Meditative, Magical Colouring

Following on from Monday's thought for the week, which got me thinking further about being creative and what it brings in terms of relaxation, mindfulness and joy, I thought i'd share something that i've enjoyed for a number of years.

Like most people when children, drawing and colouring-in was very pleasurable and came effortlessly.    However as I got older my colouring in was replaced with things like cross stitch, paper crafting and decoupage to name a few because i'm quite active craft wise, always busy making or doing something.

A few years ago my friend gifted me with a fairy colouring book.  She thought i'd enjoy the book and it really was such a brilliant gift because it reminded me about the enjoyment of the process and the happiness of getting my hands on pencils and crayons in a rainbow of colours.  I'm a magpie when it comes to pens, pencils, crayons, paints, beads............the list goes on. On investigation I was amazed at how many colouring books for adults there were out there, i'd had no idea!

One of the things that i'd like to focus on in talking about colouring is the aspect of mindfulness or meditation.  When working with Tarot, meditation is important for developing your intuitive abilities and allowing yourself to be in tune with and aligning your mind, body and spirit. Having moments to be mindfull is important for wellbeing, to come down from the day, for taking time to bring yourself back to centre if it's been a busy day of readings and thinking about others.

Of late my mind has been turning to the imagery of Tarot being miniature pieces of colourful, magical art which practitioners, collectors or enthusiasts love and are drawn to.  It make sense that the same could be said when it comes to colouring in, that this form of colourful expression and creativity would also bring joy and magical benefit to this same group of people.

A huge bonus in colouring is that it doesn't need a person to be able to draw, you can forget about all that and just enjoy working with the colours and freeing yourself to be creative and have fun.  Being free is the best thing for relaxing and allowing the mind to wander off.

So why not give it a go. It's cheap, easy and portable with loads of books available to buy online and newsagents and supermarkets are now also stocking an assortment in their magazine section.

Please share your colouring experiences or books that you love to colour using the comments bit below, i'd love to hear about them.

PS:  The coloured mandalas are from the book Mystical Mandala by Alberta Hutchinson.