How Journals Help Those Human Trafficked- A Review
It’s 2019, so you probably think that human trafficking isn’t still a “thing”, right? Well, think again, honey. The local TV show I worked with produced several shows about the topic and how prolific the problem is here in the mid-western US. The United States of America. In the heart of the Bible Belt. “Human and sex trafficking is one of the largest illegal industries in the world, second only to drug trafficking. It generates an estimated $32 billion dollars each year, according to UNICEF. While it might seem like something that happens everywhere but home, hundreds of victims are being trafficked right here in our area.” source When The…
Color With the Best: My Top 5 Adult Coloring Books
If you’ve already read my other articles about adult coloring, you may well be well on your way to becoming a coloring pro by now! if so, I hope you’re having as much fun as me. If not, check out the other articles about adult coloring on my blog to find out why it is such a satisfying hobby. Adult coloring books have been a popular item for several years. Teens and adults enjoy using their creativity to choose the colors and bring the scenes to life. Users enjoy using different types of art supplies, like colored pencils or markers. Coloring helps to relieve stress and anxiety by drawing the…
Adult Coloring: Create Your Coloring Relaxation Routine
So, you’ve decided to give adult coloring a go, it sounds like a great way to de-stress and you like the idea of color therapy, coloring as mindfulness and increasing your creativity. But maybe you’re not sure where to start. It’s probably been quite a while since you last got your crayons out; 10, 20, maybe 30 years?! There are so many options out there and some will suit you more than others as we are all unique, especially when it comes to our creativity. What to Use for Adult Coloring You can of course just grab a child’s coloring book from the dollar store, open a fresh box of…
The Psychology of Color: Can Colors Really Affect Our Mood?
We’ve all heard the concept that red makes you angry and so you shouldn’t have red walls! But is there any truth in this? Can a color really affect our mood? And if so, how can we use color to help us? I know I feel great when I wear my favorite blue sweater, but why? We are going to delve into the subject of color psychology to get some insight into how the colors around us impact our emotions and actions. Maybe you should stop and think before you paint that wall! Color Therapy The way we see and perceive color each day greatly impacts our lives, though it…
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Adult Coloring
Coloring is back and in a big way. The coloring trend has been big for a few years now. I remember when it first became a thing and people were a little skeptical about how coloring could seriously be an activity for adults. Surely, we left our coloring days behind us many years ago! It seems not as it is now not so unusual to see “grown-ups” sitting in a café or on the bus coloring. So why do we like it so much? Is the comfort of going back to our childhood days? Or that we are in flow and mindful while we color? And how can we use…
Become Gracious & Grateful with a Gratitude Journal
Being grateful for what we have in life is certainly not always an easy task. We know deep down that we are all lucky in some way. We may be grateful for our kids or that we are not living in poverty. What we find hard though, is bringing that gratitude into our daily lives. It’s all very well knowing we are better off than most, but when we are having a tough time, that sometimes doesn’t seem to mean that much. We battle through our day, making sure all our jobs are done, looking after other people, perhaps fighting whatever inner demons are ours, and by the end of…
The Creative Type? Unleash Your Inner Artist with an Art Journal
I came across a really intriguing new type of journaling recently; art journaling. I love words and I could chat and write all day long! But, speaking to friends and family about their lives and difficulties, it came to me that it is not so easy for everybody to express what they are feeling using words, whether that is to someone else or to themselves. We are all so different, and have such varied means of self-expression, which is what makes us so interesting. Whereas for one person writing about their feelings can be cathartic, for someone else, painting or playing the piano might help to reduce stress. For all…
Are You An Emotional Eater?
So many of us have a complicated relationship with the food we eat. Body-image issues are incredibly common and many of us have been on the diet merry-go-round for much of our lives. Even if we are happy with our bodies, what we eat often seems to be tied in with our emotions. I would say that the majority of my girlfriends (and some of the guys too!) would admit to reaching for a huge bar of chocolate or a tub of ice-cream if they are upset or stressed out every now and again to make themselves feel better, and I’m certainly no exception! And, surely, there’s no harm in…
Meditation, Mindfulness & Journaling
Mindfulness is big news right now. But what exactly is it? How can it help us and how can we use it as part of the journaling process? Well, mindfulness as a concept actually fits in really well with journaling as it is about stopping, being present in the moment and taking time to allow ourselves to just be. How often do we do that? The most common answer among most of us would be occasionally or never! What with jobs, family, bills to pay, shopping to do, not to mention keeping ourselves physically fit, we so often neglect our minds. What I have noticed since I became interested in…
Could Journaling Help Me with My Anxiety?
Anxiety is so common in the hectic, pressurized world we live in today. I don’t know about you, but I find that any time I open up about my struggles with anxiety to a friend or colleague, they will tell me a story about their own struggles with anxiety, whether they are related to their jobs, family, issues with self-esteem or just keeping going with the daily grind. Not to mention the impact of hormonal imbalances on our anxiety levels; the theme which I chose for the focus my last series of blog posts as I know how many of us are affected in this way. My teenage daughter, as…