The Joy of Coloring-Rekindling Your Love Affair

I was 20 years old when my love affair with coloring was re-ignited. Just about to fly home on a 14 hour flight from New Zealand, I was in the airport book store looking for a magazine to pass some hours when my eye was caught by an intriguing looking coloring book. I thought to myself: '14 hour flight....why not try coloring?'

Armed with a box of pencil crayons and not really expecting my interest to last long, I fastened my seat belt as the plane began its take-off. Thinking full well that the coloring would only last a few minutes before I was lured into the mega-selection of in-flight movies, I was curiously surprised when 30 minutes passed...then an hour ...and then 2 hours and I had not even checkout out the movie selection! I had finished my first page in my brand new coloring book and still had 12 hours of flying time left. The rest of the flight passed quickly and gloriously. My love for coloring has only deepened, and here are the reasons why:

The art of coloring is a simple joy. All you need is a coloring book and your choice of tools. From here you can immerse yourself fully into the craft without agonizing about what to make, how to read the pattern, and how will it turn out?

Coloring is a a form of meditation. There is something truly hypnotizing that happens with you sit down with a fresh box of pencil crayons, choose the color that jumps out at you and begin your journey into the page. Time loses its grip on the mind and enables the color-er to become present in the moment, in the line and in the color gliding onto the paper.

Coloring is a great way to bond. Ask your friends over for some wine, cheese and coloring. Perhaps at first they might look at you with skeptical eyes and doubt; but hand over a fresh sheet of paper, some vibrant or glitter colored pens and in just minutes you will not be able to pry those colors out of their fingers. Soon you will be visiting easily, looking over at each-others masterpieces from time to time to admire their selection of colors. You will begin to feel like you have time-traveled back into grade 2 and you do not really want to leave.

Coloring is freeing and has no expectations. The beautiful thing about this craft is that there is no pressure to finish, to use a certain color or even to stay in the lines!!! There is absolute freedom involved in those precious hours where you just get to color.

So to get started, the joy of coloring can be greatly enhanced with the following ingredients:

1. A coloring book with an inspiring pattern
2. Your favorite tools (pencil crayons, glitter pens or crayons work well and feel free to get creative!)
3. A couple of your best friends or family
4. A bottle of red wine or a nice pot of tea
5. Some snacks for the table
6. Some inspiring background music
Now, grab your crayons and books and start coloring! You won't be disappointed.