Engaging in a coloring activity helps calm the brain and simultaneously stimulates the parts of the brain responsible for creativity and logic. Colouring if done with focus and concentration works as a form of meditation.
Many of us enjoyed coloring as a childhood hobby, but as adults or grown-ups, colouring seems like a child-like activity or mere time-pass. As young students, we would often use the last pages of rough books for doodling or coloring. Coloring as an activity is thus known to lower stress and reduce anxiety. Engaging in a coloring activity helps calm the brain and simultaneously stimulates the parts of the brain responsible for creativity and logic. Colouring if done with focus and concentration works as a form of meditation. As per a 2005 study, colouring geometric patterns or the symmetrical form of mandalas does have meditative benefits and can alleviate anxiety. So, the next time you doodle or color – do it proudly – you’re doing it for the betterment of your mental health!
To begin the coloring journey you can simply start with any available colouring design or use online free resources or you can even gift yourself a colouring book from any e-commerce websites. Adult colouring books come with intricate designs and patterns, a variety of themes etc. When you engage yourself in these designs and patterns, you free your mind from the daily worries of your life and exercise your brain. Colouring helps in replacing negative thoughts with positive ones – a much-needed reprieve in today’s day and age when you’re bombarded with negativity, be it due to social media or the news or even simple causes of stress in your day-to-day life. When you keep your mind preoccupied with this task, your negative inner conversations of self-doubt, stress, and negative thoughts take a back seat, and you tend to feel much happier and relaxed. Colouring lowers stress and improves mental health, it increases one’s productivity too. When we color, it brings out our inner child - we are reminded of the days when life was simple and our worry wasn't even a thing!
It’s no secret that mindfulness is the key to achieving reduced stress levels. Instead of worrying about decisions made in the past or things too far ahead in the future, mindfulness keeps us committed to the present. The art of coloring is thus an ode towards being mindful. A quick reality check would be realizing just how much technology is immersed in our daily lives making it clear that we need to invest in hobbies that help us unplug. Coloring does just that. For thirty minutes or however long you choose to unwind, technology is left behind as you focus on what is in front of you. Colouring can help you immensely with these benefits :
The beauty of this art to be calm is that there is no skill level that must be acquired before you are considered an expert. Even if you have never picked up a colored pencil in your life and completed a coloring page, it can still be pleasurable because you have nothing to lose or no-one to compete with . . . it's just for you and only for yourself. If after all of this you are still wondering whether or not to experience the calmness of coloring, I can share one final reason why you should . . . it’s fun! With all of the stresses of life, coloring is an activity which nurtures the inner child in you and is sure to bring with it childhood memories to keep you smiling throughout the journey :)
