Colour Inside the Lines

Once again what was intended to be a simple post turned into a chore of larger proportions. Lately it seems to be my lot in life, certainly as far as blogging goes. Either something goes amiss with my attempt to post, like hotspot problems, software, computer updates, etc., or I see something shiny and get distracted. Today it was a little of each. All in an attempt to write about colouring inside the lines.

I was colouring in my Mandala Colouring book this morning, enjoying a cool breeze out on the front ‘lanai’. This is something I’ve taken to doing lately and I find the peace and solitude out there calming. Once I begin to focus on the page and select the area and my chosen colour I’ll generally buckle down and lose sight of much of what’s happening around me. Today however my conversations with Elly once again came to mind.

Elly is the one whom I recall discussing this whole inside/outside the lines concept first. She was my most recent counselor. The chat came up as a result of the art therapy she was using with me. I mention it here in “Some Thoughts….”. I think of that conversation every time I colour, when I laboriously try to remain inside the identified areas of the page, any divergence a cause of some stress and dismay. Where I’d dearly love to just scribble on the page I haven’t found the gumption (as of yet). Maybe soon.

One of the things this morning that took me off my task of enhancing my Mandala was the curiousity of what that meant out in the real world, to colour inside/outside the lines. One of the first links in a Google search brought up a link to this sketch and the owning blog EscapeAdulthood.

There are a number of quotes out there too, the quote below from Jay Woodman being one.

“Colour outside the lines, live outside the box. Don’t let anyone tell you what to do, or not. Don’t be afraid, listen to your heart.
Heaven is a state of being – of one-ness, and Hell is a state of being – lost. We simply need to live as we best define ourselves, find our own ways of being who we are in our world.
There is no requirement – only freedom of choice. We should not be judged if we are doing what we think best according to our perceptions at any given time.
Guilt should be discarded, moved beyond – what matters is who we choose to be in the next moment, given what we might have learned. We continually create ourselves anew.
Forgiving someone is a great way to show love, and forgive yourself too for the hurt you held onto far too long.
Take back the energy you have wasted on these things and reclaim your power to be your next best self.
Honour the past but refresh, expand, renew, fulfill. Heaven is within us, always reachable.”

― Jay Woodman

So, that preamble was much longer than anticipated. I have half a mind to delete much of it but the other half says neh! Leave ‘er alone.

I think the whole point was I noticed how inflexible I was becoming with regard to the colouring. It is Priority 1 to stay within the lines, to be consistent with colours and symmetrical, and that credo seems to be much of what my life is back to being. I feel as if I’ve relapsed back to my ‘old’ self. It’s not where I want to be. I want, I NEED, to be colouring outside the lines again. At least a little.