As I sat down at my desk to begin working this morning, my head was pretty crowded. This is how I frame it when cognitive hyperactivity gets the best of me. My mind is in too many places at once. I knew it was time to take a Rainbow Walk.
Rainbow Walk
Going outside and going for a walk is one of the simplest things we can do to take care of ourselves. The idea of getting some fresh air, sunshine, and movement is always great. But, sometimes we need some additional structure. This helps to make sure those same racing thoughts can’t follow us on the walk. I decided to intentionally focus on what was around me, and made a scavenger hunt out of it š.
A Rainbow Walk is a spin on the “5 senses” grounding technique. Both techniques can calm people and center them again when they are feeling overwhelmed. Instead of tapping into all my senses, I focused on what I could see, and I found flowers in all the colors of the rainbow.
What I Saw on my Rainbow Walk
As I made my way to a walking path around a pond, I saw some Queen Anne’s Lace – sprays of delicate WHITE petals popping up. This seemed like a good place to start with my rainbow.
Next, I kept my eyes peeled for YELLOW flowers (and found two shades of yellow close to each other) then moved on to ORANGE flowers. Being early on a summer morning, these dew-covered plants were all popping with brilliant colors, making the scavenger hunt a bit more fun.
Continuing on, I found RED flowers, followed by PINK and PURPLE. While BLUE flowers do exist, they weren’t growing in my area at this time, but there was plenty of GREEN all around the flowers! This scavenger hunt kept me outside and focused for just 20-30 minutes. The activity can be stretched longer, or condensed as needed; as long as it serves you.
But finding flowers won’t work for me!
This concept of a Rainbow Walk isnāt limited to flowers. Take a Rainbow Walk searching for store signs, pedestrians’ clothing/hats, carsā¦whatever you want! You can even do this pacing around your home, but remember you need sunlight and fresh air too! Just the process of grounding yourself in a simple activity can change the trajectory of your day.
Our world is colorful (and noisy) and sometimes it can be a lot to consumeā¦but sometimes it can be exactly what you need.
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