Remember that calm and soothing feeling we would get as a child when we would colour away for hours and hours, getting lost in time, imagination and creativity?
How captivating it was, peacefully engrossed in our pictures, consumed by the soft and serene sound of the markers or colouring pencils, endlessly colouring on the page so quietly and creatively.
Do you ever see how pleased a child is these days when they have some colours and something simple to draw?
How did we ever lose that happy space? How did we forget how content that made us feel?
I remember it so well, as happy as a clam with my stuffed pencil case, markers nearly bursting it open, I could barely even close the zip. Some having dried out after the lids falling off, lots of pencil sharpens in such a mess that when you took your hand out, after looking for a rubber, your hand would be covered in filthy pencily stuff.
Curiously enough colouring has been a part of mindfulness practices for quite some time now, Carl Jung one of the pioneers of modern Psychology implemented colouring in Mandalas as a relieving and therapeutic technique, he realised that this technique facilitated his clients into a meditative state which lead to inner harmony and self-awareness. Check out some interesting articles based on this here and here.
Some other research I discovered while sniffing down the rabbit hole was during COVID-19 pandemic, a randomised controlled trial was carried out among nurses in a Honk Kong hospital where they tried mindful colouring to promote well-being at work and to reduce the prevalence and consequences of stress and burnout.
It concluded that stress levels reduced on an average of 3% and lead to slight improvement in mental well-being. Have a peep at the article here.
Other studies were conducted on a group of 66 students where they examined the short-term effects (20 minutes) of colouring on mood and mindfulness. In one of the studies, they examined the week-long effects of colouring on mood and mindfulness after asking the same participants to colour for 20 minutes daily for seven consecutive days. Significant short-term effects of colouring were present, as stress decreased and relaxation increased.
Take a look at the study here.
My personal experience and conclusion is that some people are more sensitive to stress and overwhelm or vulnerable to anxiety, while others are more resilient or have an innate calming mechanism. We’re all born differently and we all have distinct life circumstances, human conditioning and traumatic responses to different challenges.
This could mean that the same technique might not work for all of us.
I know that music is one big thing that helps me manage those heavy emotions, some musical tones know exactly how to turn off my fight-or-flight response while switching on my right-here-right-now inner serenity light.
As I'm writing this, I'm wondering what works for you?
What do you do to get out of your fight-or -flight mode?
How do you switch off?
Please let me know in the comments below or in the Whatsapp group.
Here's something I created for you, if you'd like to try out mindfulness colouring,
you can print it out and take it with you if you feel like a colouring break at work, or anywhere you feel suitable.
If you'd like a personalised adult colouring book, get in touch and I can personalise one for you or a friend or loved one 😊
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