Why are adult coloring books good for mental health?
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Adult coloring books have been around for years. While the trend isn’t as high as it used to be, the therapeutic effects that they provide remain the same. Even though adult coloring books might not bring the same relaxing and enjoyable experience to everyone, there are those who can greatly benefit from using coloring books as part of their daily self-care routine.
Coloring helps us reconnect with our lost inner child
The experience of coloring will help those who used to enjoy coloring as children reconnect with the parts of themselves that they have forgotten about.
Who is your inner child?
So as you are driving your car on the way to the shopping mall, an old song that you used to listen to as a young teen comes on the radio. Suddenly a warm cozy feeling of good times past surges over you like a wave.
You decide to listen to the whole song for old times’ sake, as this experience brings your mind to a feel-good state.
Or maybe while relaxing at home and browsing through your social media, the streaming of an old game that you used to love to play during childhood grabbed your attention.
“Oh my gosh, I used to love this game!” You think to yourself. So you tune in to the streaming and watch the gameplay, reminiscing over good times past.
If you ever had the experience of reminiscing over a past event that brought you much joy when you were younger, then you experienced a reconnection with an inner child at that particular moment.
Your inner child is who you used to be at various stages of your life.
You were once a baby, a toddler, a pre-teen, a teen, and everything in between. Psychologically, all those aspects of you, still exist within you, as entities, even though you might have repressed and forgotten about them in adulthood. A simple trigger, such as an old song, or an old game, can bring back old feelings to the surface that you have forgotten about. What we don’t realize is that those feelings never left in the first place. They have always remained as part of us and so this is why the feel-good feeling surges over us when we revisit something that we once loved.
So if you used to love to color as a child, picking up a coloring book is a great way to reconnect with the old parts of yourself that you have forgotten about, and that need space to exist within you in order to heal old unresolved wounds.
Coloring can bring us to the state of mind in which we may reconnect with a wounded child that needs our attention, validation, and healing.
Coloring helps with mindfulness practice
For those of us who have experienced the debilitating effects of depression anxiety and stress, devoting a small part of our day to coloring can help alleviate the heaviness of the symptoms associated with such mental states.
This is because coloring can help us refocus our attention away from the negative loops that our minds keep us trapped in, and helps us get in tune with the present moment instead. Attuning ourselves to the present moment is the act of practicing mindfulness.
Mindfulness is a state of mind in which we are fully awake so to speak. It is a state of mind in which we become aware of where we are, who we are with, and what we are doing without interference from the contents of our minds. Our attention and focus are fully immersed in the present moment.
While it’s important to take the time to process our feelings and emotions, spending too much time in our heads isn’t healthy because it may cause us to become trapped in unhealthy loops that do not offer any solutions or relief. The contents of our minds can act as a blanket that prevents us from seeing the bigger picture. Practicing mindfulness means absorbing new information, letting go of the past, and becoming aware of the things that truly matter in our present moment.
The act of coloring draws attention away from our minds and into the present moment. This in turn helps our brain relax and eases us into a different, more positive state of mind.
Coloring can bring us to experience meditative states
Have you ever observed an artist at work, as they are in the process of completing a masterpiece? When an artist enters a certain state of mind, there is no disturbing them. They forget that they should eat supper, and will not even notice the flow of time around them. Time has a different meaning for an artist who is entranced by his creative focus. The hours that pass by, feel like moments, and for the duration of these moments, all worries are forgotten. Their entire focus is centered on their creativity. Nothing else exists.
Meditative states aren’t experienced only through mantra repetition, tai-chi practice, or yoga. A coloring book can bring us to experience the same meditative state as sitting with our legs crossed and focusing on a lit candle would.
This is because the essence of all meditation practices is the focus.
Focusing our attention is one of the most important elements of mediation. It is precisely this focus that helps free our minds from the negative effects of anxiety, stress, and worry. A meditative state can be brought on through breathing, mantras, objects (such as lit candles and stones), or it can be experienced by taking some time out of our day to color a page out of an adult coloring book.
Taking some time for our mental health is just as important as eating well, and exercising. Adult coloring books can be a great addition to our self-care routine.
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THE CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE NOT MEANT TO SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL HELP AND COUNSELING. THE READERS ARE DISCOURAGED FROM USING IT FOR DIAGNOSTIC OR THERAPEUTIC ENDS. THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER CAN ONLY BE DONE BY PROFESSIONALS SPECIFICALLY TRAINED AND QUALIFIED TO DO SO. THE AUTHOR IS NOT A MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL. PLEASE CONSULT A HEALTH CARE PROVIDER FOR GUIDANCE SPECIFIC TO YOUR CASE.