For many of us, this is a time of replenishing. A time to sit back and close your eyes and rest. A time to turn off all the noise coming at us. A time to close off the things that deplete our energy. Life still goes on and work needs to be done, but many of us are finding it necessary to rest whenever possible. We are retreating, hibernating, pulling away from the world’s distractions, almost in an involuntary way. We’re needing so much alone time. We’re turning off the radio, the TV, and the Internet so we can bask in peace and quiet. We’re not understanding much of what we feel we need, but that doesn’t change our craving for no sound, no words, and hopefully no thought.

Aaahh, the challenge of turning off our thoughts continues to baffle us. Our internal computer system is sending off sparks and impulses that we’re hardly aware of. Consciously we’re not aware, but subconsciously, or better put energetically, we are very aware of the internal noise that prevents life from being a beautiful experience. Some of us have more noise to be weeded out. Many of us use physical distractions to dim the switch. But sorry to say, these distractions aren’t working as well as they used to. The noise is being amplified by the push and pull in societies gap. This gap is swallowing up what we’ve been accustomed to and it’s forcing us to jump. Jump through uncontrollable moods, unexpected circumstances and situations that we’ve never imagined or planned.

So what are we to do?

First, deep breathe! And do it as often as you can. As soon as you inhale the deepest breath possible, your energy soothes, your mind calms down and you feel a bit of relief. Breathe deeply every time you think of it. This is your quickest and best way to calm your thoughts.

Second, observe nature! Listen to the birds, study the trees, the ground around your home, anything that is outside. Look at the sky, focus on the clouds. Watch the movement the wind causes, the trees blowing, the whisper and rush of nature. Look at the colors in the nature around you as you drive to work or school or to the store. Notice the different greens in the leaves on all the trees you pass by or on the bushes along the road you travel. The colors are soothing the more you focus on the beauty nature brings.

Third, you’re going to love this one. PAINT! What? Paint? I don’t know how! Yes you do. The noise inside your head tells you that you can’t but your energy tells you to just do it. But I don’t know how. Yes you do. You painted when you were four or five or six and you can do it again. Just imagine yourself as a five year old. Push the colors around your paper, smear colors into one another, push and pull the colors to reflect how you feel. You’re not painting a pretty picture. All you are doing is replenishing your energy by merging colors on a surface. As you do this, let the noise come out of your mind, through your arm, into your brush and onto your page. Keep on doing this. Keep on painting your thoughts out of your mind. Let your worry, your nervousness, your stress come out through your brush. Every time you think of letting some thoughts go, every time you crave some peace, take out your paints and find some relief. Allow yourself the freedom to express whatever comes out. You will feel the difference almost immediately that pushing paint can bring.

Do you know why it’s so good to paint? Because something improves in your psyche every time you do. It releases stress unlike any other activity because it works so deeply within. Shifts happen in your internal energy field. And you don’t even have to be aware of what just happened. You intuitively will feel the relief. Every time we touch a brush loaded with color on our surface we release more unhealthy beliefs. We soften. We feel refreshed. And when we replenish our internal energy field, shifts happen outside too. When we release thoughts that hinder us, our outside relationships spontaneously improve. That is one of the best reasons to paint.

Then little by little, we get a handle on what life throws at us. More and more we do what’s best for us. We surround ourselves with people who are good to us, who are good to themselves. We just start feeling better all around every time we paint. We become more aware of how we really feel. We accept how we feel. We allow ourselves to feel exactly what comes up. And most of all, no matter what does arise, we can embrace it as a part of our selves, allow it to be exposed, and then it can be released and replenished from our total selves. One brushstroke at a time.