Color Me Calm

Coloring is something we tend to associate with children....but coloring isn't just for kids anymore!

Adults that immerse themselves in coloring for even just 30 minutes a day can constitute a focused meditation that reduces and relieves stress. Famed Psychotherapist, Carl Jung, long believed that coloring helps patients relieve anxiety.

Just like meditation, coloring also allows us to switch off our brains from other thoughts and focus only on the moment, helping to alleviate free-floating anxiety. It can be particularly effective for people who aren't comfortable with more creatively expressive forms of art.

Coloring uses both sides of the brain and improves organizational and fine motor skills, while keeping you in a state of calm....not to mention they are pretty and help you to pass the time.

Publishers Weekly reported combined sales of 1.75 million copies for the 10 bestselling adult coloring books through November 2015. I believe this trend has been years in the making from the days when parents colored with their kids and sometimes on their own.

Adults around the world are now joining adult coloring book clubs, have coloring parties and even take coloring breaks at work.

Coloring is creative, portable and inexpensive. You never face a blank piece of paper because the image is already drawn for you. You just pick the colors. There is no stress about making mistakes.

According to the American Art Therapy Association, art therapy is a mental health profession in which the process of making and creating artwork is used to "explore feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior and addictions, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety and increase self-esteem." So basically, it's similar to good old therapy. Yet art therapy is not only about learning and improving yourself — it's a means of personal expression, too.

You know that coworker who always comes to the office when she has a cold? And you know how everyone insists she take a sick day, lest she make herself worse and infect the entire office (just days before the company holiday party, no less)?

Feeling mentally or emotionally down is no different — and it’s a legitimate reason to take a day off. “Think of taking a day to yourself like going to the gym. At the gym you’re working on maintaining physical benefits; when you take a mental health day, you’re taking time to recharge and balance out your emotional state,” says Brandon Smith, known as The Workplace Therapist.

“Beyond that, consider the benefits from a risk management standpoint. If we don’t take these days when we need them, it increases the probability that we lose our composure at work, at home or in some other setting. We might break down in tears at a meeting, chew out a coworker, or yell at a customer — all things that can damage the reputation of your brand, hurt your presence in the office, or even cost you your job,” he adds.

• Animals
• Jungle
• Floral
• Zen-inspired
• Fish
• Birds

You don’t have to be an expert at the DIY project, or a painter or an artist to be able to color in one of these coloring books. You can just pick something you like that speaks to you and color it however you want it.

But above all else, coloring lets stressed-out adults feel like a kid again, and channel a worry-free lifestyle— at least for a little while.

However, coloring should not be used as a substitute for seeing a licensed therapist!