If you're looking for a way to unwind that doesn't involve other people or your Netflix queue, get ye to the coloring book store (or, um, Amazon).
Yep, coloring is a calming mindfulness activity that allows those racing thoughts about your last Zoom call to settle as you focus on choosing colors, filling in the lines, or just scribbling. "Using art in a way where it's not so much about what it looks like, but the process of doing it—that's therapeutic," says board-certified art therapist, Leila Saadeh, LPC, president of the Virginia Art Therapy Association.
Unsolicited pro tip: If you’re heavy-handed like me, I invest in colored pencils over crayons. You don’t want to be mid-stroke when something breaks. That goes for more than coloring.
Oh, one more thing, to get the chill benefits of mindful coloring, it's important that you pay attention to your breath, the colors you're using, and the pages you select, says Saadeh.
So press pause on your work and refresh your mind within the pages of these gorge coloring books. Pictures are more fun to look at anyway.
