How I Use Tracing To Calm My Anxiety

If you’ve ever experienced anxious or overwhelming thoughts, then you’ll understand how debilitating and derailing they can be. One minute you’re feeling fine and going about your day and the next minute, it’s like something has smacked you upside the head and you’re spiraling down to that deep dark place where everything is pointless and you feel worthless. Not to mention wanting to curl up in a ball in the corner and cry the day away.

Sound familiar at all?

I’ve spent a good part of my life trying to cope with these intense thoughts and emotions whilst attempting to make it look as though I had my life together. Far from it. On the outside I looked calm and in control. But underneath the surface, I was a nervous wreck. I was crying on the inside while pasting a calm smile on the outside. So many times I wanted to run and hide.

As a result, I’ve spent many hours searching, experimenting, and researching ways to help calm myself down and soothe my mind when these moments do arise. So, today I’d like to share with you a tool that I have come across that has really helped me to cope in those times when my thoughts and feelings are causing me all forms of angst.

It’s called Mindful Tracing and you can try it by downloading a FREE Tracing Page Here.

When I first started using this tool, I was skeptical. “How can tracing over lines and designs help calm me down?”

But as soon as I picked up a pen and started tracing, something amazing happened. It was like someone had flicked a switch off in my brain and it started to power down. I noticed my crazy, irrational thoughts started to fade into the background and my anxiety settling down. I actually felt calm and peaceful, which I have hardly ever experienced.

I also found that tracing is a fantastic way to practice mindfulness and keep myself in the present moment. As I was tracing, I found I was concentrating so much on staying on the lines that I lost all track of time and what was going on around me and inside of me as well. My tormenting thoughts faded into the background, my body relaxed and overall I felt so much calmer and more peaceful. At times I even noticed I had a faint smile on my face.

Now I must mention that, after a few minutes, I did notice my old thoughts creeping back in telling me that what I was doing wasn’t good enough, that I’m no good at anything I do and how are you going to pay your mortgage this week? The surprising thing was though, these thoughts never caused intense emotions to course through my body. they were simply thoughts without the emotional backup.

I had found an escape, even for a few brief moments.

You see, mindful tracing belongs to the “Expressive Therapies” family. Expressive therapies are the use of the creative arts as a form of therapy. This includes drawing, painting, dance, music, sand play and much more. For some of us, mainstream therapy is too confronting and can often have the opposite effect on us, bringing up more negative thoughts and intense emotions that we struggle to deal with in the first place. Creative therapy, on the other hand, allows us to explore our thoughts, feelings, memories and emotions in a non-verbal and creative way.

And apparently working with our hands is one of the best ways to soothe anxiety and eliminate stress. I didn’t know this logically, and yet something inside me kept pulling me to creative activities as a way to calm my emotions and distract me from my constant negative thoughts, even if it was only for a few short minutes.

Research is now showing that when we use our hands on a task that doesn’t demand much cognitively, it gives the mind a chance to relax and rest. And when we engage in a repetitive task, completely taking our minds off whatever problem or issue we have been struggling with, the solution will often magically appear.

WHY TRACE WHEN YOU CAN DRAW?

Well if you can draw and it makes you feel good, then please by all means go off and draw. But for those of us who “can’t” draw (yes, I know - apparently we can all draw), even attempting it can make our anxiety and perfectionistic tendencies rise to unhealthy levels.

I absolutely adore looking at and admiring others’ drawing and doodling abilities and wish so much that I could as well. And in the future I see myself drawing and doodling quite well, thank you very much, and I attribute that to first tracing, building up my confidence and muscle memory to the point that one day I can simply draw free-hand. But until that time, I choose to trace instead.

Tracing can also be a great way to relax both your mind and body by detaching from the worries and stress around you and giving yourself permission to zone out. I love zoning out. It is so soothing and calming for me. I used to correlate zoning out with watch television but now I’ve found that tracing gives me the same effect and I’m doing something more beneficial (I think anyway) then sitting in front of a box :)

One thing I have had to let go of though is my need for perfection. I have this tendency to expect my finished products to look exactly the same (if not better) than the ones I see online and it never does. So I’m experimenting with throwing perfection to the wind and allowing the finished product to be what it is. As challenging as this is, there’s a sense of peace as well.

The goal of tracing for mindfulness is not to produce a perfect replica of the pattern or image but to immerse oneself fully in the experience. Tracing creates a rhythm that helps calm the mind, fosters concentration, and encourages a meditative state. GROUPORT

So if you often find yourself feeling anxious, stressed or overwhelmed and are looking for new techniques to help ease these intense feelings, maybe give mindful tracing a try and see if it has the same calming and soothing effects on you. As I mentioned above, I have a free tracing page in the freebies section that you may like to download. You can also check out my Etsy shop for other Mindful Tracing Bundles as well.

Giving in to feelings of anxiety by retreating from the world only serves to make my life more difficult in the long run., so please don’t stop trying to find ways that work for you.