Visual language is defined as a system of communication using visual elements. Just as people can verbalize their thinking, they can visualize it.

Our brains are constantly busy with observations, ideas and arguments so it is helpful to put everything that comes into our head down on paper. More and more people use thought sketching in the form of text, graphics or pictures in order to make the ideas visible. Research has proved that people grasp things better by doing rather than by seeing or hearing them. Visualisation offers learners a chance to “do” something in a manner that is accessible to all.

Making things explicit: Visualization is really about making things explicit. Visualisation helps in surfacing the hidden, ensuring that the meaning of everything is clear and less abstract.

Retaining information: We are dumbing down and our brain is losing its capacity to retain information given that there is too much information available and it is easily accessible. Visualisation provides a record which is easy to recall. Group visualisation creates a visual archive of the conversation in a working session and records the insights that can be revisited because of its visual nature.

Creating dialogue: With visualisation, you can turn a one-way presentation into dialogues. If you are conducting a presentation with a marker instead of a projector you can address people’s questions and comments on your poster and you can do so immediately by hand without technical complications. You have then created a picture that everyone has actively contributed to.

Connections: Visualisation illustrates the space between things or how the connections can work. For example, showing how one thought connects with another thought or idea. In a conversation since there is no recording, this opportunity would be lost. If we capture the conversation in a 2D space we have an opportunity to go back to it and find connections, so it becomes easier to have a discussion.

Fear of drawing: Drawing for visualisation is not an art, a painting or a representation of nature but is a form of writing and a way of generating meaning. Visualisation is a language and a cultural skill and drawing provides the tool for applying that skill.

Fear of missing out: The popularity of Instagram over other social media proves the power of an image over text in this visual age. Visualisation is being used more and more in corporate workplaces and training programs and its efficacy is interesting more people to learn it.

Engagement & Interest: When visualisation is used as a tool for imparting information or for training, the engagement and interest of the participants is significantly higher than a PowerPoint presentation.

All over the world, there are creative movements distancing themselves from the desktop, the mouse and the graphics software.

What prompted the sales of colouring books in U.S. to jump from 1 to 12 million units last year? (Nielsen data). How come 5 of the top 10 best-selling books in the United States were adult colouring books in 2015? And this trend is not limited to just the U.S., it can be seen globally from South America to Asia, with book stores carrying a wide selection of colouring books. In May 2016, Faber-Castell, the world’s biggest wooden pencil manufacturer, said that they are experiencing double digit growth due to the popularity of adult colouring books.

In a nutshell, this pastime which used to be seen as exclusively a child’s activity, is now evolving in to a major draw for adults. This is because it is proving to be a highly effective way to de-stress and get the creative juices going. Even more intriguing though, is that this form of colouring cultivates, with a little guidance; clarity, focus and mindfulness. This is partly because when we are engaged in relaxing tasks like colouring, which require gentle attention and focus yet little rational thought, we begin to access a deeper and greater personal wisdom. John Kounios a psychologist who studies creativity and distraction told WIRED, “you become less aware of your environment and more aware of your internal thoughts.”

Adult colouring, it seems, can lead to greater self-awareness, break through thinking, more clarity and focus, more capacity to pay attention and it regulates the nervous system leaving one with a deeper sense of calm and well-being.

The World Health Organisation predicts that work related stress, burnout and depression will be among the world’s most prevalent diseases in 2020. It is for

this reason, some of Australia’s biggest companies, such as ANZ, BUPA, Amaysim & Wesfarmers are now leading the way in buying colouring books, in bulk, to help their staff manage stress and better deal with the modern workplace.

ANZ’s head of human resources for global markets and loans, Kerrie Harris, told The Sydney Morning Herald, “The

colouring book is a great way to de-stress and clear my mind when I find I’m getting distracted or need clarity.” she said. “Even 30 seconds of colouring makes me feel relaxed and ready to conquer the next conversation or task.”

For the nostalgic among us, there is something reminiscent of the good old day, when we go back to basics and use a pencil and paper in contrast to the glare of the computer screen. Ms. Basford, whose colouring books for grown-ups have sold some 16 million copies worldwide, including three million in China alone, told the Sunday Telegraph: “People like colouring-in because they are fed up with digital.”

Smartphones can affect our brains and bodies in ways that are harder to measure and a growing body of research shows that exposure to bright blue light of tablets and smartphones can disrupt a person’s circadian sleep rhythm also providing another reason to use paper based tools.

ABOUT: Jaya Machet, Executive Coach incorporates mindfulness in her coaching work with clients.

7 of the top 30 titles on Amazon’s 2015 best-seller list are adult colouring books, that’s nearly a quarter of the best-seller list. There is plenty of research showing that engaging in creative activity helps people deal better with stress and that helps them in their personal life and they perform better at work. There are strong views about whether colouring can be considered to be a ‘real’ creative activity. Nonetheless people who colour certainly see the activity as relaxing and stress-relieving.

In our busy lives we often don’t make time for ourselves and can find it hard to relax and recharge. Mindful colouring gives us an opportunity to pause and take stock of what’s going on inside ourselves.

When we observe our thoughts, what we see depends on - what we pay attention to.

We have designed five colouring experiences which will allow you to practice and develop five different ways of being. These five qualities have been carefully selected based on our experience of what executives find most challenging to cultivate.

Gentle attention to the colouring will strengthen your ability to bring these attitudes in your day to day life, generating long term well-being and happiness.

Myriam Combier’s experience of textile design has enabled us to create a textured and detailed feel for five mindful qualities:

Beginner's Mind: the capacity to see life with an increasingly fresh and open perspective - Colour with Beginner’s Mind

To quote Gandhi “Be the change you want to see in the world” – each one of us has to think about what we are consuming and how we can reuse more. Growing up in India, we didn’t have plastic bags only paper bags which served us very well. We sold all our old newspapers which were then reused and much to our delight, old exam papers often popped up in the paper cones that the peanut seller filled with peanuts. It felt as if nothing was thrown away and could be reused, today of course India has changed too.

It is in the oceans that all our non-biodegradable waste ends up. This waste is mainly plastic, more than 250,000 tons of it. The ocean now contains 6 times more plastic than plankton and this plastic doesn’t go away – it just breaks up into smaller pieces. It threatens our marine life and causes damage throughout the food change.

Oceans are the lifeblood of our planet. They cover 70% of the earth’s surface and contain 97% of our water supply.

We need to improve the use of plastic and reuse more.

If not now – then when?