The Joy of Mindful Colouring In

I met my good mate Rahul while we studied a CERTIV in Mental Health together last year.

​I soon discovered that this guy has a BIG heart and who is a very generous and benevolent giver of his time, passion and compassion.

Rahul Seth is a Chartered Accountant turned MENTAL HEALTH CHANGE MAKER. He is the founder of the Perth Active Depression Support Group, a Meetup group that focuses on recreation to improve the members mental health and wellbeing. In the two years he’s run the group he has amassed over 1,500 followers. ​
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Colouring in.
 
What thoughts pop in mind when I mention this activity? I bet it’s probably a past time that you did as a child & not an activity as an adult. 
I’m writing this today to convince you of the benefits of adult colouring. In a recent admission to a mental health hospital I was generously given an adult colouring set by a friend. The book was filled with intricate detail of natural images ranging from animals to plants. It’s so intricate that I’ll never finish colouring it in my lifetime (and I’m only 30 years old)!
This therapy is absolutely amazing. There are so many benefits to it. The first benefit is that it requires low concentration. All you need to focus is putting pen onto paper and shading in the white bits. The great thing about this is that there is no way to do it incorrectly. You can shade in one or many colours. The sense of touch is very therapeutic. 
This also gives a workout to the left artistic side of your brain. When you’re battling mental health it’s often the right side that you use to process thoughts. It’s important to give it a rest and focus on something else to deregulate. 
It also teaches you about life. Sometimes I am doing a big picture which has lots of minor detail. At first I look at the picture & panic and think it’s going to take me ages to do. But then I start to work on a small area and give it my full concentration. Before I know it I’ve conquered the section & moved onto the next one. The big picture gets colourful and looks amazing. Can you see the parallels to life?

One thing that I’m now hooked on is digital colouring in. At first I didn’t like it as it didn’t have the same sense of touch as with the pencil on paper. However I got quickly addicted. It’s a lot of low concentration tapping that leads to stunning visual graphics that you can’t produce with the traditional pen and paper. You pinch and zoom into the areas to get the detail just right, just like the analogy of concentrating on the small parts of life to get the big picture. 
There are free apps for this but most offer a subscription service to do it. I recommend try the free ones first to get the hang before committing to a paid app. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed though if you go down the paid route. 
Colouring for adults. Who knew it could be so therapeutic?

Rahul works professionally in the mental health sector.
His hobbies include Photography, Formula 1, Graphic Making and of course Colouring In.
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Follow Rahul on Twitter @RS_au or Instagram @Rahulsethau. 
 
For Perth Active Depression Support Group visit the Meetup page at www.meetup.com/PerthADSG