Coloring Calm

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When I was a child, I loved coloring because it gave me the chance to choose just the right colors I wanted for making the picture mine. As nieces and nephews began to appear, I loved coloring with them because they would be totally entranced as I had always been when I was their age. This way, too, they were easy to babysit. Then I let that go for other things I wanted to do, such as crocheting and sewing, even cooking.

However, as the latest craze among crafters and people who go to craft stores started, coloring has gripped me once again. Coloring with gel pens is totally different from crayons, for one thing. I love these pens because they come in such a neat variety of colors and they do not have to be sharpened or anything. Pencil colors never were a favorite of mine, either.

For another thing, the coloring books nowadays are so cool as compared to when I was a child. I love the collections of animals, insects, butterflies and even geometric shapes. I start flipping through a book and already my fingers are twitching and my mind is assigning a tint or a shade of some color to the shapes. When this happens, I know I want this particular book. Even if there is only one really attractive design in it, I pay the dollar and then grab another one.

Sometimes, I pick out one color to start, but I have no plan of action for the rest of the picture. Other times, I know just exactly which colors I will use. I like sticking to some traditional colors; for example, I usually make leaves some shade of green, but maybe shading or showing the age of the leaf by browning some of the edges, but different shades can even give a sense of the type of leaf I’m coloring.

Zen doodling is used to design many of the coloring pages, and so sometimes I will use all the colors I have because I want to show the neat way I am matching or not matching colors. When I finish, I will often hold up the page just colored and tell myself that I just love it! Just this morning I was coloring an aardvark’s back which is designed in rows of various circles and wavy lines. So, for each of these sections I used a different color or matching colors. I’ve done other animals, such as a rooster, a hippo, a giraffe and even a rabbit this way. I just love the delightful array of colors they produce.

What’s going on in my mind when I am in a trance coloring? Sometimes nothing. Sometimes, I run encounters and conversations through and think about them, especially if they were troublesome or even wonderfully surprising. Often, I watch television and listen/watch. But, most of all, when I am ready to stop, I notice that I am very calm.

This last realization makes me understand why I have liked coloring so much. I have always been prone to anxiety and worry. I think about everything. Coloring gives me the chance to process my thoughts and feel good. Doesn’t this also mean that God is working in my life?

Mary Jane Berger, OSB