Did you know that patterns are all around us? There are patterns in music, dance, nature, our behaviors, and even in our body!
The trees in the forest, for example, grow spaced apart in a pattern that matches the same relationship that any single tree has with its branches. The branches split off in a pattern, as do the veins in the leaves. These particular patterns are called fractal because you can zoom in or out and find the same formula repeating potentially endlessly. Such beautiful patterns can be found in the formation of pine cones, pineapples, broccoli, veins in your body, icicles, seashells, marks made by electricity, and even the paths in which rivers split into smaller and smaller streams!
Besides fractal patterns, there are other beautiful formulas that repeat. Our body has circadian rhythms that follow predictable patterns of sleep and wakefulness, which means that even our hormones follow repetitive models. In dance, you might learn a routine in which you move your body to the front, to the right side, and then repeat that pattern by moving to the front and to the left side in a mirror image of the same steps. That is a pattern! Our brains love to find patterns. They allow us to organize and predict the world.
However, we may not always be aware of all patterns — especially the ones that have to do with our behaviors. We tend to follow similar friendship patterns, similar coping patterns, and even predictable work habits. We make thousands of choices a day, mostly subconsciously, if to continue these patterns or to break them, except that we rarely notice because we are so busy and life is full of distractions. When we brush our teeth before we go to bed, it is a healthy pattern. If we were to eat before going to sleep, that would be a really unhealthy pattern that disrupts sleep. Some of us have an easier time breaking out of some habits or adopting new ones, for better or worse.
There is an ongoing tug of war between the left side of our brain that controls habits, aka the “patterns,” and the opposing side that wants us to react from the gut or impulse. We all vary in the degrees in which we allow the pattern side of our brain to dominate over the side of the brain that wants to break out of the pattern. Evolutionarily, following patterns probably offered us some advantages, like knowing to follow the seasons for food, and growing up we were rewarded in school for dotting our i’s. However, we were also rewarded for exploring and thinking out of the box. Scientists say homo sapiens only survived because we explored new regions, which requires an out of the box mentality.
Even though both sides of the brain offer valid benefits at times and problems at other times, we differ on our comfort level with using one side or the other. And we are mostly not aware of the interplay that happens. Some of us could use a simple tool to reflect on how we make decisions in the most basic deconstructed way so that we may apply it to the real world with open eyes.
The Bite-Size Mandalas book by Planet Heart offers you a simple tool — by way of what I have termed radial patterns. I like to compare them to a wedding cake. You can imagine a cake with several layers, each slice having the exact same decoration in the same direction. If each slice has a strawberry with the stem facing out, followed by a blueberry, then you would be very upset if you did not get a blueberry on yours! That means your brain noticed the pattern and expects it to repeat. Like the wedding cake, this book has radial patterns. In mathematical terms, they are patterns that radiate along an x-y-z axis with a common midpoint.
Your journey here is internal. Your job, “should you choose to accept it,” is to listen to the right and left hemisphere and your gut as you color. Alternatively, you can just relax and check out mentally. Another option — you may dump out anything you don’t need. Finally, you have the option to take in a positive word and reinforce it as you color. With every heart, you can say that empowering word until it lifts your spirit and becomes one with you.
There is no “activity” to do like in some some of my other books where you may be asked to continue the pattern, find the missing heart in the pattern, or apply the same relationship of two designs to another pattern like in the Heart Analogies book.
HEART PATTERNS & NEUROART:
Playing with heart patterns and coloring them is excellent for you. It wakes up different areas of the brain and helps them to communicate. The brain may not be divided perfectly into a right and left side — experts are still researching this. However, in general, the left side likes patterns and logic, while the right side is active when you use your intuition and sense of aesthetic, like when you color designs based on what feels beautiful to you, not based on a coloring pattern. This simplification of the duality between the right and left sides works for my purposes here, because the main goal of my neuroart is to activate two opposite forces and help them communicate as you make decisions.
The Bite-Size Mandalas book deconstructs and simplifies designs to very clear basics. It’s the best way to learn. You can clearly see the patterns in these simple designs if your brain wishes to, and then you can see if your brain chooses to follow them or not, and where it feels most comfortable. Often, people are more dominant with one side than the other. They might not notice how many rules they prefer to follow where none are required, or how little they listen to their gut — if they are left-brain dominant. Others might truly prefer not to plan and color from the gut and improvise — if they are right-dominant. Up to what point do you feel comfortable following a pattern, and are you suppressing that side that wants to be creative? Or is it the reverse?
Sometimes I purposely challenge you to notice the patterns to wake up that left hemisphere, and other times I purposely encourage you to release your stream of consciousness to wake up your right hemisphere. Coloring the designs may wake up your right hemisphere — but it may remain under the dominance of the left! You could still choose colors while being very left-brain dominant if your choices are formulaic. You could find yourself feeling obligated to continue the same color scheme while your right hemisphere is begging to bring an element of surprise, calm, or pizazz. On the other hand, someone who doesn’t censor their right hemisphere might ignore the lines or add their own and they may not need to make them symmetrical. They might let the colors blend for special effects, or they might choose the hues just because they look pretty. This kind of attitude is what they call “thinking out of the box. After years of being taught to follow the rules in school, many people who excelled at that find it hard to let go (especially without resorting to external potions and poisons like alcohol.)
While coloring, people can notice if they feel more comfortable with a pattern than with following their gut, or vice versa. I encourage people to eavesdrop to any of the internal dialogue to notice if they might suppress a discomfort or an urge to do something, or if they make fun of their abilities — a sure sign of censoring the right hemisphere. That common statement “I’m no good at __(art)” is a telltale. So the simple designs are a great medium to listen in and notice tendencies. Other coloring books that have random images with no pattern might feel relaxing, but they do not actively work on the communication between your two brain hemispheres. When people reach a state in which they navigate decisions between the right and left hemisphere without censoring one side in favor of the other, I call it “Hemispheric Harmony.™”
The heart is my image of choice for illustrating the benefits of mandala patterns in order to achieve Hemispheric Harmony. I could have chosen cars, cartoons, flowers, combinations of images and organic, wavy right-brained lines. However, I have been working solely with the heart image for over 30 years and I do not tire from it. It grew from my super left-dominant brain and then found its creative freedom within the limitations. I used my background in psychology and fascination with graphology to analyze and understand
all the benefits of using hearts specifically. I also designed a very special heart that can allow me to orient it in all the ways that I need. So for now, I’m sticking with this trademark style because I think it will benefit others just as it benefitted me. I also love its positive symbolism. We can always use more positivity!
However, the key behind all my work is that for people to truly benefit from quality time out, they need to purposely activate both sides of their brains and then tune in to their thoughts and feelings. Coloring books are not the only tool that can achieve that. When I teach yoga, I purposely activate people’s right and left hemispheres through movement. The main take away is that we need a medium to point out patterns and to break the patterns, or act from the “gut” or stream of consciousness. People naturally navigate making decisions that involve an interaction between these two opposite forces. It happens in business, sports, the arts, and basically at all times. The better the communication between the two sides, the more satisfied people will feel with their decisions. Any activity that allows the dual sides to practice making decisions will be beneficial for the brain, leading to self-knowledge, acceptance, growth, and relaxation.
From a graphological point of view, the heart can represent the people in your life and how you relate to them. I love connecting with people, so my hearts connect, rather than just dispersed with gaps in between.
Through the use of this single, simple tool, the heart, you can take time to listen to your thoughts, and your heart, and focus on the things that matter, starting with yourself. Slow your pace down, and fully immerse yourself in bite-sized amounts that you can complete in one sitting.
Perhaps you bought these as restful moment away from technology, or to enjoy listening to your own thoughts. Make the time meaningful. It is your precious time.