Ok. I’ve got my coloring page. Got my clipboard. Camera is at the ready. Time to start coloring. Today I’m going to start with aqua and I think I’ll color this big set of shapes first.
And whoopsie! I’m already on to coloring my black stripes before I take my planned in-progress photo. There’s really no reason why pictures need to be taken when I’ve finished with one shade and before I pick up the next. Coloring is about details, though, and I think that really intricate coloring (especially pattern coloring) tends to attract people who tend to notice small things and who can be quite particular about their likes and dislikes.
Sometimes my coloring comes with a strong feeling of how I’d like to things to be. I don’t try to direct my coloring toward a desired endpoint, but I do a lot of things to make the journey as calming and non-jarring as it can be. And when my picture taking plans took a small surprise turn today, I felt much more comfortable taking a new artsy angled “step one” photo that shows only the aqua bits and hides the zebra stripes.
Silly little moments like that and their associated itty bitty uncomfortable feelings are like studying my overall wellbeing in detail. Wow, I guess I’m still feeling easily sensitive to feelings of change or to things that feel like little setbacks. Noting feelings like that when they are small and part of a coloring sessions makes them familiar and easily recognizable if the same feelings pop up elsewhere in the day.
Here’s another coloring update photo, and look at that. Once again I’ve moved on to the next color before I remembered to take a progress photo. Let’s hide this one too.
OK. Much better. A proper progress photo.
Throughout the course of a coloring, countless opportunities arise to notice that little flinch sensation and get a better understanding of what types of things might feel uncomfortable to you – as well as to what degree they feel uncomfortable. In that last picture I posted I can spot four super tiny spots where I didn’t quite fill my stripes fully with black. My thoughts when I saw those were “those aren’t perfect, but I don’t care” and “everyone’s going to see these, but I still don’t care.”
So OK. Today I’m sensitive to small changes in my plans, but I’m not overly sensitive to how I feel that others may view me. That might be useful information. I’m going to file that away for later.
A little more coloring, another photo. Wow, this time I remembered to pause and take the photo – and that felt like I was getting into the rhythm of coloring, pausing and picture taking. There’s an underlying theme here. Steady, familiar rhythms feel really soothing.
Pick another color and continue. Now this is getting interesting. Today I like my colors to progress in an orderly fashion. I’m transitioning gently from color group to color group – not jumping all around the color wheel. Again there’s these little hints scattered through the way that I’m coloring at the moment that give me tiny insights into the details of my present mood. None of these are any big deal – they are…
(A short interruption as I type this.)
I took the photos for this post a little earlier today, and I was deep in concentration typing when my husband asked if I could help him outside with a repair he was working on. Here’s where the power of that dab of self-awareness while coloring really pays off. I could feel a mild sense of being inconvenienced pop up when hubby needed my help while I was busy, but that was followed with the thought “you are just sensitive to interruptions today.” It only took a couple of steps to get out the door and out to where he was working on the deck – but that recognition of my own sensitivity made it absolutely easy to let it go. Instead of feeling like my plans were interrupted, I just listened to some beautiful bird songs, enjoyed the fresh evening air and helped my honey finish up that job quickly.
Coloring daily gives me a way to check in with how I’m reacting to things. When I slop ink over the lines – do I care today? Is it easy to just keep going? Do colors pick themselves effortlessly or do I find myself lost in color matching and color theme thoughts? Does my mind drift to things that might be worrying me? Are they big or little things? Real, imagined or “what if” things? Does my back hurt? Am I tired? Am I so full of energy that I can’t concentrate?
Using my coloring time as a way to note these things in detail, privately, in a non-distracted way helps me approach the rest of my day in a very grounded way. I’m sure it makes me a lot more fun to be around too – right honey? 🙂
(I’ll continue coloring this picture from Balance For Crayons And Wide Tipped Markers tomorrow.)