By now everyone has heard about the benefits of adult coloring books. They have been called “better than drugs” for reducing stress, anxiety and depression. Another technique that is good at uplifting people and improving their self-esteem is the use of positive affirmations. Imagine how positive and serene you will feel when you combine both these approaches in one activity!
60 beautiful mandala images have been paired with 60 spiritual virtues, but this time the virtue page has the added inspiration of a circular affirmation incorporating the name of the virtue. For example “I feel kind because I am kind,” or “I feel happy because I am happy!” Written in a circle, these affirmations reinforce the connection between our feelings and our virtues – “I feel focused because I am focused because I feel focused because…” With each repetition of the affirmation only taking a few seconds, you can begin to reprogram negative self-talk with over a thousand affirmations an hour – all while creating beautiful and harmonious designs in the colors that speak to your heart. (These affirmations were the inspiration behind our Character Coins.)
Even if you haven’t colored since you were a child, you can produce beautiful art just by filling in these patterns. There is no wrong way to color a pretty design that strikes your fancy – though we do recommend that you not use permanent markers because they bleed and soak through to other pages. Fine-tipped water-based markers, colored pencils and well-sharpened crayons – or any combination of the three – will produce pleasing and very different effects. While it is usually considered blasphemy to cut pages out of a book, in this case, feel free to remove pages, either before or after coloring them, and post them where you can enjoy them. Use a blade to cut the pages out, as the binding will not let go of them easily, and you risk tearing the page if you just pull.
The designs are by three artists:
Joe Paczkowski. You can see more of his work at www.joepaczk.com.
Howard Jacobs, a Baha’i artist from the Wilmette area, and
Justice Saint Rain, who turned the names of virtues into colorable art.
8.5×11″ and 128 pages. Spiral Bound to lay flat for coloring.
From a Facebook comment –
Trust me, the virtues coloring books you created with Joe Paczkowski & Howard Jacobs are literally my anti-depressants. They are the quiet time & therapy sessions.