'Thoughtful Colouring' is a combination journal/colouring book. Writer and author, Ann Jordan-Mills, became fascinated with the growing interest in colouring books and their effect upon the colourist. She has taken the act of colouring and moved it a step further - effectively into a meditation - which indeed it can be (consciously or unconsciously). Art Therapist Marti Faist said, "When someone is colouring, their mind and body are operating in a more integrated way. It's almost a meditative process." Thus in "Thoughtful Colouring," these processes are integrated, and opposite each design or mandala, the colourist will find an inspirational quotation provided to provoke thoughts and reflections. We suggest that you think about what the words say to you as you start to colour; there is space to record your thoughts below the quotation. All the pages are airy, with lots of white space to use for personal doodles and drawings to enhance your coloured design - or even more writing if you can't fit your words onto the lines we provide. There is a page of Hints to Begin, with tips on how to get started. This page includes such things as suggesting that you, the colourist, think about the mood that your colour palette will capture as you start to plan your colour scheme. For example, will it be cool blues, passionate reds, warm pink and mauve shades, or calm greens? It also cautions about the colour bleed that can happen with certain pens if the pages are not thick enough, and gives hints about how to avoid this. Ann hopes that you, the readers and colourists, will find the combinations inspirational, and be enchanted with your process and its outcome. At the same time she wants you to have fun, because that, indeed, is what this is all about