A Tangle a day!

Walk into any store and see coloring books geared not towards our kids but grown ups.  Yup that good old staple to keep kids busy has bounced back in super intricate patterns to occupy the time of adults.  It surprises so many people that this has become a trend because they just don't realize how relaxing it can be.  Drawing those intricate patterns in and of themselves is very therapeutic and has been used for genertaions to ease the mind of stress and anxiety.

Simple repeated patterns become intricate pieces of art that release the mind's pent up emotions.  For me this is an important part of my bedtime routine. Releasing the craziness of the day out onto paper lets my mind relax and prepare me for sleep. The soothing routine of repeating a pattern  enables me to shut down and push aside the day's stresses and drift to sleep without worries or in my case lists of everything I have to do the next day running rampant in my mind.  I am no doctor or guru telling you drawing a picture will make you "all better". I am just a lady who after a little searching on the internet a few years ago found a way to relax without medication or expensive therapy sessions.

The bonus for me with this form of self therapy was sharing it with my children. When the days get too much to handle and we need a few moments to unwind a pen and paper come out, (this travels well in my purse so it really can happen anywhere), and I just have the kids start doodling. They relax and are able to collect themselves in a quite manner which helps me relax as well. There are times I am sure the people around us are glad we do this too!

When my second child was diagnosed with yet another set of eye issues we were in need of an occupational therapist to help over come the obstacles they caused.  Imagine our surprise when several of the exercises given to help with eye to hand skills included pen to paper much like doing the Zentangles. We showed the therapist some of  the artwork already done and were promptly told to continue as much as possible, at least once a day! Therapy a kid enjoys doing is always a plus!

There are a couple downsides. We spend more then my hubby likes on notebooks and pens. There are moments of high stress where doodling can turn into an hour or more of getting "lost" in our art, but those are downfalls that are worth ignoring for us. 

One may ask where you start this process and seriously it's so easy. Grab a piece of paper (a sticky note is a great size to start) and a sharpie or thin pointed pen or pencil.  Loosely scribble on the paper like a two year old. Yes just a few scribbles don't go crazy now.  Then simply fill in the spaces made in the scribbles with patterns. It could be the same pattern over and over again or different patterns in each space. Don't stress over the patterns just fill.  Mistakes happen, don't erase them. Work them into the pattern which subconsciously releases your stress, least that's what I've read. Works for me!

Sometime the kids or even myself, we just cannot concentrate enough to chose a pattern, we get wrapped up in the choosing. To stop this we pull up on Pinterest a board and go with the first set of patterns we find, or assign a pattern to each number on a dice and roll for each spot to see what fate puts in the space. (the little kids love this).  We make it as easy and simple as possible.

A couple examples of mine. I know the second one looks complicated but it's actually a really simple pattern over and over again.

Scribble with many patterns

un shaded design

Simple lines with 1 pattern

All shaded

Now most people use a special graphite pencil to shade in their designs but I don't have a store close by that sells them so I make shifted with a little grey eyeshadow and I love how it looks so here's to being creative while being creative!