I’ll admit it — sometimes I color. I print out some coloring pages and whip out the colored pencils and plug away for a couple of hours. Often I feel ridiculous afterwards — I’ll sit there looking at my finished pictures and think, “What the heck do I do with this now?” Then I’ll think about how coloring is the least productive thing I could possibly do (aside from possibly watching television). Couldn’t I have done a Sudoku puzzle? There is at least some thinking involved there.
But nope, when I’ve had a really stressful day all I really want to do is color in front of the TV (while watching House, of course). Much to my relief, I am not the only person who does this. Apparently a lot of people (over the age of 10) have used coloring as a coping tool. In fact, I’ve know therapists that give their patients Mandalas to color.
So, I decided that I needed to know exactly WHAT about coloring was helpful…. and this is what I found:
Active meditation, sometimes called moving meditation, is easier to learn, but just as powerful as the Eastern techniques you may be more familiar with. When practicing active meditation you will chose a simple movement, like coloring, drawing, or even walking, to give you stronger focus. The repetitive motions act as a constant reminder allowing you to easily shift your attention back to the meditation, back to the moment, before any fleeting thoughts take hold. Negative images, past regrets and future worries are simply pushed aside as you take the time to enjoy the present.
I think that I like coloring because it is the easiest fun thing that I can think of doing. It requires less mental energy than sudoku (even really easy sudoku) and never feels like a chore. I don’t have to even be creative like with drawing. I can zone out and just color between the lines. There’s also something about keeping my hands busy that relieves anxiety.
I love the idea of counting coloring as “active meditation,” because it seems to justify taking time out of my day to color. The next time my fiance jokes about hanging up my pictures on the refrigerator, I can say, “Hey! This is a kind of therapy.”
Grey Thinking 