One Stroke at a Time

Anything is Possible One Stroke at a Time – Zentangle.

Hold the phone.

I need to back up.

About a year ago I rediscovered colouring.

Or you could say I discovered adult colouring.

I like to think I grabbed the wave before it really caught on.

It all started in Regina, Saskatchewan.

I went to visit my sister – one of my favorite people on the planet.

We drove around one morning going to all the places I like to check out when I’m there, and her car broke down. Waiting for help, we popped into this woo woo store. We skipped over the incense and crystals and both felt drawn to the bottom section of the bookshelf and each picked out a mandala colouring book.

We would spend our mornings playing tourist / running errands (aka gathering craft supplies) and our afternoons colouring, often without speaking, with good tunes playing in the background. And of course chocolate.

I got sort of obsessed. I find the whole thing so relaxing.

A couple of months later, I was on a ferry and popped into the gift store – really as a means to stretch my legs. I was so pleasantly surprised to see that the bookshelf had 4-5 colouring book options. And not on the bottom shelf. At eye level! This was totally a thing! I’m taking credit for starting a trend ;).

I have coloured mandalas.

 

I have coloured naturalish and abstractish things.

I have coloured by numbers.

I bought a deck of meditation / art / colouring cards which I just fell in love with. They are by a local counselor and coach named Ella.

I really enjoyed the addition of the doodles to the colouring process.

I took a workshop with Ella, and learned how she goes about filling up her own cards. I loved that level of refinement!

I found myself more and more inclined to draw. Not just to fill in the lines of someone’s else’s art but to make my own! I don’t consider myself a visual artist but this pull was so magnetic.

And then I started paying attention to something that been waiting in my periphery for a number of weeks, remaining there with quiet persistence until I was ready to witness it.

Zentangling.

From their website, “The Zentangle Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns.

Almost anyone can use it to create beautiful images. It increases focus and creativity, provides artistic satisfaction along with an increased sense of personal well being.”

Hello YouTube!!

I started learning to doodle from a lovely artist named Ashley Picanco.

I’m excited about the possibility that I can draw cool things for no reason other than it makes me happy.

And back to the quote.

Anything is Possible One Stroke at a Time. – Zentangle.

What an AWESOME motto!!

It parallels my experience. One step at a time my skills and curiosity increased. I wasn’t walking anywhere in particular, just kept following the trail, deepening my relationship to this new level of creativity and source of peace.

Lets bring this whole thing back to health (and not just for the stress reduction and therefore disease prevention aspect of what colouring, doodling, meditation, deep breathing can give you.)

Anything is Possible One Stroke at a Time.

Health is possible:

One healthful decision at a time.

One day of drinking the right amount of water.

One positive thought at a time.

One smile. Or Laugh.

One workout at a time.

One salad.

One prayer.

One deep breath.

If you think of your body as a blank canvas (or in Zentangle a little white tile) then you need to look after yourself one stroke at a time.

I often get asked about cleanses, which tend to be time-limited. Seven days, 10 days, 21, etc. My favorite of course is the Plan which is a 20 day program to teach you how to know if a food works for your individual biochemistry or not.

The idea is, however, that after the 20 days you continue on because it’s a sustainable way to eat the foods that you love and get healthy.

So I actually encourage people to stick to new things for minimum two but ideally three months because it takes about 66 days to create a habit out of the practice.

And those 66 days happen one at a time.

One meal. At a time.

One stroke on your body canvas. At a time.

Before you know it you have a beautiful work of art which is your healthy body thriving in your delightful life.

Remember health isn’t something we do once. It’s cumulative over our lifetime. But every bit helps. Every stroke and every day counts. It is not a sprint dear one. You’re in this for the long haul.

I love to hear in the comments below if you successfully took baby steps and what they turned in to. What was your first step? When you felt like giving up how did you recommit?

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To your healthy, thriving, delightful life,