Over the past five years of coloring regularly, I’ve found I use it for a wide variety of things. These are just a few of the many ways I’ve discovered that coloring can be used to enhance my wellbeing. I hope they leave you feeling inspired to give it a try.
1. Carve out Unstructured Quality Time in Schedule
Unplug from technology and get your hands a little messy with an immersive art making experience that is inviting and accessible for all ages and skill levels. Coloring makes it easy to wean yourself off watching TV or scrolling newsfeeds, promoting quality time spent solo or with friends and family.
2. Create Mental Energy for Creative Activities
Coloring naturally relaxes our minds and helps reduce stress and tension we may be carrying. It naturally draws you into the present moment, which can be used to energize your creative juices and get you into the “zone.” Once you’ve warmed yourself up with a mindful coloring flow, you’ll be primed and ready for another new or favorite creative activity such as writing, baking, dancing, or music making.
3. Connect with Loved Ones through a Shared Experience
You can each work on your own coloring art piece or practice creative collaboration by designing and coloring the same thing. Challenge each other with coloring quests, seeing which color combinations you each like the best. Sip a favorite tea and color slowly, lingering after a meal and savoring your time together. Connect more easily over video chats, by having coloring as a link that also gives you something to do with your hands.
4. Develop a Daily Habit of Making Art
There are many known benefits to making art in our everyday lives, yet there are even more excuses for why we may not have time, energy, or even space for a regular practice of art making. Coloring opens the door to easily fit creative play into each and every day. Five minutes with your morning tea or an hour in the evening instead of watching TV, coloring can be used in the ways that feels good to you to cultivate a routinization of using your imagination.
If you’d like to give it a try, download my free eBook, Mindful Coloring: A QuickStart Guide, which includes two printable pages so you can start coloring today.
About the Author
ZieBee (short for Mackenzie Bakewell), is the lead author and artist here at ZieBee Media. ZieBee is a travel photographer, illustrator, and professional book maker. She specializes in helping people turn their ideas into reality, tapping into her background in web design, publishing, and portrait photography. She is passionate about the use of coloring as a tool for health and happiness.
