distraction – Ginger Simpson White

doodling on watercolors…

In my creative play time with art supplies, there are several different things I consider to be on my list of favorites because I can’t choose just one.

Painting with metallic watercolors on a black background definitely has a spot on that list. I sometimes use black paper. Other times I cover a white or cream journal page with black gesso and let it dry.

And then I spend time painting and playing with the metallic watercolors.

And then…sometimes I add outlining and doodling with pens or markers.

It’s how I spent several hours this past week. I opened one of my journals to a page I’d started a few days earlier where I’d used metallic watercolors on black gesso (a part of that page was shown in my last post) and I got out gel pens in white, pink, yellow, green, and blue.

With the white gel pen, I started outlining some of the shapes that had formed from the metallic watercolors. And I doodled – sometimes on top of the watercolors, sometimes on the black gesso – using the white and pink and yellow and green and blue gel pens.

Hanging out with my husband while the TV played in the background, I let myself relax into the calming distraction of doodling.

Over the following few days, I picked up my journal and added more bits and bobs and dots and doodles.

Just breathing slowly, letting the pens and colors play on the page, distracting my mind from the worries and fears of life.

Doing this is SO calming and relaxing and distracting.

I filled up the page with hours of something that helped me feel more peace and joy.

I’ll probably add a bit more to this page over the weekend. There are some areas, especially in the lower right, where I’ll spend some time doodling.

And then, eventually, I’ll paint another page with black gesso or I’ll get out my journal filled with black paper, and I’ll open a set of my metallic watercolor paints, and I’ll do some more of this type of creative play.

I’ll do it for more calm, more inner quiet, more peace.

More soul nourishment.

❤

music and distraction and joy…

I love music. Lots of different kinds of music.

I love music just for the music itself, but when I’m feeling stressed or anxious music can provide even more than enjoyment. It can be a way to shift my mood and offer distraction (at least somewhat) from the difficult stuff.

In our home, we have a local radio station playing in the kitchen literally all day long. This station plays music from the 70s through the current time, and we love how much air play the DJs give to our favorite music decades of the 70s and 80s. We also really enjoy the special interviews and features they do at regularly scheduled times. (And yes, there are actual, human, real-life in real-time DJs on the air.) It provides background sound for the day, it keeps me company when I’m in the kitchen cooking or painting or washing dishes, and it generally brings joy to our lives.

Although the kitchen radio provides most of the music in our house, I’ll also turn to the CDs we still have in our collection, as well as music online. Sometimes when I’m feeling anxious or stressed I’ll go to youtube and find a long video or playlist containing lots of 70s or 80s songs, and I’ll listen to the music while I do nothing else other than relax and breathe. Almost always, it will help.

Are there songs or genres/periods of music that help you feel more uplifted? That help you feel calmer if you’re feeling stressed or anxious? That help you feel more capable of making it through a hard day?

Music can reflect mood, definitely. But music can also impact mood and shift mood. It can be useful for calming and de-stressing.

It can be an important tool in an anxiety-reducing, stress-reducing toolkit.

❤

revisiting genealogy as calming distraction…

I’ve written before about genealogy (as well as looking through old newspapers) serving as calming distraction for me. I enjoy genealogical research and exploring old newspapers anyway, but the calming and distracting aspects for me add to their benefits.

As so often happens, I’ve had periods lately of intense anxiety. I spend time with my usual tools and helpers: painting, praying, porch time, reading, brain retraining, hanging out with my husband, watching “comfort” shows, talking with friends…and, yes, spending time with genealogy (and newspapers.com and findagrave.com and facebook groups focused on the history of my family’s area).

Trying to fit the puzzle pieces together that make up my family tree. Researching places and businesses where my relatives worked or spent time. Learning about what was going on when my great-grandparents (and beyond) were alive.

Doing this gives my brain something to focus on instead of fearful thoughts about the future.

Although any aspect of this can be helpful and enjoyable and lead to new discoveries or confirmations, there are certain things that have captured my attention in a deeper way. I turn to these again and again as I try to learn more about them.

My father’s paternal grandparents fall into this category. An old abandoned and mostly-vanished factory cemetery is another one. A long-standing building in my hometown is also on my list. Another is a church that, over the last 130-plus years, has changed names and merged and moved.

I dip in and out of researching these people and places. They are smaller “pet projects” under the larger umbrella of genealogy and local research, and they give me familiar things I can pull out and give attention to whenever I want.

They are calming distractions I keep in my toolbox of things that help when the anxiety is high…or things I can focus on simply because I want to spend time with them.

I don’t know if I’ll ever uncover more details or find more answers to the questions I have about these people and places, but I enjoy the exploration.

And that’s why I keep on researching.

♥