Reconnecting with Your Inner Child Through Gond Painting and Creative Self-Care

In today’s episode, I share a personal story about rediscovering Gond painting, a traditional Indian folk art that has been close to my heart since childhood and how returning to this creative practice brought me a sense of calm, joy, and self-connection.

I share the beauty of Gond art, the memories it awakened, and the gentle reminder that creativity doesn’t need to be productive or perfect to be meaningful. Through painting a tree with green and blue leaves, I found myself reconnecting with the little girl who once created simply for the love of it.

This episode is an invitation to slow down, reflect on the hobbies and activities that once made you feel alive, and consider making space for them again. Whether it’s painting, dancing, singing, writing, baking, or another creative outlet, these small acts of self-expression can become powerful forms of self-care and self-love.

You’ll also be guided through a short visualization inspired by my painting, a moment to reconnect with your own creativity, memories, and unique way of growing.

If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, or in need of a gentle pause, this episode is for you.

Take a breath, settle in, and join me as we explore the healing power of creativity, nostalgia, and returning to what brings us joy.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hi, and welcome to today's episode. To be honest with you, right from the start, recording this does bring back beautiful memories and it feels really, really lovely because I want to talk about something very close to my heart. Gone to painting and how doing it reminds me of my childhood hobby. It makes me feel so calm, loved, connected to myself again. So if you're listening to this while you're walking, doing chores, or maybe just lying down, I invite you to take a small breath in and out and just be here with me for a few minutes. Today I spent time doing Gond painting. Gond painting is beautiful traditional folk art from India, originally created by the Gond tribal communities, especially from central India. It is full of stories, patterns, and colours. You'll see trees, birds, animals, and nature, all decorated with tiny lines, dots, and shapes that come together like a tapestry. For me, Gond painting isn't just an art form. It's a piece of my Indian heritage. A lovely little piece of my childhood. Beautiful, beautiful memories. When I was a little girl, I loved this style of painting. I could sit for hours with pencils, colours, drawing trees, leaves, patterns, completely lost in my own little lovely word. There was always something so magical about it. The way simple lines turned into branches, the way dots turned into textures, and a blank page slowly transformed into a living, breathing story, into a gorgeous imagination. And then life got busy as it does. School, work responsibilities, being an adult. And little by little the part of me, that girl who loved to sit and paint and just enjoy that pure joy started to get a little bit quieter. But recently I have been connecting back to that beautiful feeling through things like singing, dancing, playing a musical instrument, and doing my art. I've just decided to bring that bit back. So I sat down with my materials, I started a new gone painting, I painted a tree. It's a miniature painting. I love miniature paintings. The tree looks strong, rooted, reaching up to the sky. I gave it beautiful leaves, and here's my favorite part. I painted them not just green but blue. I always love the idea of blue leaves. Okay, maybe they don't make sense in a realistic way, but that's the magic of art, isn't it? Why can't we have blue leaves? In gone painting, you can be creative, you can paint blue leaves, you can let your imagination play, and you can be yourself. So I painted blue and green leaves. I felt something inside me soften. Each leaf felt like a small memory coming back, of being a child, of not worrying if something was good or perfect or creating, but just doing it because it felt good. I remember the smell of colours, the feeling of paper under my hand, the quiet concentration, the satisfaction of just stepping back and seeing something beautiful that didn't exist before. And in those times it wasn't about social media or how many likes you're gonna get, or is this going to be approved, or is this really a good way of spending my time? No, it's not about that, is it? It's just about being in the moment, it's just about having that blank paper and just drawing, connecting, and just feeling that sense of satisfaction when it's complete. And these memories surfaced. I noticed something else. My body felt so relaxed. My shoulders were dropped, my breath was slowing down, the thoughts that were racing in my head started to quiet. Time didn't matter for a while. There was just me, the tree, these lovely blue and green leaves slowly growing across the page, and the patterns. I was just focusing on the patterns. It reminded me how powerful it can be to return to a simple creative hobby, especially one you have loved as a child. We talk a lot about self-care these days, and sometimes it starts to sound like a checklist. Drink water, go for a walk, sleep early, do my journaling, do my meditation. All of these things are beautiful and so important. But there's another side of self-care that we sometimes forget. Doing something purely because it brings you joy, because it connects you to who you really are. For me today, that was doing my gaunt painting. It wasn't about being productive, it wasn't about showing this to anyone, it wasn't about posting it online, it was just for me. And you know what? It made me feel loved by myself. It was like telling that little girl inside me, I see you, I remember what you love, and it still does matter. So I want to ask you a gentle question. Did you do something amazing that you did love as a little girl? Have you made time for that? Maybe for you it wasn't painting, maybe it was just dancing in your room, maybe it was singing loudly without caring how you sounded, maybe it was writing stories, making friendship bracelets. I remember making friendship bracelets. I used to love making those friendship bracelets, and I used to make them all the time, and I used to give them to my friends, and my friends used to give them to me, and we used to wear them so proudly. The colors, the patterns, it was so amazing. It's been ages since I made a friendship bracelet. I don't even know if I'm gonna find the time to make it. I do remember how to make it, but I'm gonna think, do I have the time to make this today? Oh, do you know what? I'll do it another day. So maybe it was just making a friendship bracelet for you. Maybe it was playing an instrument, baking, or just colouring in a book. Whatever it was, I want you to think about it for a moment. Take a breath and just let a memory come up. What were you doing? How did it make you feel? What did you love about it? You deserve to feel that again. This weekend or sometime in the next few days. I hope you can find just a few minutes, just five minutes, ten minutes. It doesn't have to be long to reconnect with that old hobby. Or something creative that calls to you now. Maybe you can sit with a blank piece of paper and some colours and just draw without a plan. Maybe you can put a song you loved as a child and dance like nobody's watching. Maybe you could just stitch or knit or cook a family recipe or write a page in your notebook. The point isn't of being perfect, really, the point is just being present. We often think we need to earn rest and joy. We tell ourselves we'll do something nice for ourselves after we finish all our tasks, all our responsibilities, all the things on our to-do list, which never ends. But the truth is really that list is always just never ending, is it? So instead of waiting for the perfect moment, maybe your act of self-love can be to create a small moment for yourself on purpose. So, gone painting for me, that was how it made me feel. It was just a little pause in my day, a conversation between my present self and my inner child, held in colours and patterns and lines and blue leaves that don't need to make complete sense, but they still look amazing. If you're feeling tired or overwhelmed or a little bit unsure, I want you to know you're not alone. It's alright to feel that way sometimes. It's also okay to step away for a moment and do something gentle and creative for yourself from your extremely, extremely busy day. So before we end, I'd like to invite you to a tiny visualization inspired by my little miniature gaunt painting. If you can close your eyes for a moment. Of course, unless you're driving. And just imagine a tree. See its trunk, strong and steady, see its branches reaching out in all directions. Now imagine the leaves. Some are green and some are blue. They don't have to be realistic, they just have to feel like you. Each leaf is a little piece of your joy, your creativity, your memories, your dreams. Each leaf is a reminder that you are allowed to grow in your own unique way in your own colours. Take a slow breath in and a slow breath out. When you're ready, gently open your eyes. As I wrap up this episode, my wish for you is simple. May you find a few minutes this weekend to do something just for you. Something creative, something small, something that feels like self-care and self-love. Not because someone asked you to do it or because it's on your to-do list, but because your heart is asking for it. Thank you so much for spending this time with me, for letting me share my little gone tree and its green and blue leaves and the memories it brought back. Until next time, be gentle with yourself and remember you deserve moments of beauty, rest, and joy, no matter what. Take care. Have a fantastic weekend.