1. Adult coloring books are not new. They have been around in the therapy world for ages. Coloring is a very relaxing and mentally calming activity. I have used coloring in sessions with children, teens, and adults. Coloring allows my clients to gain emotional insight and mental relaxation. A few weeks ago I was very tired, cranky, and was not feeling well physically. I sat down and colored for an hour and I had more energy, my mood had improved, and I no longer felt sick. You can get coloring books at any bookstore. I have chosen a couple for you above.

2. What you think will determine how you feel. If you are thinking negatively you will feel negative. A very effective way to improve your mood is to improve your thinking. However challenging negative thinking can be difficult because it is hard to replace the negative thoughts with more constructive and helpful thoughts. Self-affirmations are a very effective way to challenge and replace negative thoughts. I work with my clients to write a list of helpful and self-affirming statements. I then ask my clients to place these affirmations around their environment. When feeling or thinking negatively my clients read the self-affirmations and report they are able to think and feel better. I always enjoy fun ones like these affirmation cards here

3. Meditation is an excellent method for reducing stress and relaxing the body and the mind. Mediation is not only good for mental and physical health but it is good for spiritual health as well. Mediation takes practice to master and even then only a few are gurus. One of the most difficult challenges to meditating is quieting the mind. It can also be a challenge to quiet all the outside noise. I recommend using music to help relax the mind and silencing the noise outside. Not all music is helpful for mediation. I would suggest using the Chakra Tones here.