I just like to listen to really good music. Like right now, I'm listening to one of my favorites: Jackson Browne & Clarence Clemmons singing "You're a Friend of Mine." In my opinion, no one plays the sax like the late Mr. Clemmons. Wow! 

As a kid I loved to color. My Mom would buy me a coloring book and I would be in kid heaven! And I'll never forget my first box of 64 Crayola crayons. So many choices that, at first, I relied on the primary colors. But that didn't last long once I discovered I could blend colors and create my own spectrum. 

Someone, in their infinite wisdom, realized that we adults needed to have that "feeling" associated with coloring again so they invented coloring books for adults. They're being marketed as therapy, stress reduction, boredom killers, and even used to help combat depression. So I decided to give it a try. Yes, Virginia, it's all that and more. Of course, traditional therapy might be needed in some cases and traditional therapists might argue that this is just a fad and there is no benefit. I disagree but, again, that's my opinion and I get to say what I think because this is MY blog after all :-)

The image below is a shot of one of the coloring pages I just completed. I used colored pencils but one can use watercolors, colored markers, oil pencils, etc. 

So what can you do with these pages once you've colored them? Well, you can fold them up and mail them to people you love. Or you can use them to wallpaper your bathroom. Or use them to line the bottom of your parakeet's cage. Your choice ... your creativity. Surrender to the process. And most of all, have fun with it. Coloring is fun ... remember?

Take good care of yourself and each other.

Everyone Has an Inner Artist